Close, but No Cigar!
I had some surprises upon reassembly when installing the cylinders. There are two rubber pieces that sit on top of a cut away section of the adjuster main wheel axle. As I worked everything down over the studs, these worked loose (a result of me pulling up on the cam chain) and fell down into the motor. A cacophony of cursing and crying followed, but I eventually found one directly below the oil drain hole on the benchtop; miraculously it must have fallen into the engine case and right out the bottom, which was still unplugged. I didn't see the other one, so I stuck my finger in the drain hole and felt something just inside the lip. I carefully worked it out, and what I found was not the other rubber piece, but another part of the destroyed chain guide pin! I thought I had flushed all the bits out. This was a very lucky accident, as that metal piece of the pin would have wreaked havoc if it had worked its way into the oil channels or gears later on. Relieved to have found that pin, I now returned to the problem of the missing rubber piece. Looking down into the motor, I spied it laying on top of the crank and luckily was able to work a needle-nosed plier down into there to extract it. Finally, I got back to installing the cylinders whereupon one of the little rascals fell in again! More cursing ensued, but this time I spied the little bit resting on top of wheel, trapped there by the chain tension. Finally, I was able to rescue it and got the cylinders down without further incident. I ended up installing the new head gasket as-is. I had a moment of trepidation because of its poor fit. The metal ring around the cylinder opening was close to sticking into the space. After getting the head and cam case on, I decided perhaps I should not use the new gasket so dismantled it again. Getting back down to the head gasket I checked carefully, and though it was close the ring, it did not intrude on the cylinder space, so I left it alone and resintalled the head and cam case. I've already mentioned the poorly fitting head gasket with inprecisely drilled holes, but also the gasket that sits under the cylinders, against the engine case, was completely useless; the holes for the cylinders were cut to the inner diamter of the sleeves, instead of the outer and would not slip over them. I made an attempt at recutting them, when I remembered that when I had recently redone the gaskets from the head up I had not removed the cylinders, so I still had that gasket and was able to use that instead. There is supposed to be an o-ring to seal the oil filter cover, but this set only supplied a paper gasket, which I did not use. Also, this set was missing the top gasket that sits right under the cam case cover and above the metal plate that goes between them. Luckily, my old one was compeltely intact and resuable. Speaking of crappy gaskets; this is the set to avoid.
I was enjoying the reassembly when I picked up the tensioner mechanism to reinstall it. Let that be a lesson to me—always check everything, not just the stuff that is obviously broken. I missed this crack that goes all the way across the tensioner bar pad (pushes against the rear tensioner wheel frame). If I had been more attentive I would have seen this when I first inspected the motor and a new one would be here, ready to go in now. Instead, I once again am waiting for a part. Luckily, I found one last Sunday and it should be here today.
While waiting for its replacement I went ahead and temporarily installed the old one, enabling me to adjust the valves and timing. Before doing that I had to install the new starter clutch that came attached to a rotor. The rotor looked in better shape than my old one and the timing marks all line up the same as on mine so I just installed the whole assembly, rather than mess with removing the clutch and installing it on the old rotor. With time on my hands until the new tensioner comes, yesterday I turned my attention to the stator wiring harness. When I had pulled the motor, the cylinder shaped connector that joined the stator wires to the the bike's electrics had come close to disintegrating in my hand. The old brittle plastic, which held four wires, crumbled as I pulled the two halves apart. So, ran out to the auto parts store in search of some kind of connector that would work. I finally decided on some waterproof bullet connectors. In the garage, I broke apart what was left of the connector and attached the wires to the new bullet connectors, making very sure to mark them for color, as two of the wires did not connect to the same colors on both sides. I wanted something I could solder the wires into, but could not find anything but crimp style, so when I pulled the wires I kept them attached to their soldered connectors, which just slipped into the new ones. I then crimped them well and heated the shrink wrap sleeves around the wires behind the connectors. Ought to work peachy.
Today could be the day for finishing this up if the tensioner arrives. I might have to wait for an extra hand to help reinstall the motor, but at least it will be ready to go in. With any luck, I should be able to take a ride on her this weekend.
Cheers,
Road Dog
"Ride Your Own Ride"
