Motor: Tusk Tools

Got the new engine tools from Rocky Mountain today: the Tusk crankshaft installer/puller and the Tusk crankcase splitter.

I tried the installer first.  It comes with a variety of bolts/couplers and I was crushed to discover nothing would fit the S90's 16mm male thread on the clutch side.

But I realized that I could get it to work using my own 8mm bolt and washer on the alternator side.  It was surprisingly effortless to pull the crankshaft into place and the tool worked perfectly (and feels very hefty and solid).  It almost made me think I should just be installing the crank without tools but I think that would involve a lot of elbow grease and would probably result in me hammering the crank into place.  So in the end, maybe the tool just does its job too well.

The right crankcase cover just pushed down right over the bearing when I went to close the case.  I don't expect it would be like that for every motor.  But if I ever needed to use the tool on that side, I could either find a big 16mm bolt or shave down an old clutch nut enough so it fits inside the tool's main coupler.


Tried the crankcase splitter next and that worked exactly as expected.  Again, a very well-made and solid tool.

Motor: Kitchen Work

Tore down and rebuilt the bottom end a few times just to remember how to do it...

Motor: Baby Steps

Popped open the clutch cover on the still-sealed Viola original engine, just to start re-familiarizing myself with it.  I know recall that it has a different clutch basket and shows signs of rust on the primary gear.

No matter what, this engine needs to get mounted on Ivy for purposes of the VIN verification, but the question is whether to make an attempt to run it as well.  Ultimately, it would be nice to completely rebuild it - or at least crack it open to make sure the internals are sound.


Then moved on to dropping the engine from Red, which is the super clean "model" engine.  Brought it upstairs to work on indoors.

Motor: Holey Cranks

Downstairs just long enough to take this side-by-side of 2 cranks showing the differences in the flywheels.

Some debate on the Yahoo Group as to whether the extra holes are for purposes of balancing or whether they help with assembly (alignment).

Ivy: Rear Brake Swap

Swapped the cracked rear brake with the new one.  Was going unusually well and I had everything changed over and was just buttoning up, when I found the bolt for the brake stay was too thick to fit the hole.  It was only about a half mm too wide, but just enough to matter.

Just decided to file it down to fit.  Will figure out if it's really a parts puzzler issue some other time...

Spares: Unboxing Party

Haven't been in the garage for more than a month (life got in the way).

Unboxed the Early style airbox and intake.  Realized it's missing the right side cover and now I see why it's classified as unobtanium.

Unboxed another alt cover, this one to meant replace the "polished" one that seemed to nice to leave on the bike for now.

Unboxed Extra Sprocket Cover #2.

And finally, unboxed the old rusty cylinder meant to use for practicing honing.  But also discovered that the 51mm flex hone was a very tight fit in the 50mm standard cylinder.  You must have to really squeeze it in tight?  Guess we'll see....

Spares: Cleaning

The sprocket cover cleaned up nicely.

Ivy: New Front Wheel

A long time coming, but Ivy finally gets her new front wheel: new spokes (actually 35 new, 1 old), good clean rim, new rim strip and tube, and the good IRC tire.

The stool under the engine once again makes the front wheel swap a breeze.

Ivy: Garage Truing

After getting the new rim all laced up, I took it down to mount it, but only then did I realize that I had never tightened up the spokes.  Brought the stand down to the garage and just tightened everything up and trued it again.