By Robert Beech
Chapter 2 - November 2002
What with going on holiday to China, Xmas round the corner, and a bout of extremely cold weather that has turned me off being on my hands and knees in the garage, well progress has been a little slower than I would have wished.
However here it is, one completed engine.
That is all except for the rocker cover which is away being ally welded, someone has been a little over enthusiastic pulling down the rocker cover nuts to the point where they have cracked the cover. The aluminium is quite ply-able so I have bumped out the distortion, and after welding I will have the mating faces licked up. Then it’s off to Stewarts to sort out the updated breathers. The rebuild on the engine went quite well except for replacing a bent valve, and the piston ring I smashed.
Fitting the head is a bit of a fiddle particularly the rear nut located inside the timing chest. It is very easy to drop a washer or the nut down into the engine, luckily they came out when I inverted the engine, I thought I was in for stripping it down again to retrieve the bits. The manual suggests that head removal and overall can be done while the engine is in the frame, I bet this is awkward. If you try it I suggest stuffing the timing chain slot full of rag before you attempt it. It could be difficult to invert the whole bike if you are as clumsy as I am at loosing bits.
Timing the engine was also fun I had fitted the fly wheel prior to the head, so was relying on the TDC mark on the fly wheel, but is this TDC on No1 or TDC for No2 Cylinder.
I had read the manual, but still fiddled about for 2 hours convincing my self that I was only one tooth out, moving it and then convincing my self that when the chain tensioner was applied it would pull everything back in line. I hate to admit it but I even contemplated ringing Stewarts up to ask how vertical did they mean the cam cog should be. You see I was trying to time it on No1 not No 2, when this sunk into my thick skull, and I actually did as the manual suggested i.e. dropped the top cog, rotate the engine one turn, then everything was cock on. I still haven’t worked out why one TDC is different from the other, but all now is in line and vertical where it should be vertical so who cares.
Bet there is some expert out there reading this who thinks I am a right plonker