Yep, the window has closed on my ride to the Rogue's Rally in Oregon. There were some technical challenges to overcome and the issue of time. Of the two, time was the real problem. Wetsanding and polishing, sandblasting and painting - pure timekillers if the truth be told. However, I wanted to keep every servicable part and recondition them as best I could, so polish I did.
On the tech side... went to clean up the barrels before gapping the rings and the factory paint came off like nothing. Great... now to sandblast, degrease, paint and bake the barrels. Cam follower tunnels had to be honed and the finish hone in the bores was wrong for my Total Seal rings (expected I'd need to address the final finish in the cylinders). Bear in mind that these were new, expensive through-bolted barrels that are supposed to be "ready to run." Don't buy these thinking you're going to unpack them on assembly day and use them "as is."
ID'd the "no end-play" problem with the SKF 21306CC main bearings - had to cook those out of the case halves and have them reamed to 0.002 clearance to the crank. Fixed my stiff con-rod problem. No clue what was wrong - just disassembled, cleaned, inspected and carefully retorqued everything. Timing gear - including my new automatic cam chain tensioner - went together no sweat. The head went together pretty easily as well (took a few hours to fabricate a Norton valve spring compressor from a large C clamp and an 11/16 deep socket - but once that was done...).
Here are a few pretty pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Cases and timing-side. Everything that's rusty in the before half was sanded and polished - not replaced. (I'm pretty proud of the oil-pressure bypass and the rocker-feed - took a long time, but they came out well.)
Same with this picture of the head - all the shiny metal is original just cleaned up. Exhaust nuts (along with the exhaust ports, combustion chambers and piston domes) are coated with ceramic thermal barrier coatings to keep the heat working FOR me.
The engine WILL go in the bike Monday or Tuesday of next week. That'll be a big relief. It opens up a whole bunch of other tasks... headsteady, primary drive, charging system, etc.
Still a lot of rear-wheel related issues to sort out (brake and final drive). Wiring is being thought through on paper, but isn't anywhere near the production stage. I'll be using one of Jim Bush's headlight relay kits, along with a prototype ignition relay kit.
I'd like to believe that it'll be on the road by August 15 - which is only a month behind schedule - but that date could slip too. What counts is that I'm still having fun, right?
On the tech side... went to clean up the barrels before gapping the rings and the factory paint came off like nothing. Great... now to sandblast, degrease, paint and bake the barrels. Cam follower tunnels had to be honed and the finish hone in the bores was wrong for my Total Seal rings (expected I'd need to address the final finish in the cylinders). Bear in mind that these were new, expensive through-bolted barrels that are supposed to be "ready to run." Don't buy these thinking you're going to unpack them on assembly day and use them "as is."
ID'd the "no end-play" problem with the SKF 21306CC main bearings - had to cook those out of the case halves and have them reamed to 0.002 clearance to the crank. Fixed my stiff con-rod problem. No clue what was wrong - just disassembled, cleaned, inspected and carefully retorqued everything. Timing gear - including my new automatic cam chain tensioner - went together no sweat. The head went together pretty easily as well (took a few hours to fabricate a Norton valve spring compressor from a large C clamp and an 11/16 deep socket - but once that was done...).
Here are a few pretty pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Cases and timing-side. Everything that's rusty in the before half was sanded and polished - not replaced. (I'm pretty proud of the oil-pressure bypass and the rocker-feed - took a long time, but they came out well.)
Same with this picture of the head - all the shiny metal is original just cleaned up. Exhaust nuts (along with the exhaust ports, combustion chambers and piston domes) are coated with ceramic thermal barrier coatings to keep the heat working FOR me.
The engine WILL go in the bike Monday or Tuesday of next week. That'll be a big relief. It opens up a whole bunch of other tasks... headsteady, primary drive, charging system, etc.
Still a lot of rear-wheel related issues to sort out (brake and final drive). Wiring is being thought through on paper, but isn't anywhere near the production stage. I'll be using one of Jim Bush's headlight relay kits, along with a prototype ignition relay kit.
I'd like to believe that it'll be on the road by August 15 - which is only a month behind schedule - but that date could slip too. What counts is that I'm still having fun, right?
