Engine rebuild

[tony.mon]

Cost?
Well, I already had the spare crankcases, from a bike I broke for spares last year. That engine was low mileage, but was jumping out of second, and had cct failure/bent valves on the front pot so I've used the crank that goes with the cases, as the mains and big ends are still good, but my own gearbox and selectors.
Costs so far are less than £200 for the usuals, head gaskets, 2 sets of rings, new valve seals, copper exhaust compressible O rings, big end bolts, a new clutch centre nut and a clutch pushrod seal.

Oh, and oil, coolant and a filter, obviously.

The welding on the crankcase boss was a tenner for cash, and the local rebore place deglazed the bores for a tenner cash, too.

So far this is my seventh solid day doing it, it looks to be finished tomorrow, unless anything else unexpected gets remembered in the night!

Then just the front end rebuild to go, refresh fork oil and fit new taper rollers, current ones are just starting to feel slightly notchy....Maybe the weekend after the workshop day.

Or I might just ride it a bit

[seb421]

Cost?
Well, I already had the spare crankcases, from a bike I broke for spares last year. That engine was low mileage, but was jumping out of second, and had cct failure/bent valves on the front pot so I've used the crank that goes with the cases, as the mains and big ends are still good, but my own gearbox and selectors.
Costs so far are less than £200 for the usuals, head gaskets, 2 sets of rings, new valve seals, copper exhaust compressible O rings, big end bolts, a new clutch centre nut and a clutch pushrod seal.

Oh, and oil, coolant and a filter, obviously.

The welding on the crankcase boss was a tenner for cash, and the local rebore place deglazed the bores for a tenner cash, too.

So far this is my seventh solid day doing it, it looks to be finished tomorrow, unless anything else unexpected gets remembered in the night!

Then just the front end rebuild to go, refresh fork oil and fit new taper rollers, current ones are just starting to feel slightly notchy....Maybe the weekend after the workshop day.

Or I might just ride it a bit

Will it always be a labour of love or do you ever think about turning the hobby into a business mate?

[tony.mon]

Nope, never professional.
You lose interest if it's just for money.
I like a day job that funds the bike nonsense when I'm NOT working.

I did join Hagon to learn how to spoke and build wheels, though, many years back and only for six or eight months.
It just annoyed me that I couldn't do it. SHortly after, pretty much everythign had Comstars or cast wheels


Except, maybe if I win the lottery I would probably buy a workshop, dyno and titanium welding gear, and spend my days making and testing race exhausts.
That seems like a project worth playing with; a lot of black art to learn there...

Anyway, who'd trust someone who left a circlip out of their own engine?
(back in now, though)

[AMCQ46]

so your sleeping brain saved the day..............it is an amasing thing that it can do that..........told you to trust it

[tony.mon]

What my sleeping brain didn't do was to tell me to not round off one of the new big end bolts off when tightening it.... so had to buy another new one to fit.
Bugger.

However the bigger problem was that coolant is leaking out as I'm trying to fill it.... The engine mounting boss at the top edge of the crankcase, the top edge of the coolant chamber where the coolant pump bolts on, has had a knock at some stage, and won't seal against the clutch cover.
A bit of liquid metal should fill the gap; filing that down flat in situ won't be easy but I don't feel inclined to take the engine out again now.

Getting bored with this now, not helped by the fact that I pulled off the clutch cover to check it; forgetting that I'd already filled it with fresh oil-- Doh!

At least the garage floor won't rust.

So I'm sulking at the moment, so will have another look on Saturday.

[Duffy1964]

Hey Tony, I thought it was only me who spilled oil on your floor mate.

Keep plugging away, you know it will be worth it in the end.

I have been blasting mine about all day and still grinning.

[AMCQ46]

Hate it when you hit all the little niggles, they start to gang up on you

Only cure is to walk away have a cup of tea and sneak up on them when they are not looking

[sirch345]

Anyway, who'd trust someone who left a circlip out of their own engine?
(back in now, though)

This had just come back into my mind, I wondered how you'd got on, so I thought I'd better have a look. How lucky was that Well worth the extra work.

Chris.

[tony.mon]

All back together and running, sounds ok but had me worried- a little metallic tapping noise at engine speed which wasn't going away when the clutch was pulled in, but turned out to be an exhaust leak, ran it around for a couple of hours to see what would fall off or stop working. So far a possibly sticky neutral light is all there is, so all good.
Feels strong...

The clutch cover side will be apart again in a couple of weeks once I finish thinking about the grabby clutch mod and put what I hope will be a permanent fix in.

And wire in the indicator mirrors (ran out of bullet connectors, although the tails are all soldered and heat shrunk, ready to connect.

And fit the semi flush front indicators.

And play with setting up the MWR Racing filter.

And I should really get the front intake valve clearances into the centre of the range- didn't have exactly the right shims, now ordered, though.

Oh, and the MOT runs out this coming weekend.....

And then I expect I'll get on to start another little project..... It don't stop, do it?

[agentpineapple]

you've pretty much got there mate, now get out and ride the tits off it.......
oh and by the way, i'd trust you to tinker with my bikes internals anyday, so hurry up with the mwr filter project

[sirch345]

All back together and running, sounds ok but had me worried- a little metallic tapping noise at engine speed which wasn't going away when the clutch was pulled in, but turned out to be an exhaust leak, ran it around for a couple of hours to see what would fall off or stop working. So far a possibly sticky neutral light is all there is, so all good.
Feels strong...

Excellent, good man
Don't you just luv it when something like your metallic tapping noise appears after all the blood, sweat and tears have gone into rebuilding an engine. Glad it was nothing more than a leaky exhaust.

Chris.

[VTRDark]

I have just read through the entire thread, and thouraghly enjoyed it. What an intersting read,

Well done Tony Good work.. It is a funny old world, funny old world indeed. Kent Cams! that made me chucckle, blast from the past. I fitted a stage 1 in my Cortina years ago

Exhaust valves had loads of bits of carbon on them, meaning that they weren't seating properly. Piston crowns aren't too grubby, but maybe it's been running rich- who knows?

Bit more than a decoke then Considering the efforts and amount of time you have gone to, I am suprised you had the old valves re-ground. Why did you not just replace them.

Well I now know there's no point in modding my air filter, so will wait for the Ram Air project

Thanks for all your research/efforts and posting your results for us, most apreciated and good luck with the new job mate.

Well done

(:-})

[tony.mon]

Considering the efforts and amount of time you have gone to, I am suprised you had the old valves re-ground. Why did you not just replace them.

Well I now know there's no point in modding my air filter, so will wait for the Ram Air project

and good luck with the new job mate.

Well done

(:-})

Actually I had the seats cut to a racing spec five-angle seat, and then lapped in the old valves, as the valves weren't worn, just the seats.
Seat seal thickness ended up at about 1mm ll round, so acceptable.

Job's going well, thanks.
You wouldn't believe what my office looks like- marbled floor, columns, chef and restaurant, swimming pool, gym and bistro. Actually, it's hard to come home some days....
(and they call it work....)

[lloydie]

regards to the cams that you had reground do you think it was worth it?
ive picked up a set of standard ones off benny ,
i was going to run 4 exhaust cams but after limited research ive found its not worth it so not wanting to let these cams go the waist i thought about getting them reground to gain better performance .
your help would be great

[gl_s_r]

As a question on my behalf, who decides on the actual cam profiles then and if you had a chance to generate your own profile how do you decide what you would exactly like with regards to lift duration etc and then translate that to a profile?