Evie: Straight Pipe Fired!

Saw that the early top end used the solid head gasket so swapped over to that for the sake of it.

Did the quick test of removing the air filter, putting my hand on the intake and then cranking a few times.  Should get a handful of gas at that point, but not only was there no gas, there wasn't even any suction.  Big clue, finally!

Then just walked it down.  Removed the carb entirely and found that I had suction on the head itself.  

But when I went to test the intake, discovered that I hadn't CUT A HOLE in the DIY gasket!!

Bone headed mistake, but at least problem solved.

As usual, as soon as I cut the hole and put everything back together, she literally started on second kick.

Straight pipe is loud and awesome!  Almost too loud to leave it idling but sounds fantastic.

 

 

Red: Close Call

Cut a gasket for the left crankcase cover using the Fel-Pro cork-rubber 1/16" material.  A bit fiddly with all the holes, but actually not as much trouble as I would have thought.

Drained the oil and installed it, but in doing so discovered the chain was covered with small metal filings!!

Both bolts on the front sprocket were so loose they were wobbling in place!

That then caused the sprocket itself to be loose and grind.  Luckily it seems like the teeth themselves where ok.  The grinding took place lower down.

But had to then completely remove the chain for cleaning.  Brushed and scrubbed it and hosed it down repeatedly until all the shavings were gone.

Put LocTite on the bolts when re-installing as well.  Lubed the chain as usual.

Close call!

Ivy II: Oil Leaks

On closer inspection, realized that I'd never installed the left cover gasket in the first place.

Drained the oild and added the last one no-extra-hole gasket from the green binder.  Ran her again but was now getting a localized leak from the middle right.

Drained the oil again and on even closer inspection, found that there was some damage (probably a gouge from a broken chain?) that had caused an irregular surface on the crankcase.

Popped out the alternator and carefully filed the protrusion down until it seemed flush and level.

Refilled with fresh oil (650 mL) because the old stuff was already looking pretty dirty.  Ran her again and no big leaks!

But... came down a couple days later to find a pool of oil in the pan.  Looks like a slow leak coming from somewhere in the left cover even with a cold engine.

Monkey Motor: Starting

Started work on the Monkey Motor.  Scraped gaskets using the new Motion Pro scraper tool, which worked pretty well.  Fitted the crank.

Ivy: Leaks Finally Fixed!

Probably let this go for way too long... but happy to report that Ivy's oil leaks seem finally fixed.  And even if she does start to drip again a bit, at least it's not the rivers of oil that were there before.

Glad I took the whole top end apart because it turned out there were a few surprises.  Guess I felt like her top end was still "fresh" when in reality it's been more than three years since she got put together.

My main goals had been to change the gasket going from jug to head, as well as to swap out the broken cylinder stud.

But as soon as I got down to the stud, I realized the problem: there was only a tiny bit of thread showing past the crankcase and what little was showing was badly corroded and would never hold a nut anyway.  So that was pretty much a non-starter.

But once I had the jug off I found the first of a few missing gaskets.  I realized that there was nothing between the jug and the crankcase.  Wonder why I never added that in the first place?  Very odd, considering how paranoid I must have been about gaskets...

Added that one in then swapped out the copper ring at base of the cylinder.  Dabbed a bit of grease on one side to hold it in place.

Then the head gasket looked a bit tired so replaced that and had to do a fair bit of scraping to get it off.

With everything back together, I found the valve clearance on the exhaust had changed so had to dial it out a bit to get to .002.

Also replaced the alternator cover gasket which seemed to have bunched up causing a slow drip.

Started her up and bingo!  No more leaks.  At least not the steady drip that had been the norm for all these years.  Really should have done this sooner!

 She sounded a bit odd, though, and I could feel puffs of air from around the exhaust port.  Checked and realized there was no gasket there!  Again, not sure why I would not have added one in the first place.  Added in one of the asbestos gaskets.

Started up again and let her idle for quite awhile to check for leaks.  Nothing dripping, but once she was warmed up, I noticed a lot of smoke coming from the exhaust port.  Realized it was burning oil coming from a leak at the rocker cover.

So swapped also changed that gasket and ran her again and seemed fine.  But will need to keep an eye on it.

She seems no worse for wear with the one stud missing, so hopefully job done!

Run Ivy Run: 2017 Kickoff

First garage of the New Year and with the rearranged garage parking.  Had to drag myself down but feel like the mojo is coming back.

1. Tightened up the headlight bucket so it wasn't wobbly anymore.  (Why did it take me so long to do that?)
2. Added the right clutch/CC gasket (last one in the binder)
3. Added the intake-to-head gasket (also last one in the binder)
4. Setup the fuel lines.  Used 3/16" which fit the carb, the shorty filter, and the aux gas line.

All was going well, UNTIL...

The last thing was to add the K&N to the carb and only today did I discover that it's too big!!  You could probably forcibly squeeze into into place, but it's a very, very tight fit.

Possible options:

• Just force it into place
• Find a different K&N filter (either offset or shorter)
• Use the stock filter
• Use the stock carb
• Cut down the K&N filter 
• Remove the heat gasket temporarily (good for the test start)

Astrid: Oil Leaks

Noticed there was some oil leaking from the rocker cover.  When I popped it off, I found that it was still the original gasket (not one I'd replaced during the rebuild).  It looked pretty tough to scrape off, so I swapped it with the one on Ivy, which had an old gasket too, but one that came off pretty easily.

Replaced it with a new one from the gasket binder.  No more leak.  Job done.

But... it's still clear that there's a leak where the head meets the cylinder jug.

Motor: Gasket Check

Spent time just poking around Ivy's bottom end (which is currently mounted in Red), just making notes and observations.

1. Need case screws on both sides
2. Need 1 x clutch inner cover screw
3. Do I need to install the clutch lifter?
4. Torque the clutch nut
5. Torque the oil bolt
6. Torque or tighten the engine mount bolts
7. Have both the alternator and clutch cover gaskets (but only 1 clutch cover gasket in stock so just ordered another set)

On the fence about whether to try to get the engine running while it's still mounted in Red.  This would involve a temporary mounting solution for the exhaust and I may have to install the stock handlebars so the throttle cable fits.  And those are only the things I know about...

Or is it easier to just try to mount the engine into Ivy now?