Red: Epic Top End Swap

Four hour epic battle, though the tasks were relatively simple.

Needed to test the theory that maybe it was the cylinder head (valves) that were at fault.  So swapped over Ivy's head to Red.  Also swapped back to the red cylinder jug to "reset" everything.

Fired her up and now she was absolutely blasting smoke.  Filled the garage in seconds.

Then left with no choice but to do the full swap from Ivy: head, jug, and piston.

No big issues doing the swap.  Fired her up and finally, only a trace amount of smoke (probably from the oil inside the muffler).

A few things to note:
- Ivy's head had the solid head gasket as opposed to the cut out.  Left the solid one as it had seemed to work fine up to this point.
- Finally realized that there are 2 sizes of base plate, which line up to 2 different sized cylinder heads.  The smaller 62mm base plate can fit in either.  But the bigger 69mm can only ever fit in a 69mm head.  Go figure...

Ran around the block and confirmed smoke issue "fixed".  But seems to confirm that it was always a case of bad cylinder walls.  The Ivy cylinder was very, very clean.

Red: Process of Elimination

Swapped in the "Flexhone Practice Jug #2" cylinder hoping that it would resolve the smoking issue, despite the fact that the walls were only marginally better than the original.

At first, there seemed like much less smoke (though it was still definitely smoking).  But then taking it around the block a few times showed that there was literally no change.  If anything, it was even a bit worse.

Red: Hard Hone

Figured that if changing the rings made absolutely no difference, then it must be the cylinder itself that was at fault.  I remembered seeing score marks (running straight down the length of the cylinder) last time it was out.

So pulled the jug off again today.  Checked the piston gap on the top ring and it was well within spec at .254mm to .305mm.

But definitely saw the same straight line score marks.

Tried going at it with the 48mm Flexhone to try to smooth it out, but that didn't seem to do much.  Switched to the bigger 51mm which was tricky to keep moving at a constant speed (it kept getting stuck) but eventually got to a rhythm once the balls had worn down a bit.

Couldn't really smooth out the scoring, though, so they must be in there pretty deep.

On start up, there was no smoke, but I only let it idle for a minute as I want to seat the rings before anything.  The lack of smoke may just be because the oil hasn't had a chance to work its way up into the chamber yet.

We'll have to see after we do a few runs.

Red: New ART Piston

Had considered just replacing the top 2 rings on the existing piston, but realized I had a brand new ART piston in the right size (+0.25) so just swapped the piston out instead.

The ART piston doesn't have 2 cutouts for the wrist pin clip and getting the clip installed was harder than on the Honda piston.  Didn't even end up using the "G" clips that came with the ART as they seemed even harder to install than the simple "C" type.

Did a very quick and light honing with the 48mm Flex-Hone.


Unfortunately, still had a lot of white smoke on the restart.  Did some good runs past Baker Beach to try to seat them, but it was smoking the whole time and never got any better.

Compression was up to 90 though (warm).

Red: Maintenance

Red now spewing white smoke under throttle.  Compression at 70 (warm engine).

Removed the seat to better secure the left side wiring.

Red: Seat Toolbox

Mounted Red's toolbox.  Not sure why I'd always thought it didn't fit the aftermarket seat.  It fit just fine.

Ivy II: Shift Test

Torqued front sprocket to 15.

Chain installed and chain slack set.

Installed the new 100db horn.

Tensioner bolt was NOT TIGHTENED down.  Once tightened, no leaks, go figure.

SHIFT TEST: Ran a couple laps around the block.  She shifts!  Shifts are a bit "tight" and vague but no problems.

Ivy II: The Good Kind of Leak?

Lucky, lucky.  All things being relative, it seems that the cold-engine oil leak may only be coming from the tensioner bolt.  Going to add in the washer and see if that makes a difference.

Also installed the front sprocket but didn't torque it yet.