High mileage stuff

That crack can be repaired
As a welder I see this sort of thing a lot.
Precise work!
But fun

 

Swapping cases could cause half your bearing tolerances to be just a hair off. I'd have it welded too.

 

Just remember to get specs from that cylinder and check if its flush when its done
Extreme heat has a HUGE tendency to warp metal surfaces. I deal with this every day. I can clamp my work pieces usually it it cant move but I'm not so sure about a case.

 

Well this is interesting, I didn't think fixing it was an option, but if it is I'll look into it.

For now, here are some better pictures of the damage, tell me what you guys think:

(click thumbnails to enlarge)

 

Damn. That looks more like you ran the wrong stud in and it bottomed out rather than simply over-torquing.

I would still get it professionally repaired (the cylinder "deck" will need to be resurfaced after the welding) rather than swap one half of the case and get into a main-bearing shell fit/tolerance range/spec nightmare.

 

So a lot has happened since I last posted, I hope it's ok to bump a thread this old:

I got some new cases (a matching set), put everything back in, and just the other day I got the head torqued down. Now I'm getting ready to install the camshafts, but I'm having some trouble getting one of the shim buckets back in. Exhaust #4 does not seem to fit in its spot. I made sure that all the buckets went back into their original spots. None of the other buckets gave me any trouble at all, just this one. I'm worried that there is something wrong with my (motorcycle's) head.

(click the images for larger versions)

The spot:


The hole:


I don't know what to do at this point, I searched the forums and I couldn't find anyone else with this problem. Any advice?

 

I'd take one of the others out and see if it fits in that hole and vice versa, and go from there.
If they fit it's no big deal that they are in different holes contrary to what you might have heard.
Yeah sure some people are going to say NO NO NO, well that's just BS, I've done that time and time again with no problems.
Ay up here comes the flak..........................................................................................................

 

light smear of mc oil around opening and bottom of bucket. Keep the top of the bucket clean. Rotate the bucket around the opening. It'll eventually drop in.

Gary H.

 

go around the top edge of that hole with a sharpie, carefully try to put the bucket in, nice and square and straight, then rock it around a wee bit. the bucket should wipe the sharpie off in the high spot.
you probably have a tiny nick in the edge of the hole stopping the bucket. you might have to take that valve and spring out and sand it with 800, right on the nick.
before you do that try pushing the nick back. get a screwdriver with a nice smooth shank, oil it, press it on the nick and push and roll the shank over the nick, might get lucky.
be careful your one slip away from a new head

 

Looks like there is a small dimple/ding on the edge of the hole around the 6:00 position.

 

And 10 o'clock.

Gary H.

 

Thanks guys. I took the valve apart and went at it with some sandpaper, it really didn't take much work for the bucket to go back in.

(fast forward to today)

So I got the rest of the bike put together and I finally started it up today!

(click the thumbnails for a larger image)



It didn't take much effort to start at all, no starter fluid or anything like that. It seemed to run best with the choke completely OFF, it didn't really want to start with it on even when completely cold, not sure what to think of that. It eventually settled into an idle right at 1k RPM (I revved it a bit for the picture). I blipped the throttle a bit and it returns to idle without trouble, so that's good. I let it run for 5 minutes or so to get all the oil circulated.

It's nice to hear it making noise again

Overall it wasn't running rough, just a little bit "groggy" I guess, I assume it will get a little smoother once everything gets settled in. It's got new rings and honed bores and a few other new parts so I'll be doing break-in stuff.

Next up is tuning. Should I do colortune or carb sync first? I'll be doing both.

Any more advice on how to proceed is appreciated!

 

Bench sync. Colortune. Running sync. Colortune again.


Please tell me that you used emery or crocus cloth and not common sandpaper.

 

...or steel wool, or a file---

Hopefully had a good strong vacuum running, too....

 

I used 1500 grit sandpaper. I checked the bucket frequently for fit and stopped as soon as it went in as smoothly as the others.

I did the colortune today, carb 2 was running really rich, the others were all a bit lean and very similar to one another. I tuned it out as best I could.

I also partially completed the running vacuum sync, I just have to sync carbs 3 & 4 last.

It's starting to run smoother, I can hear the exhaust note getting better as I tune it. It's also a lot easier to start now.

 

Wet and dry (grey aluminum oxide)? That is fine, but sandpaper (sand colored mix of silica and iron oxide) is not as it tends to shed and get nasty bits of grit into places where such things should never go.

 

I used this stuff: http://3mcollision.com/3m-wetordry-sheet-03002.html

I finished up the carb sync today and it runs pretty well. I checked some of the plugs again, on the left is carb #2 which was originally really rich (some of the soot is wiped off in the picture), on the right is about what all the others look like:
(click for a larger image)

I assume these will change a bit as the motor is broken in, so I will check them again when the time comes (or if it doesn't run well on the road).

I also got the fairing, tank, seat, and side covers back on. It's finally all back in one piece:

 

Update: I've put about 250 miles on it and it runs really well. I've been trying to take it easy while it breaks in.

It's leaking oil at the head gasket though: (click the thumbnails for a larger image)
(left-side rear)
(left-side front, most of the leaking occurs here)
(right-side front, a bit of leaking here near the middle)
(right-side rear, this part is completely dry, no leaks from the oil galleries either)

Those pictures are from today, just after I parked it coming home from work. I didn't clean the old stuff off so it may look like it's leaking more than it is. I'll have to go over it with some engine degreaser sometime.

I re-torqued the caps on top after the first couple rides once it was all back together and I was able to turn the left-side caps a little bit, the right side caps had almost no movement at all. I haven't torqued them again, so I thought I might try one more time. All the torque-ing was all done the next day when the engine was cool.

I used an aftermarket head gasket, maybe I just got a bad one? I didn't get this one from chacal (probably my biggest mistake!).

Thoughts?

 

Don't ride easy-- ride the $&/!! out of it

 

I won't argue with that! By "taking it easy", I generally keep it between 4k and 6k RPM, closer to 4 most of the time. Pretty much how I ride normally.

While we're on the subject, another issue I've noticed is that acceleration is really flat when I open the throttle completely, it just doesn't move like it should. When I roll the throttle back though it gets to a point where it does accelerate really well. Throttle response and power is completely normal up to that point however. I don't remember the bike being like this before the rebuild, and I never made any major changes to the carbs besides colortune+sync. I think it may be a fueling issue. I did replace the inline fuel filter, it's a larger 90deg cone-shaped one I got from chacal. When I turn on the PRI on the tank it doesn't fill with fuel completely, there's still a good pocket of air left inside, maybe that could be messing it up. I'm going to double-check my fuel line routing and maybe try the old filter one more time.