So a blue faced speedo is a good sign...and a green faced one bad... I'll double check what I have.
But, as there was utter rubbish on the TV last night, after feeding my face, I sloped off to the shed again for a bit more on the engine. Now have it stripped down to the head, and the dreaded ....oil jets. I am also at the point where I really need some expert advice.
Here's todays update on the tale of my hefty motor.
When I last looked, the cam cover was off, and I was greeted by a pleasantly oily sight. This was good, as it implied there was oil up here....but as I do not intend on doing the motor hokey-cokey...when it goes in...it's staying in! So I needed to check further down.
The motor felt a bit better on compression for an overnight oil soak, but that joy still awaits...
All came apart nice and easy, aside from one of the outer cam cap bolts. It felt a bit stiff when I undid it. No sign of alloy pickup on the thread, but it is something I will want to have a look at before it all goes together. I read the instructions about the cam position....and set it carefully...before realising I had to remove the rocker shafts first, as even with the tappet adjusters loosened, the cam was under load from at least one point at all times. So...out with the rockers, taking great care to position everything so the same bits go where they came from when I rebuild. All 4 slid out smoothly and looked oily and smooth.
I can see the wear patch where it contacts the cam, but they all look pretty even and there is no sign of scoring or damage. Hopefully it means either the previous owners actually adjusted the valve clearances...or else it never needed it.....yeah....right.
Removed the camchain tensioner once I had the cam aligned as per the book....line horizontal...cutout to the top....OK...now I can't get a socket on the cam gear bolts. Found a spanner I could fit in, and undid them. The book says.. 'the lower screw will just clear the head'. It does. What it doesn't say is that it's only about 10mm long and if it slips, it's going right down the cmachain tunnel. In goes the emergency 'save' rag but the bolt was removed without drama. Why.....for the love of god...not have the bolts on a horizontal plane where both were easy to get at? Oh well...
With the camchain cable tied to a point of safety, out came the cam. Wiggled off the cam gear and manouvered out of the way.
Cam gear and bolts were stuck back together loosely, so I don't lose them. Always put the bolt back in the 'ole...I was told as a lad. Then you know where it goes.
My motor now looks like this. I noticed a distinctive scratch on the paint UNDER one of the carriers. Wasn't me....wonder how that got there....Had me checking for screwdriver marks all around the cam carriers in case someone thought that was the correct way to shift well settled parts. A few gentle taps with the palm of the hand, and a wiggle or two...and up they came for me.
I will have to clean out hte plug recesses...as the newly revealed holes in the casting had cobwebs in them.....Plugs back in....followed by a clean and a blast with the air line methinks.
Now for the questions....
On the motor...everything is labelled left/right based on the engine in the frame and the riders view when sat on board. I thought. Is this right? The cam was that way round...when viewed from the front the 'R' was to the left. On the cam carriers, I had the right side labelled '30' in small engraved numbers and the left '25'. Each of the cam caps was also labelled 25 and 30 respectively with either an R or an L....but as I looked from the front....the L's were to my left....or the bikes right? Has someone swapped them round....and should I leave them or swap them back?
Secondly....while the caps were perfect with just some signs of overall buffing ( matt looking rather than shiny )
I could see some signs of scoring on the lower sections. Is this too bad to use? Can it be sorted? Are replacements as hard to find as they seem? I looked at a few used sets on E-Bay and they made mine look like new....
Last, in my barrage of questions is the oil jets. The picture shows the engines left hand side, with the outer jet full of black oil, and the inner jet clean. The other side was the same. Is this how they should be? They don't appear blocked, but I need to remove them to really tell. How do I get them out? I guess the black ring around them used to be an o-ring...but it is so hardened with age I am not sure. Do I have to get them out and replace.....or should they just pop out?
That was where I left it for the night, with the next big job being lifting the head.
But I shall end with an amusing tale. ......
I had a mate with one of these back in the day. He had to replace the cam carriers after the top end went rattly. He found a lot of the bolts holding the carriers down had stripped threads, and invested in a helicoil set to sort the issue. He had never used one...and I had, so I went round to help. The offending threads were soon sorted, and I told him to make REALLY sure all the swarf was cleaned out before he put it back together. No bother...and I told him to get a proper set of bolts, as the issue has been caused by non standard bolts holding it all together. They were too short....and each thread had lost the fight. Yeah...... Went round the next day and it was all back together. He proudly fired it up and it sounded lovely. After a few minutes of idling.....there was what sounded like a burst of machine gun fire...and the bike ground to a rattly halt.
...Did you clean out hte threads like I said? ...... yes
..what did you use? .....petrol
..did you dry it out before bolting up? .....why?
..did you use the correct bolts...nah....the old ones were OK
Arrgh.... each hole had been left with a little pocket of petrol to heat up and each bolt was only 5-10mm into the threads. Every bolt had torn out. A brand new pair of cam carriers went in the bin....
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) the lump down the garden to the shed, in much the same way as our primitive ancesters shifted the rocks to make stonehenge.....