Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
A Broken Heart
OK, where do I begin? I borrowed a compression gauge from Autozone because I wanted to see if low compression was causing my idling problems. Nixon is also burning oil so I figured the rings were worn. I got reading of 130-135 psi in each cylinder. I was told it should be around 180 and anything below 150 warranted new rings. So, I figured I could ride it the rest of the summer and replace the rings and hone the cylinders this winter, since that means pulling the engine off of the bike. But first, I had to fix this pesky oil leak from the ignition housing.
I may get a bit technical here so if you don't care, just skip this part. I actually didn't know about all of these parts until I opened it up. I ordered a new gasket for ignition housing. When it arrived, I took the housing off, and discovered that the housing also acted as the bushing that the exhaust cam spins in. So I took the housing off and cleaned the mating surfaces and gave them a light sanding and cleaned them with some denatured alcohol. I spread a thin film of gasket glue on both surfaces and then put the gasket on the engine. I then put the ignition housing back on and sliding cam back in the bushing. But, it wouldn't go all the way back on. There was about an 1/8th of an inch gap between the housing and the head. Hmmmm. It was kind of tight when I pulled it off. I tapped on it a couple times to coxe it in. Nothing. I started turning the screws and the seemed to be closing the gap. They were kind of hard to turn, but as long as I kept going around the bolt pattern, the housing continued to go on. I finally got the housing all the way on and put the rest of the ignition parts back on.
Since I had take one of the valve clearance locking nuts off to get the housing off, I had to reset the valve clearance. This is where everything started to go wrong. I took the altnernator cover off so I could rotate the engine. Oil started gushing out. Normally, this doesn't happen. In fact, you have to have this cover off when you set the timing so only a little oil sprays out. But this time, it kept coming and coming. I had to scramble to catch it all and all I had was paper towels and plastic grocery bags. I seemed to have that under control and then noticed that one of the grocery bags had let the oil through and it was now all over the garage floor. Unfortunatley, my garage is carpeted with industrial carpet (don't ask) so the oil made quite a mess. After I had that as clean as I could get it, I went back to setting the valve clearance. I got the valve cover off and checked the valve clearance. There was A LOT of clearance. Hmmmmmm. I tried rotating the engine and it was very hard. And, I didn't see the valve move. Uh-oh. That's when I noticed it. I could see the end of the valve. I shouldn't be able to see that. The cam follower was supposed to be on in. Where was it? It was NEXT to it! Huh? I took the ignition parts off again and started to take the ignition housing off. I heard a loud pop and the cam follower popped up and sat partly on the valve. I took the housing off and the cam follower fell off next to the valve. I managed to get everything reassembled the way it was supposed to be and the housing went on all the way easily. But now the cam follower was only slightly sitting on the end of the valve and that's when I realized exactly what I had done.
I BENT THE VALVE! When I took the housing off, that allowed the cam to shift a little, and the cam follower fell off of the valve. I didn't see this because the valve cover was still on. When I put the housing back on, the cam follower got stuck between the valve and the cam bushing. When I forced the housing on, the bushing pushed the follower which pushed the valve to the side which bent it. Engines don't run with bent valves. I'm screwed.
So now, I have to take the engine off of the bike and take it apart and replace the valve, the valve guide and probably a bunch of other parts. Since I'll have it apart, I might as well redo the rings and cylinders. So, it looks like I won't be riding for awhile. I have no idea how long it will take to do all of this work. Oh well. I bought this bike so I could learn how to work on engines, so I guess now is my chance. I was just hoping to get a good riding season out of her first.
I may get a bit technical here so if you don't care, just skip this part. I actually didn't know about all of these parts until I opened it up. I ordered a new gasket for ignition housing. When it arrived, I took the housing off, and discovered that the housing also acted as the bushing that the exhaust cam spins in. So I took the housing off and cleaned the mating surfaces and gave them a light sanding and cleaned them with some denatured alcohol. I spread a thin film of gasket glue on both surfaces and then put the gasket on the engine. I then put the ignition housing back on and sliding cam back in the bushing. But, it wouldn't go all the way back on. There was about an 1/8th of an inch gap between the housing and the head. Hmmmm. It was kind of tight when I pulled it off. I tapped on it a couple times to coxe it in. Nothing. I started turning the screws and the seemed to be closing the gap. They were kind of hard to turn, but as long as I kept going around the bolt pattern, the housing continued to go on. I finally got the housing all the way on and put the rest of the ignition parts back on.
