I'll use your tip about the heat gun to try and remove the two remaining bearings in the case that I haven't got out yet. They're blind holes so you can't get them from the backside with a bearing punch. I could heat the back of the case though and then maybe they'll fall out.
I found out that the bearings are a mix when it comes to quality. All of what Honda may consider 'non-essential' ones appear to be of the cheap variety. The ones I have ordered are top quality Jap bearings so it's getting all new ones. I haven't pulled the one off the crank yet. We'll see how that one goes
I learned some really interesting stuff in there. For one, the factory covered up some of the oil passages with sealant. The service manual specifically states to not cover those passages and they were....
I also found some shavings in really interesting places. Connecting rod side clearance was way, way below tolerance spec though so that's really good. It's an expensive item and I'm quite certain that the bearings were the source of my vibrations. Almost all of them show signs of turning in the case - not good at all and I was pretty surprised about that....
On the transmission front, I've started looking closely at it to try and ascertain where that intermittent 5 => 4 downshift 'false neutral' is coming from. Thing is, it's a rare occurrence. I am seeing some slightly abnormal wear on two of the gears though so they may well get replaced. The nature of it is intermittent so some thought as to how the transmission works will be required to gain a better understanding of where/what to look for.
I am very surprised how well other things look. Virtually zero wear on the shift drum, zero wear on the shift fork shaft, almost zero wear on the transmission (with the exception of those two gears). The typical near zero wear on the cylinder (although I have one on standby that I plateau honed). The stock camshaft, with the overly high rate HD valve springs has held up really well. The connecting rod and crank look good.
But, all the bearings are shot. Not one of them was in decent shape. When they were installed they seemed OK but once removed and cleaned it was clear they were finished. In fact, I think I got to them just in the nick of time. Any more riding time and I probably would have had to buy new case halves due to wear from them spinning in their bosses...
When the new ones go in they will get a liberal coat of lock-tite. All in all though, I'm pretty happy and I'm very positive about what the outcome will be. It's been vibrating more then normal for some time. I can recall how smooth it was when new and those days are far back there so this should restore, literally, as new performance on both the smoothness and power front. Hopefully, the new higher quality bearings will perform better.
Thing is though, this bike has seen nothing but severe service it's entire life so for others reading this - I wouldn't read too much into it. It also has 25,000k on it now - the majority of which has been racing at top RPM for almost continuous periods.
I'm still waiting to hear about the prototype camshaft. It's been delayed but they assured me they were getting at it this week.....My hope has been to nail it all down in one shot in preparation for the ride with my nephew up North. I know he's going to want revenge for my cleaning his clock the last time we went out so the bike's going to have to be perfect - and then some (he's got a 2010 R6)
I asked the bearing engineers about getting the highest quality bearings for the crank and they said they could actually get some that are $400 each (!!). I passed on those and settled for some Japanese NTN's
One thing's for sure, the bike will be as new again. The problem is that it just makes it that much easier to bounce off the rev limiter in 6th. Something has to be done about that thing.....