Water in Engine

Well the time came to shit or get off the pot. So I took a shit and bought a replacement engine for this bike. I started looking through the parts needed to refresh the water logged engine, and having already purchased a complete top end I realized that I had just scratched the surface in terms of parts. Also, it was going to take me a while as I tend to grind through projects rather than dash, and I really want to be riding by the end of the year. I did my homework, spoke with a few sellers, and am reasonably confident in the engine I am buying. Plus, as a bonus I have been cleaning up all the side covers and misc bits from my original engine so I have plenty of spares. I am also rebuilding the carbs one at a time, and so far other than seals and gaskets the hard parts are coming out really nicely, especially after taking a brass brush to them and hitting everything with Nev-R-Dull. Soon my pet...
Oh yeah, the carbs being separated from the rack, and will be wet setting the floats, and once the engine is in and running with adjusted valves and tuned/synced then I will sort the chassis items like brakes and suspension (blah blah blah, everyone here knows that old song and dance).
Cosmetics are a secondary concern for me, that may or may not happen eventually.

 

Looks like you got there ......

 

Yeah, when it is all said and done I have plenty of projects, I need something thats rideable.

 

Well two carbs thoroughly cleaned and re-racked, one in the sonic bath and one awaiting disassembly. New throttle shaft seals going in as I reassemble. I will need to get bowl gaskets. So far the diaphragms and all the hard parts have been in good condition, just coated in mung so the cleaning has been all thats necessary. I have an old mirror I am going to use to align them once all four are ready, and then bench sync and build a rack for setting the floats.
Also, my engine will ship tomorrow, very excited to see it later this week. That plus I ordered some new bushings and a shaft for my edger (I like working on lawn equipment too) so I have that to look forward to. Everything is coming up Milhouse!

 

nice. you should be up and riding in short order.....(as soon as you're done with your frame replacement)

dave

 

Easy peazey!

Actually, dressing up the frame a bit is in order, if nothing more than hitting the nooks and crannies with a nylon brush on the Dremel to clean out the dirt and grime and whatever rust points there are.

 

Clean #'s 3&4, #2 is in pieces in the sonic bath and #1 is checking out his cleaned brethren.

 

Entertaining and informative thread.

 

BTW before anyone says something, I realize that the bowls are not in their correct locations. Alas this is the enduring legacy of an ill-informed Previous Owner (PO for short) and I am merely keeping the carbs together as I took them apart. Once I get some new bowl gaskets and get ready to wet set the floats, I will put the bowls on the correct carbs so all the drain screws face out. In fact, I need to drill out the drain screw on #1.

 

Make sure to get a set of new top caps for the carbs.... Chacal now has them... I got set from him last year and only the people who have come to the carb clinics have been allowed the privilege of seeing them. They're incredible.

 

Are you referring to the steel lids on top of the diaphragms and springs? Why would I replace them, they keep in the vacuum!

 

they look like they belong in a jewelry store, Bling with a capital B

 

Why would you NOT replace them if you're wanting to make your carb rack look amazing!?!?

Pollock knows what he's talking about ---- he's one that got to see them

Dave

 

Pics pls. Ny is a little to far for a clinic for me or I would've gone.

 

Actually all things considered the caps look pretty good, even the chrome ones. Unfortunately the little shrouds or whatever they are a called that hang off the #1 & #4 carbs are wasted. I honestly think a PO must have hit them with a wire brush and ruined the chrome because they are so rusted compared to the rest of the bike. In fact, you can see one in that carb pictures, lying next to the enricher rod.
Again though, the cosmetics are a low priority for now, lemme get her riding again and I'll decide what to do about her ragged looks. Hell, my wife came out to the carhold last night and asked me if I was going to leave the fuel tank like it is (clear coat is flaking). So I guess a paint job is in the not too distant future.

 

did you put all the capscrews in the carb rails, too, or did a PO do that? That's a pretty good idea, too..........

dave

 

I replaced ALL the hardware on the carbs with stainless Allen heads, with either rounded head (butterfly plate, carb hats) or socket head (bowl, bowl drain, both rails). Makes it so much easier to tear apart if and when it becomes necessary in the he future. JIS screws can eat my nuts.

 

According to my tracking info, the engine should be here Thursday of this week.

 

Thank you, by the way. I have tons more pictures and have done a bunch of work not noted herein, I just don't want to load the thread with too many images or seem to wordy.

 

Alright, replacement engine is here in my car hold, it needs a little cleaning but is otherwise in good shape. I worked a looooong day yesterday and only had time to unload it from my truck and look it over so I didn't get a chance to pull the left crank cover and turn it over, but tonight I dive in.

 

then we expect to hear about your awesome ride that you take TOMORROW.......LOL

dave

 

Yeah, I've been reading the "Quick Fix" thread but so far no one is posting up any useful quick fixes, so I think the forum mods need to check it out and maybe lock it so it doesn't keep wasting bandwidth.

 

I'am so confused, is a car hold a garage or more like a carport. Never heard that one before.
But I've never been to Texas either

 

I figured it was the boot, or trunk.. oh whatever.. :roll:

 

Simpsons refrence.

 

Ding ding ding, we have a winner.

 

Here ya go



Yikes!

Soon my pet...

 

Carb question time. I am reassembling the final carb (#1 as it were) after thorough cleaning and noticed that, with new seals on both ends of the throttle shaft, the throttle plate sticks in an open position when I twist the shaft. I then proceeded to pull the throttle cable connection between #2&#3 (which 2-4 are back on the rack) and the throttles all stick in a partially open position, or to say it another way they don't return to a fully closed position.
Thoughts? I don't want to deal with a hanging idle condition when these all go back in the bike.