Since I had take one of the valve clearance locking nuts off to get the housing off, I had to reset the valve clearance. This is where everything started to go wrong. I took the altnernator cover off so I could rotate the engine. Oil started gushing out. Normally, this doesn't happen. In fact, you have to have this cover off when you set the timing so only a little oil sprays out. But this time, it kept coming and coming. I had to scramble to catch it all and all I had was paper towels and plastic grocery bags. I seemed to have that under control and then noticed that one of the grocery bags had let the oil through and it was now all over the garage floor. Unfortunatley, my garage is carpeted with industrial carpet (don't ask) so the oil made quite a mess. After I had that as clean as I could get it, I went back to setting the valve clearance. I got the valve cover off and checked the valve clearance. There was A LOT of clearance. Hmmmmmm. I tried rotating the engine and it was very hard. And, I didn't see the valve move. Uh-oh. That's when I noticed it. I could see the end of the valve. I shouldn't be able to see that. The cam follower was supposed to be on in. Where was it? It was NEXT to it! Huh? I took the ignition parts off again and started to take the ignition housing off. I heard a loud pop and the cam follower popped up and sat partly on the valve. I took the housing off and the cam follower fell off next to the valve. I managed to get everything reassembled the way it was supposed to be and the housing went on all the way easily. But now the cam follower was only slightly sitting on the end of the valve and that's when I realized exactly what I had done.
I BENT THE VALVE! When I took the housing off, that allowed the cam to shift a little, and the cam follower fell off of the valve. I didn't see this because the valve cover was still on. When I put the housing back on, the cam follower got stuck between the valve and the cam bushing. When I forced the housing on, the bushing pushed the follower which pushed the valve to the side which bent it. Engines don't run with bent valves. I'm screwed.
So now, I have to take the engine off of the bike and take it apart and replace the valve, the valve guide and probably a bunch of other parts. Since I'll have it apart, I might as well redo the rings and cylinders. So, it looks like I won't be riding for awhile. I have no idea how long it will take to do all of this work. Oh well. I bought this bike so I could learn how to work on engines, so I guess now is my chance. I was just hoping to get a good riding season out of her first.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
What a QT
Nixon has been behaving pretty well lately, besides the growing oil leak from the points housing, so I rode her into work again this past Friday. It was a really nice ride into work in the morning. Kind of cool and the traffic wasn't too bad. She died right as I was pulling into my parking spot. So at lunch I went out to check the spark plugs. I could only get the left one out with my mini plug wrench I keep in the toolbox on the bike. It was black and sooty. I know it blows some smoke when it is running, so I think it is burning oil. Sometime in the next few weeks I will do a compression check to see just how bad the piston rings are. I am guessing that low compression is the reason she is not running as well as she could.
The ride home started out pretty nice. I took the long way home through some of the nice neighborhoods of East Cobb. Track my route on Google Maps! I went over across Paper Mill and then up Johnson's Ferry. I rode by my friend Shawn's house to check out is yard (the roses are in bloom) even though I knew he wasn't home. On the way up JF, with all of the stop lights, I started getting pretty hot. I had my leather jacket on for protection. Sitting atop a running air cooled engine in 80° weather at a light with a heavy leather jacket on can sure heat you up. I headed over across Shallowford Rd and end up in downtown Roswell (where the pic below was taken). I decided to stop at a gas station there to get a drink and try and cool off. I had $1.05 and the cheapest drink they had was $1.06. I got back on the bike, thirstier than ever and continued home, rolling slowly through historic downtown Roswell. When I got to the next major intersection, I found what I was looking for, the QT! They have a huge selection of fountain drinks, slushies and coffee that are really cheap. I got myself a cold beverage and hung out in the parking lot like a hoodlum until I was done. I cruised the rest of the way home feeling much better.
The ride home started out pretty nice. I took the long way home through some of the nice neighborhoods of East Cobb. Track my route on Google Maps! I went over across Paper Mill and then up Johnson's Ferry. I rode by my friend Shawn's house to check out is yard (the roses are in bloom) even though I knew he wasn't home. On the way up JF, with all of the stop lights, I started getting pretty hot. I had my leather jacket on for protection. Sitting atop a running air cooled engine in 80° weather at a light with a heavy leather jacket on can sure heat you up. I headed over across Shallowford Rd and end up in downtown Roswell (where the pic below was taken). I decided to stop at a gas station there to get a drink and try and cool off. I had $1.05 and the cheapest drink they had was $1.06. I got back on the bike, thirstier than ever and continued home, rolling slowly through historic downtown Roswell. When I got to the next major intersection, I found what I was looking for, the QT! They have a huge selection of fountain drinks, slushies and coffee that are really cheap. I got myself a cold beverage and hung out in the parking lot like a hoodlum until I was done. I cruised the rest of the way home feeling much better.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Getting Buff
In preperation for the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC) show this past weekend, I wanted to finally get my side covers on. Unfortunately, I was missing a few pieces. There are two long posts that screw into the battery box, and help hold the side covers out in the correct position. They also hold the stock air filters on, but I don't have those. I couldn't find any for sale on ebay so I put the word out on the "Do The Ton" motorcycle forum. A very generous guy from Seattle sent me some of his extras from his parts bike. He actually sent me two sets. I ended up sending the second set to a guy in California that needed them as well.
