rebuild.... restart

I bought a 2003 R1150RS last fall as a winter project. I finished the repairs and am now ready to start the bike. I thought that I would get some feedback from y'all. I know about resetting the throttle position sensor before starting the bike, but is there any other idiosyncracy that I should be aware of? I replaced the fuel filter.......other than putting gas in the tank, are there any precautions before I start cranking? Any advice will be welcome as I would rather not find out afterward what I 'should have done'. Thanks, Bert

Take the spark plugs out, put the bike in 5th or 6th gear, and rotate the rear wheel as fast as you can. That will get some oil up into the heads.

Make sure the battery is absolutely top-shelf before giving it a crank. It should show 13.2-13.6 volts across the terminals.

That's probably it. Full setting on the fast idle lever, no throttle, clutch pulled in, and let her go.

With any freshly rebuilt motor, I prefer to pre-fill the oil filter (which I do anyway), remove the spark plugs from the cylinders and install them in the leads and ground them. Then I crank it without any load until the oil light extinguishes. Install the plugs and fire it up.

flash412 said:

With any freshly rebuilt motor, I prefer to pre-fill the oil filter (which I do anyway), remove the spark plugs from the cylinders and install them in the leads and ground them.

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Remember that Oilhead valve covers and the engine block are painted, so just leaning the plugs against either one of them isn't "grounding."

flash412 said:

With any freshly rebuilt motor, I prefer to pre-fill the oil filter (which I do anyway), remove the spark plugs from the cylinders and install them in the leads and ground them. Then I crank it without any load until the oil light extinguishes. Install the plugs and fire it up.

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I want to second this method. It works great for newly overhauled aircraft engines as well. Make sure the plugs are out and the plug wires grounded.

Motorman said:

I want to second this method. It works great for newly overhauled aircraft engines as well. Make sure the plugs are out and the plug wires grounded.

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Whenever cranking any motor (car or bike) for the first time, or for the first time in a lengthy period of time ie two years of sitting, you'll really need to have the oil pump pushing it around before you start the bike, otherwise all sorts of little gremlins can creep in.