New rings, valves/seals - compression lower than it was!

Yeah. But I hope not. :?

On the plus side, my vendor (Old Britts) is allowing me to return the standard size rings (new and unused in original boxes) for credit. Thank you Fred and Ella!

Still struggling to get the carbon off the heads. Single bladed razor took off the "chunkage," but the rest is resisting. Have soaked in SeaFoam, brake cleaner, water, and now mineral spirits, trying to soften it, but so far no joy.

I'll not be stymied, though, one way or another!

On the Mick Hemmings video, he recommended scotchbrite for removing carbon from the pistons, I imagine it would work as good for the head, no? But softening it is a good idea. I use copious amounts of carb cleaner too.

Dave
69S

They're pretty clean now! I used mineral spirits, let em soak for a few hours, then went at them with a "medium" grit polishing head on my Dremel. You could use the intake valves to shave in, the exhausts still have a little (whitish, not black) crust on them but I'm not gonna push it further, and the chambers themselves are clean. Overall, a big improvement.

Oversize rings will hopefully be here by the weekend and I can use that time to button it back up. Unless the weather is nice, in which case I'll ride another bike and get back to this when it's crappy out again. "Nice" thing about New England is I know I won't have to wait long for that....

Really hope I've cured its ills but I'm glad for the experience of going in and poking about. Really easy so far. Wish me luck on getting the heads back on and pushrods aligned....