Big Day! Day before my birthday and I wasn't sure if I wanted to wait until the actual day to see if I could get the bike to run. But in the end, decided that I didn't want the potential disappointment to cloud the day so thought maybe better to do it ahead of time instead.
Had a few little jobs before I could try firing the engine...
Added the lower intake gasket, but found that while I had what ought to have been the upper intake gasket (the one between intake and carb), it simply did not fit correctly. Not 100% sure what's going on there, but hoped it wouldn't affect the carb function.
Almost forgot to put in the exhaust gasket. Had hoped I could use the copper crush ring instead of the asbestos fabric one, but the copper ring sat in between the head and the muffler, not inside the port. Wasn't sure if that was really the way it was supposed to be, so ended up opting for the asbestos one so that I could safely stuff it into the port for a good seal.
Added engine oil next. Went with 800 mL to start and figure I can add in a bit more as we go.
With that done, it was just the wiring that was left and I hooked up the ignition switch box according to the labeled wires (ground everything to the fins).
Got the fire extinguisher ready and then went for it... and nothing. Nothing and more nothing. Though eventually I heard just the slightest cough which seemed encouraging.
Did a compression check, adjusting for the fact that the engine was cold and oil certainly hadn't circulated very well, and got up to 90 which I thought was good enough for those conditions.
Continued with more kicks, remembering how Ivy had taken a dozen kicks the first time around, but still nothing. Then out of nowhere, the boom of a gigantic backfire, which scared the crap out of me.
But at least that was something. It meant we had fuel/air and a spark, but something else was wrong.
Quick search on the Yahoo Groups and saw someone suggest it was valve clearance and I instantly regretted not having done a light tune-up after installing the top end and torquing everything down.
Popped off the valve covers and did find that the intake valve had zero clearance but exhaust seemed fine. So I set them both to .002 and tried again (only a few kicks) but still nothing.
At that point, figured I'd check the timing. Found something weird, where the timing light wouldn't come on "cleanly" at the F mark. If I jiggled the alternator back and forth, the light would come on/go off whenever I moved, instead of right at the mark. Just didn't seem right. Rechecked that I was at TDC and I was.
So then I spun around and found that the light did go on cleanly near the F mark, but not at TDC. It was almost as if the camshaft sprocket was off and yet I was so sure I'd set it right. But nothing else to do but check it, so I went in as far as the sprocket and indeed it was set right.
But then how could the timing be 180 degrees off if the camshaft was right? Then I realized it was the lobe on the advance itself!! The lobe, which had popped off a half dozen times, was simply in backwards. I had put it back on at some point, not thinking that there was a correct orientation to it.
So I flipped it around and then reinstalled everything.
And damn if she didn't start up with a single kick!
Amazing. Fifty plus years old and she just comes to life. She's a gentle start, too. Like I remember Astrid was, where it almost seems like she starts before you're even at the bottom of the kick cycle.
And with carb set to default (1-1/4 out on air screw) she idled just fine with no tweaks.
Exhaust was loud, though. Really loud. Not sure why when Ivy doesn't have a baffle, either but nowhere near as loud. Maybe I like it, though...?
Once she got warm, she started to smoke pretty well. Sort of expected given the situation with the bad cylinder and un-seated rings. There's maybe a chance that it's just old oil that needs to burn off from inside the muffler. Not sure, we'll have to see.
Landmark day, though. The motor I built from the empty case up actually runs!
