Got a new to me bike

Shims are installed.


Put camshafts in, it's a massive struggle because they do not bolt down individually. The chain guide putting pressure on one side doesn't help either. After rotating a few times i know that I'm off by one tooth, have to do it again. Grrr.
Only nice thing is that I can count the links in between camshaft marks to know that at least the shafts are aligned correctly to each other.

Another weird thing is that at some point the intake camshaft 'jumps' as the valve springs release tension, this leads to a loose chain between the sprockets.
Already noticed that before I disassembled the engine.

 

Moved everything by one tooth, put tensioner in and everything lines up perfectly.

Even the jump is gone. Happy happy.

Will torque everything down and put the lid on
That will conclude my engine rebuild

 

Is it possible that the "jumping" was your mystery noise?

 

Hm, very possible. The jumping was related to chain tensioner. Because the chain was lose, the intake camshaft just rolled/rotated quickly at a certain point (aided by the valve springs pushing against the rolling-off lobes). This led to a sagging chain between the two sprockets. Possible that it was just the chain slapping against something. I'll check for marks onovalve cover tomorrow.

Or it was the two metal pieces stuck in valve springs.

 

Engine done and half way back in the bike. A pain in the butt job to do alone. Front is secure, now I need to lift the rear up to mount. Or I use the stand's tilt capabilities and ratchet down the rear of the bike. Same effect. But that's something for tomorrow morning.

 

Wow, took three grown up men just now to muscle that engine back in.

 

Shiny exhaust


So far so good


Exhaust, oil cooler and radiator installed and hooked up.
After that and until I have my carbs back, I can only finish routing of wires, coils install and brakes. I will also rebuild the petcock. Can't install fairing either because I need to be able to check for leaks once she runs.
Once that's done, refill fluids (oil and coolant) and I think I'll crank engine a few times to get oil circulated. This way most of the system should be lubricated before I fire her up the first time.

 

Just cranked bike to get oil moving. Sounds pretty smooth. All fluids topped off. Fingers crossed there is no leak in morning.

Brakes are on as well and I will bleed them in morning. All that's left is petcock rebuild until I have carbs back.

 

Turns out petcock didn't require a rebuild. Two hoses were just connected the wrong way. Easy fix.

Been looking for leaks. Found a coolant leak but it was at the drain bolt. Tightened it up a bit more and seems to hold now.

I do see a bit of oil but can't tell if it's leaking or still left over from putting the engine back in. Not forming drops yet. While assembling the engine, I poured oil over moving parts which started to leak from the open oil cooler ports (oil cooler is only installed after exhaust is on) . While putting the engine in, it made a mess. Hopefully the oil I am seeing right now is from that. There are no drips on the paper towels I placed under the bike two days ago. So far so good.

Next update is when I have the carbs back in.

 

Come on carbs....fire this beast up!

 

Still waiting for Dave. He's a busy man so that might take a little bit.
But in the meantime, the bike is prepped and pretty much ready to go. Even cleaned fairings while still off the bike.

 

So...
While still waiting for my original carbs, I sourced a good set on ebay which I will sell again.
I hooked them up this morning and after cranking a few times without carbs to get oil flowing, I installed them and the bike came to life.

The video is of the very first attempt. Happy to say she sounds great. I will run her a bit longer this weekend to check for leaks. I did see one drop of coolant on the floor, but not sure yet where from.

 

Is it me, or does it sound not as smooth as I would have expected? I realize carbs may not be awesome and fully sync'ed and all that.

Sorry! I re-read and also meant to say, I've been waiting with the rest of us to hear this run! Pretty exciting stage of the re-build!

 

I think it's a bit of both, camera and carbs. I had the camera leaning against my manual with mic close to it. Listening to the video I felt the same but in person it was a better, not as perfect as I had thought but not too bad. From a past experience I know that well tuned carbs can actually make a bike sound better. I had to fix a leak on the carbs and since I have them off, I will do fuel level adjustment.

And yes, I only slapped on the carbs without any fuel level checks or sync.
Can only get better from here. At least nothing exploded.

I will make another video this weekend with bike outside and me holding camera. The sound in this one is not very great.

 

She Lives!! I would have done the same thing. All that work and would want to hear her run. Glad she is working great and that there were no unexpected issues!

 

Thanks.
I really hope there are no leaks. That's my biggest concern. All SHOULD be well because there are new o rings, seals and gaskets all around, and everything was triple checked and torqued down to specs. But the fear remains. I really don't want to pull the engine again.

I guess I will know tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

 

Brill when a motor fires up after a rebuild. One of the things being a motorcyclist is about.

 

Think I know why it sounds strange. Cylinder 4 doesn't fire. Investigating now...

Hm, has compression and spark. Checking fuel on carb 4 next...

Have to do other stuff now and will get back to it later. Still not firing, weird. Must be fuel related.
Hooked the vacuum tube up, that shouldn't be it either. But there is a lot going on with other hoses coming from carbs. Could be a vacuum thing after all.
Well, the bike went so smooth so far, something had to be a bit more challenging

 

Just leave it alone. Triples sound cool

 

Lol.
I can sell it as custom bike then.