The original version of this topic I created and posted back in 2009. You can find it, HERE, but there are no photos in the old thread.

This past summer, (2010), I shot new photographs of my technique of changing the motor oil in my DL-650 with a SW-Motech skidplate installed.

I roll the motorcycle up on to its centerstand. (I modified my SW-Motech centerstand by welding extra "feet" on to the "soles" of the OEM feet, so it is nearly 3/4" taller then a stock SW-Motech centerstand.)


I loosen the two rear bolts that hold up the aft end of the SW-Motech skidplate. ( 13mm )


I press the aft end of the skidplate to the floor.


I loosen my oil filler cap to let air vent into the crankcase as the old oil drains out. (If you would like to know about the oil cap tether I fabricated, click HERE)


I loosen the oil drain plug..... ( 14mm )


....then slide a modified, one gallon solvent can underneath the motor, and finish unscrewing the drain plug; letting the old motor oil drain into my homemade "catch can".


When the oil appears to be drained out, I rock the bike, "up and down"; pivoting off of the centerstand to "jiggle" more oil out of the crankcase.


I then reinstall the oil drain plug and tighten it up.

Next I slide the "catch can" up the incline of the skidplate and underneath the oil filter.


Using a Suzuki OEM filter wrench and a 17mm socket, I loosen the oil filter...


...just enough to let the oil in the filter drain out into the "catch can", BEFORE I completely remove the oil filter from the motor housing.


When the oil filter is empty, I remove it from the motor and drop it into a modified laundry detergent container to drain more.


I inspect the oil filter area of the motor to make sure that the gasket from the old filter hasn't been left behind, and that the area is free from dirt.


I have only used OEM Suzuki oil filters on my motorcycle. At 84,000 miles in 4 years, why change now?


And, I follow the directions printed on the side of the filter.


Before installing the new oil filter, I will wipe some fresh oil around the new gasket...


....and cinch it down as per the printed instructions on the side of the oil filter.


I will fill the crankcase with fresh oil. (As with the oil filter, I have only used Suzuki 4 stroke motor oil in my bike....for the same reasons that I use their oil filter.)


I usually overfill the crankcase just a little bit....


....because I know that when I start the motor.... (Don't you just love the "factory look" of my cockpit instruments and layout?)


....the sightglass will show "low" after the oil has made its way around to all of the "nooks and crannies" of the motor and has filled the oil filter.


I then top up the crankcase to the proper level.

The waste oil I drain into a laundry detergent container.


During the winter months, I take all of my used motor oil to my local motorcycle dealership so that they can burn it in their service department furnace.

I then re-attach the rear end of the SW-Motech skidplate and I am ready for another 3 - 4,000 miles.


B.L.

__________________
2007 DL-650 (111,000 + miles)
"A word grows to a thought; a thought to an idea; an idea to an act. All the pieces are put together, and the whole is yours."
1942, Beryl Markham: "West With the Night"
"In most men, there lurks a lesser man, and his presence smells in the the sun."
1961, Ernest K. Gann: "Fate Is The Hunter"

Thanks for taking the time out to do these tutorials. It is always a help

__________________
K4 DL650

Well done with the details and pics

Gotta say though, I'm not a huge fan of your NEW dash layout

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2007 DL650 Gray

I'm pretty sure that I saw a post on this forum by a guy that makes some really awesome instrument panel/cockpits for boats, errr yachts, on this forum.
You might do a search on yacht and find him, perhaps he can help you straighten out that custom instrument
cluster.









.

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L2V -- she's a stocker!

I only do some of the fiberglass work, all of the woodwork, and NONE of the electrical work.

Can you tell?

__________________
2007 DL-650 (111,000 + miles)
"A word grows to a thought; a thought to an idea; an idea to an act. All the pieces are put together, and the whole is yours."
1942, Beryl Markham: "West With the Night"
"In most men, there lurks a lesser man, and his presence smells in the the sun."
1961, Ernest K. Gann: "Fate Is The Hunter"

How much more oil comes out when you jiggle the bike?

