How to remove the Engine of a Suzuki Intruder VS1400

For this, I have an engine hoist, so I can jack my whole bike up onto the bench. If you are in the same position, then please follow along.

Once the bike is on the bench, we can start removing parts that will be in the way when we get the engine out. This includes:

• The entire bracket for the rear brake master – remove 2 bolts
• The bracket for the chrome cover that goes over the master – remove 1 bolt
• The rear brake pipe from the clutch case (but putting the bolt back through once it’s removed so we don’t misplace it) – This is held in place by one bolt.
• The starter motor cable that runs underneath the clutch housing – Run your finger over the wire and undo the clips holding it in place, and you may have a reusable cable tie holding it onto the frame as well.
• The oil sensor – Remove the wire using a 7mm socket, then replace the bolt.
• The earthing point – This is a bolt on the side of the engine block. Undo it, take the wire off and replace the bolt.
• The regulator – Depending on your model, this can be in a few different places, but it should be able to be removed with an 8mm spanner and an allan key.
• The clutch line – Remove the nut (10mm) near the top of the frame to separate the wire, but make sure you put a rag underneath it and you have a jar ready to catch the clutch fluid. When it’s disconnected, put the wire into the jar and pump the clutch to encourage the fluid out. Once drained, feed the pipe back up through the frame and down through the yokes. There may be a rigid clip holding it in place on the top of the frame, so you may need to loosen the bolt holding the clip on to get enough room to get the clutch cable out. Then you’ll need to follow the clutch line down to where it goes into the engine casing, and remove the side case, but take note as to where the bolts are coming out from as they are different lengths and need to go back in the same positions. When this case is off, you’ll be able to see that the clutch line goes into a union bolt with some washers – once you undo this, more clutch fluid will come out, so make sure you place your jar underneath to catch any drips. Once this is undone, you should be able to feed the clutch cable out in one piece. It’s a good idea here to replace your side case so you don’t lose track of the bolts.
• Decomp valve brackets – We want to remove the brackets without making any changes to the valve just so we can get the engine out, so we are going to remove the brackets from the frame. To do this, we need to undo 2 bolts on either side of the frame. You may need to remove the engine mount bracket bolt to get enough room to move the decomp valve out of the way. After this, you should be able to slide the brackets out so that the de-comp valve is free moving.

Once those are out and out of the way, we can start removing the rest of the engine mount bolts, making sure you keep hold of your washers. Many of these will be rock solid as they need to be torqued to a set rating, so a lot of ratchets won’t be able to loosen them, so an impact driver would be very useful. If you don’t have an impact driver, try putting the correct size spanner on the bolt and tap it with a hammer until it cracks free (effectively making a homemade slow impact driver). Once the nuts are removed, make sure you leave front engine mount bolt in but remove the others.

Make sure at this point that the engine is in the orientation you want it on your bench. Make sure your bike is as far back on the bench as possible, because you’ll need space to pull the engine out onto. Make sure you’ve got some blocking underneath the centre of the engine that’s not touching the frame. Once you’ve got the blocking and the bike in the correct position, we can start to remove the front frame arm.

To remove the frame arm, we need to undo the allen bolts at the top. Once this is done, we can remove the other two allen bolts from the bottom of the arm by the battery box, and then remove the battery box from the arm. Once these bolts are out, we can remove the whole arm.

Once the arm is out, we can remove the front engine mount bolt. If you have any trouble getting this bolt out once the nut is off, try using something as a punch and tapping the end (not directly tapping the bolt and we really don’t want to flatten it) to help guide it through.

Now that the engine is free, we want to try and lift the frame up, leaving the engine on the bench. If you have an engine hoist, you can use this to help lift the frame up, but make sure you do it slowly, as you may have to manoeuvre some parts around. Then, carefully tip the engine towards you (so you are supporting it, do not try and lift it), push the frame away then push the engine back up. Now, move your frame out of the way and make sure you chock the engine to secure it.