Questions about cleaning out old engine oil and adding new oil

[justin-branam]

I am in the process of tearing apart a 1976 Indian M5A which was sitting for quite a few years. There was a decent amount of gunked up oil in there. I scraped out what I could, and although all of the gears turn freely, I would really like to clean it out a little better than just wiping it. I am trying not to pull out everything since it seems pretty tight and seems to be turning nicely. I have 2 questions:

1- is it okay to use something like brake/carb cleaner to spray in there and on all of the gears to help clean off any gunked up and old oil that is on there?

2- is there a specific type/weight of oil I need to put back in this motor? happen to know how much oil this motor holds? (I know that was really three questions :laugh

I've never really messed with small engines like this, so any help is appretiated.

Thanks!

 

[buckeye]

Shouldn't hurt it with either.

 

[hoppy]

yup shouldnt hurt. both will evaporate off anyways. maybe some compressed air wouldnt hurt to blow stuff out. is there a drain plug or do you have the engine opened up?

 

[paulhew]

Maybe some good info here.
Indian Dirtbike Parts Lists & Manuals

Sometimes these engines state the oil capacity on the engine block close to the dipstick or at the refill bung.

Cool bike !

 

[justin-branam]

yup shouldnt hurt. both will evaporate off anyways. maybe some compressed air wouldnt hurt to blow stuff out. is there a drain plug or do you have the engine opened up?

I have the engine opened up right now. Went ahead and took a can of brake cleaner to it, and wow, it cleaned up 99% of that nasty crap!

Maybe some good info here.
Indian Dirtbike Parts Lists & Manuals

Sometimes these engines state the oil capacity on the engine block close to the dipstick or at the refill bung.

Cool bike !

I have bought a few parts from that site already, and Gary was kind enough to locate and upload the manual for my year model. It has helped me greatly! Unfortunately, I did not see the oil capacity anywhere in the manual, or anywhere on the motor.

I have a build thread on this one if you want to check it out.

 

[justin-branam]

Just to help anyone in the future, although there was an oil drain plug on the motor, it is a 2 cycle motor, and the plug was to drain the "gear oil". I ended up going with some non-synthetic 80w-90. Got everything cleaned up and gave her a test start. Don't have the tank hooked up, so i couldnt run a fuel source, but she did crank up and run for about 3 seconds.