 

Did you mark the throttle plates to match them with the carbs before you took them off?

 

Disassembled/cleaned/reassembled the carbs one at a time, so I never had parts move between them. So yes, the throttle plates are in the correct carbs, and facing the correct way as well.

 

You need to use the balancing screws to get the all to match carb #3.

Put a straightened out paperclip in butterfly three. Now do the same thing on 4. Turn the vertical screw between 3&4 so that butterfly 4 has the same frictional resistances a 3. Leave those two clips there. Now put one in butterfly 1 and 2. Do the same thing with the vertical screw between 1&2. As needed, adjust the screw between 2&3 to get the 1/2 combo to feel the same as 3/4 combo. Once they are all even then remove the clips. See how it looks..... Should just a sliver of light at the bottoms of all four of them. The tops should just barely uncover one of the holes in the top of the bore.

If something is still hanging way open, you probably hooked a spring up wrong.

Congrats, you just performed your first bench sync. Now set the mixture screws to 2.5 turns out ( I give each one just a tweak more, like to 7 o'clock or 7 1/2 o'clock.

Put the carbs on and she should fire up once the carbs fill so gas.

Dave f

 

Ok, I wasn't sure if a bench sync would correct this. It was on my to-do list, but didn't want to fully lock down the rack if I needed to get to the throttle shafts again.

 

I think regardless of all I am going to pull the throttle shafts back out because I did not apply any silicone to the seals as per the numerous break down threads I have been reading. One step forward, two steps back...I am just glad I noticed this before I torqued everything in the rack.
After that, I have Dremel bits and wire brushes and degreaser and Goof-Off to start cleaning the grime off the new engine. It'll be a while before I get to put this engine in, but I want to do it one time and one time only.

 

Well all things considered it wasn't too tough to get everything back apart and grease those seals, and it made all the difference. In fact, upon taking out the fuel crossover pipes I noticed a couple of the o-rings had gotten damaged so I was able to fix that hidden danger, too.
Oh yeah, and some cleaning, I hate cleaning

 

Ah, and I also finished re-racking my carbs, next step is to do a bench sync. Then once the engine is cleaned, I can check and adjust the valves, order a new battery and put this puppy into the frame and maybe give it a test fire.

 

Fwiw, I have never had to put silicone on any throttle shaft seals, and a little lube with engine oil works fine for the fuel rail seals for me.

 

X3!

Allen screws solve can so many problems. HEADER SCREWS come to mind.

 

header studs might not be a good place for a bolt. sometimes the studs break but i think the threads in the head would strip a lot more if bolts were used.
if the studs break they were seized in the head just like a bolt would be.
besides, putting the pipes on would be a real trick if you couldn't hang the collars on anything, especially a 4/1 header.
get stainless studs and nuts and never have a problem again

 

Unless they are already broken or showing signs of corrosion, I am not in the habit of replacing exhaust studs.

 

Well, I was thinking generally on the one hand, but specifically automotive headers on the other, and not our Maxims. The studs are WAY better in this application.

 

Stoked! Ordered a bunch of bits and pieces from Len so I can finish wet setting my carbs and check valves. Gotta finish soda blasting the engine then do the valves, then refinish the valve cover and replace with new gasket and donuts, then into the bike she goes for tuning.

 

Nice!!!

 

Awesome job so far man

 

There is a lot left to do, in fact since I couldn't sleep last night I ran through the entire plan over and over again in my mind. Get it running and tuned, address suspension and brake maintenance, aluminum polishing, paint the tins, ride it for a while, maybe take the top end parts from the original engine and build a big bore kit, add a set of large carbs and a 4-1 pipe then dyno tune that setup, then test fit an 18" rear wheel from a Seca, maybe find some wire Virago wheels, look into TBI, maybe work out a small turbo, miraculously come across a set of original factory hard saddlebags (which may or may not even exist), find and install the higher backrest and luggage rack, add a TourTank, ride cross country several time, woo and marry Scarlett Johannson, should probably work that one out with my current wife first, oh yeah totally get in shape and win American Ninja Warrior,


I really need to sleep...

 

....and cut back on the Red Bulls....

 

Parts have arrived, although my dog assumed the package was for him and put a few bite marks in the box. Thanks Len.

 

And so the carbs are done. New needle seat filter screens, new bowl gaskets and floats set. I am now masking off the engine intake and exhaust ports in anticipation of soda blasting. Such fun!

 

Ok, so valves have been checked and found to be all within spec. New valve cover gasket, donuts all around, finished soda blasting the engine, soon the engine goes into the frame.

 

I'll be dipped. Digging through my box of parts from the original engine teardown, I came across something that I would swear was an emissions canister. Sure as shooting, my VIN includes the 1JJ00 code. So having swapped in a non-California engine, what is this going to do to me?

Also, would someone be able to post up a picture of the hose routing around the carbs? While I have them in hand, before everything goes into the frame I would like to hook up all the fuel and vacuum lines before I lose the ease of accessibility.

 

The canister is easy to hook up......

Assuming your original bike is a California one, you should have
The California carbs, too. They have an extra nipple that goes to the canister. The canister goes under the right side cover where the tool pouch would normally be. The return line from the canister goes to the nipple on the bottom of your tank. The tank has a tube inside it that traps the vapors I. The tank. The California tank is a non-vented-cap tank because of that. So, the California tank is a little different inside then the rest.

It you need more info, pm me