One of my side covers that I got with the bike is chrome, so I just left it like that for now. The other one was an ugly sparkley blue color. I used a wire wheel and stripped all of the paint off of the outside. I then sanded it a couple times with different sand papers, then a scotchbrite pad, and finally some very fine steel wool with some metal polish. I cleaned it with some denatured alcohol and then painted it with some clear high heat engine enamel paint. As I was painting it, I saw that I was getting some major runs. So I quickly cleaned all of the still wet paint off and tried again. This time I did a couple light coats. It turned out really nice as you can see in the bottom picture below. I plan on eventually taking all of the sheet metal down to this brushed steel look, including the tank (which I need to get a new one because the current one is rusted through and leaks a little). I also bought some side cover emblems on ebay for about $10 and got the hardware needed to mount the side covers at Home Depot. The stock bushing that you are supposed to use are available on ebay for about $20. Instead, I got some rubber washers and some vinyl tubing that will do the same thing for a couple bucks.
The actual bike show wasn't exactly what I expected. They were looking for pristine or restored original bikes. Not modded cafe racers. But I had fun, saw some awesome bikes and met some cool people. It was in Marietta so it was a good 40 minute ride over to there. Since Nixon was in the show, I had to stay there the whole time so I got kind of bored (and hot) at the end. I didn't win any awards, but I wasn't really expecting to.
See my pictures from the VJMC Show May 9, 2009
One of my side covers that I got with the bike is chrome, so I just left it like that for now. The other one was an ugly sparkley blue color. I used a wire wheel and stripped all of the paint off of the outside. I then sanded it a couple times with different sand papers, then a scotchbrite pad, and finally some very fine steel wool with some metal polish. I cleaned it with some denatured alcohol and then painted it with some clear high heat engine enamel paint. As I was painting it, I saw that I was getting some major runs. So I quickly cleaned all of the still wet paint off and tried again. This time I did a couple light coats. It turned out really nice as you can see in the bottom picture below. I plan on eventually taking all of the sheet metal down to this brushed steel look, including the tank (which I need to get a new one because the current one is rusted through and leaks a little). I also bought some side cover emblems on ebay for about $10 and got the hardware needed to mount the side covers at Home Depot. The stock bushing that you are supposed to use are available on ebay for about $20. Instead, I got some rubber washers and some vinyl tubing that will do the same thing for a couple bucks.
The actual bike show wasn't exactly what I expected. They were looking for pristine or restored original bikes. Not modded cafe racers. But I had fun, saw some awesome bikes and met some cool people. It was in Marietta so it was a good 40 minute ride over to there. Since Nixon was in the show, I had to stay there the whole time so I got kind of bored (and hot) at the end. I didn't win any awards, but I wasn't really expecting to.
See my pictures from the VJMC Show May 9, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Loser
I entered Nixon in her first auto show on Friday. They had a car/bike show at work to raise money for the March of Dimes. She isn't all that pretty yet, but she is an antique. Besides, it was a good excuse to ride her into work and donate a little money to charity. The ride in was fairly nice. The sun had just come up so it was still pretty cool and the traffic wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It took about 45 minutes to get to work, including a fuel stop.
There were some nice cars at the show, including a couple Porsches, an NSX, a triumph, old corvette and beetle. The only other bikes there were a couple of gaudy HDs. Nixon didn't win anything, but I had a good time talking to other guys about there cars and my bike. We aren't allowed to take pictures at work, so I don't have anything to show.
The ride home was not as enjoyable as the ride to work. By that time, it had gotten up above 85 and the traffic was terrible. I had my heavy leather jacket on so I got pretty sweatty sitting at all of the red lights with the heat coming up off of the engine. At a few of the longer lights, I shut the bike off to try to keep it from overheating. I'm not sure why yet, but she tends to die if I sit at a red light idling too long. I may just need to get the carbs dialed in.
The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club show is coming up in a couple of weeks in Marietta and I expect to see lots of cool bikes there. I also just ordered a new phone with a 3MP camera, so hopefully my pictures will be much better soon.
There were some nice cars at the show, including a couple Porsches, an NSX, a triumph, old corvette and beetle. The only other bikes there were a couple of gaudy HDs. Nixon didn't win anything, but I had a good time talking to other guys about there cars and my bike. We aren't allowed to take pictures at work, so I don't have anything to show.
The ride home was not as enjoyable as the ride to work. By that time, it had gotten up above 85 and the traffic was terrible. I had my heavy leather jacket on so I got pretty sweatty sitting at all of the red lights with the heat coming up off of the engine. At a few of the longer lights, I shut the bike off to try to keep it from overheating. I'm not sure why yet, but she tends to die if I sit at a red light idling too long. I may just need to get the carbs dialed in.
The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club show is coming up in a couple of weeks in Marietta and I expect to see lots of cool bikes there. I also just ordered a new phone with a 3MP camera, so hopefully my pictures will be much better soon.
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