Red: Exhaust Stud

Very relieved that I was able to thread a new exhaust stud and it seemed to hold well.  Used plenty of blue loctite.

Red: Swap Exhaust

Swap Red's exhaust to Roxy's (the one with the baffle) to test if that changes power delivery.  (it doesn't...)

Evie: Straight Pipe

As suspected, the straight pipe fits the Early head.

Garage: Pot Luck

Little bit of everything today...

Half day PTO but once I got downstairs, realized I was "between jobs" and nothing big to do.

Unfortunately, the $60 straight pipe was a no-go.  I think it may be made for an Early head, but even then, not quite sure where the mounting point actually attaches.  Well, maybe I can reshape it for a Late head one day.

Stymied on removing the old stud bolts from the Ivy motor, too.  Got the stud remover tool, but in order to really crank down and lock the teeth, I need a wrench that opens up to 31mm and the one I have fell just short of that.

Ivy's exhaust valve cap was leaking, so swapped it out with Roxy's.

Did some parts auditing.  Updated the M3 Hot Box parts.  Also updated all the locations of the cylinder jugs to be correct.

Upstairs, unboxed all the new parts I'd been accumulating.  Have a total of 2 new cranks, 4 new shift spindles and 2 more kickstarts.

Noting the differences between the shift spindles.  Thought that the distance between the prongs mattered but in testing it didn't seem to.  Left with 1 bad one that can't find second for some reason.  Then one of the new ones has a bent shaft that jams when inserted.  Probably fixable.  But still left with 3 good ones.

 Stymied trying to install the new Dime City shift pedal, only because it has a clearance issue with the step bar.  But have a couple options for stepbars (Ivy's and Evie's) so will need to do some swapping around and see what works.

Run Red Run: Exhaust Test on Ivy

Tested the new muffler on Ivy.  Works and sounds great!

Run Red Run: Head Cover

As predicted, once I had the head cover bolted down, the camshaft went in easily.

Added more gaskets, including the clutch cover.  Took an hour to painstakingly peel the old one off with razor blade and decal scraper.

Also tested mating the new header pipe with the muffler.  Fitting was no problem, but disappointed to discover that the edge is cracked off the header where it meets the exhaust port.  Wondering if that will have any effect on performance.

Thinking to test it on Roxy...

Ivy: Pieces Falling Off, Fun with Electricity

Decided to wire up the headlight/tail light directly off the main switch (so they would be "always on").

Went smoothly and the bike started and idled ok, so figured I was in good shape.

Then also discovered that the bolt holding the exhaust to the head had fallen out!  Replaced it with a stud bolt taken from the model engine.  Had a scary moment when I installed the bolt then couldn't get the exhaust hole to line up.

Ended up having to line up the exhaust first and then screw in the stud bolt.  Question is - will I have to do it that way every time now??


Dec 2nd Ride Report:

The bike felt stronger and smoother which I figured was because of the exhaust not being loose, but it could have been entirely my imagination.

Everything was going great until I got back to 19th and felt it sputtering and hesitating.  Right when I turned for Blue Fin it died completely.  After many tries, finally got it restarted but only lasted a block and died again.

Checking the battery at home and it was down to 5.67 volts, so clearly the lights were too much of a drain.  But this was on SLA #3, which is the weird one since it never goes fully green on the charger.  So is it really the lights draining the battery, or is it just a dud battery?

Needless to say, disconnected the lights for now...

Run Ivy Run: Easy Come, Easy Go

Just like torquing the head bolts, a seemingly menial task turned into a catastrophic event.

The simple task was to tighten down the exhaust flange bolts after having realized that Roxy's were full tight.  I thought the excess noise and smoke from the head was coming from it being too loose.

While cranking down the upper bolt, I suddenly realized that it wasn't actually tightening at all.  I pulled out the bolt and saw metal shavings.  So... the threads are completely gone.  I tightened up the lower bolt as much as I dared.

I hooked up the battery and tried to start it anyway.  Nothing - totally dead.  Sat and thought on it for a few minutes, and just when I was about to pack it in, I decided to try it WITH the choke.  And she started right up!

She wouldn't hold idle, but starting was no problem. 

So is this related to the exhaust being loose?  It was the only thing that changed, and yet why would she start and run with throttle, but not hold idle.

The fact that it took choke to start her this time means she's running much leaner than before.  Could that point to the exhaust?


Started doing research on thread repair.  Looks like there's the more common Helicoil option for only $20 or so, or there's the higher-end Time Sert kit for about $70, though it's said to be much better long-term.

Both options involve having to carefully drill into the head, though. 

But like Pirsig said in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the entire value of the bike is now hanging on this one stripped bolt hole.

Decisions, decisions...


Also, found a mix of oil and gas in the pan since the last run.  Clearly the carb had overflowed and drained to the pan - and I realized I'd also left the petcock switched on on the aux gas canister.

But when I loaded up the gas again, nothing leaked.  So I set up the overflow line into a separate plastic container and left gas in the canister to see if something leaks over the next couple days.

Roxy vs Viola: Muffler Madness

Looks like Roxy has the "late" (why late if she's supposed to be '64?) 2-piece muffler with 2 mounting points.  Viola has the single piece version that has a bolt that goes through the mount point and then secured with a nut.


Viola...

Roxy...

Astrid: Bling

Replaced all the fasteners on the alternator and clutch covers.  The hardware store was fresh out of 6x20 plain steel screws so I ended up getting stainless at $.90 a pop, but I didn't feel like waiting to check other stores.

 

Also, tried tightening up the exhaust bolts to see why there was such a big gap there.  I'm fairly certain it's not supposed to be that way, but I'm not sure if it really matters.  Going to try swapping it with Viola's to see if I can at least cut the gap down.

CM91: Inspecting the Exhaust

Lunchtime tinkering is limited to small, quick jobs.  Decided to get the exhaust off to see what was going on with it not sitting flush with the engine.  Five bolts and the whole thing comes off.  It's a bit of a waltz to get it in and out of that narrow space between the frame and the brake pedal, but quite easily done.

So once I had it off, I could clearly see that the bracket that actually holds it in place on the engine is just too tall.  It would need to lose about half the threads to actually fit.  The bolts holding it in were rather new and shiny, so my suspicion is that it's a bracket for a different engine that someone jury rigged with longer bolts to make work.  I suppose it still holds everything in place correctly, though there doesn't seem to be any reason not to just get the right part.

Except for surface rust, the exhaust itself seems in relatively good condition.