Do you use a torque wrench when reinserting the drain plug?

I have never measured the quantity. As a guess, I would say 1/2 a cup; maybe 2/3 of a cup.

There are two places that I DON'T use a torque wrench. One is the oil plug and the other is the rear axle. A common sense, "tight-is-tight" is good enough for me.

I have read stories where riders have stripped out their oil drain plug and the rear axle threads. Most of the time, this seems to happen when a torque wrench is used. I stay away from a torque wrench on those two areas.

B.L.

__________________
2007 DL-650 (111,000 + miles)
"A word grows to a thought; a thought to an idea; an idea to an act. All the pieces are put together, and the whole is yours."
1942, Beryl Markham: "West With the Night"
"In most men, there lurks a lesser man, and his presence smells in the the sun."
1961, Ernest K. Gann: "Fate Is The Hunter"

The only place I would use a torque wrench is on cylinder heads or the like, and I'd make damn sure it was a wrench in good working order. I have a couple here that never did work right. I trust my "mechanic's feel" more than I do a torque wrench.

From "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

There's one psychomotor gumption trap, muscular insensitivity, which accounts for some real damage. It results in part from lack of kinesthesia, a failure to realize that although the externals of a DeLorean are rugged, inside the engine are delicate precision parts which can be easily damaged by muscular insensitivity. There's what's called "mechanic's feel," which is very obvious to those who know what it is, but hard to describe to those who don't; and when you watch someone working on a DeLorean who doesn't have it, you tend to along suffer with the car.

The mechanic's feel comes from a deep inner kinesthetic feeling for the elasticity of materials. Some materials, like ceramics, have very little, so that when you thread a porcelain fitting you're very careful not to apply great pressures. Other materials, like steel, have tremendous elasticity, more than rubber, but in a range in which, unless you're working with large mechanical forces, the elasticity isn't apparent.

With nuts and bolts you're in the range of large mechanical forces and you should understand that within these ranges metals are elastic. When you take up a nut there's a point called "finger-tight" where there's contact but no takeup of elasticity. Then there's "snug," in which the easy surface elasticity is taken up. Then there's a range called "tight," in which all the elasticity is taken up. The force required to reach these three points is different for each size of nut and bolt, and different for lubricated bolts and for locknuts. The forces are different for steel and cast iron and brass and aluminum and plastics and ceramics. But a person with mechanic's feel knows when something's tight and stops. A person without it goes right on past and strips the threads or breaks the assembly.

A "mechanic's feel" implies not only an understanding for the elasticity of metal but for its softness. The insides of a DeLorean engine contain surfaces that are precise in some cases to as little as one ten-thousandth of an inch. If you drop them or get dirt on them or scratch them or bang them with a hammer they'll lose that precision. It's important to understand that the metal behind the surfaces can normally take great shock and stress but that the surfaces themselves cannot. When handling precision parts that are stuck or difficult to manipulate, a person with mechanic’s feel will avoid damaging the surfaces and work with his tools on the nonprecision surfaces of the same part whenever possible. If he must work on the surfaces themselves, He'll always use softer surfaces to work them with. Brass hammers, plastic hammers, wood hammers, rubber hammers and lead hammers are all available for this work. Use them. Vise jaws can be fitted with plastic and copper and lead faces. Use these too. Handle precision parts gently. You'll never be sorry. If you have a tendency to bang things around, take more time and try to develop a little more respect for the accomplishment that a precision part represents.

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-Tom (DL650AL2) (KA1TOX) (E-I-E-I-O)

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Are there any torque specs for reattaching the skid plate? Does it take loctite or similar to do properly?

have you looked into how many btu's the shop heater gets from this used suzuki oil vs shell rotella 5w40 vs shell 15-40 dino oil vs amsoil??