Week 5 Engine Work Begins!
Projects for the week
Oil pan check
Valve Cover Off
Spark Plug Check
Cams Out
Hardest part of the engine work so far was trying to find someone to help me get it up on the workbench. All my friends that are in town were unavailable and the wife and I couldn’t get it done (though it was hilarious to try). I spotted my neighbor smoking a cigarette outside and he was my next victim to help out
. After it was up on the table I wasn’t sure how to support it. I know in the automotive world the oil pan is pretty weak but on a motorcycle it looks to be pretty solid - just don’t want to break any fins. You’ll see in the photos below as I work on the motor I have a few variations as to how I stabilize it for work. I’m jealous of the SOHC guys who have engine holders available to them online. Another good reason for me to learn how to weld…eventually
First part of the engine I wanted to check was the oil pan. Thankfully there were no metal shavings in the oil - just a bunch of sludge (as expected on an older engine that sat for awhile). Since I plan to rebuild the engine I would like to run a magnetic drain plug just in case theres some self-tolerancing that occurs post-build. Hopefully not much of course.
After the pan was off I noticed that the bottom of the engine was pretty flat without the pan so I put some 2x4s (as pictured) below the engine to keep it straight up and down and easy to work on. I figured it would be a little disorienting to work on the engine with a slight tilt to it all the time…we’ll see.
Since I’m rebuilding the top end I don’t think the spark plugs will tell me much as they’ll be replaced in the end along with seals/rings/etc. All plugs looked pretty good with the exception of cylinder 4 (they’re laid out in order 1,2,3,4 in the below pics). I took a picture to document just in case anyways…
My end goal is to paint the engine black and have new stainless steel hardware. I can’t deal with the JIS screws. I know some people swear by them but it’s just asking for the bolt to be stripped and ruined in my opinion. Especially the old rusty ones.
The clymer says the first step is to line up the crank with the T markings so I had to document this as well just in case I forgot later on if I did it or not. We’re on our way to rebuilding an engine - this felt like the moment of no return.
While working on the engine and performing the above checks, the workbench quickly got pretty oily. I was at Home Depot and thought it might be a good idea to grab some toolbox drawer liner so I can use it as a spot to remove and inspect engine parts before putting them on the now dirty/oily workbench. Turned out to be a pretty helpful idea and pretty cheap.
While working on the engine I had to take a step back and admire my workshop setup. Just a little over a month ago this was a dirty/dusty/dim basement with no real purpose. Now it feels fully transformed into a nice amateur workshop for me to get this project done. Not bad progress in about 5 weeks time! I plan to bag and tag all components and place them in chronological order for reassembly - aka the last thing taken out of the engine will be right next to the engine while the valve cover will be further away as it’s the last to go on at the completion of the build. I even have some bags labeled with the page/chapter number with the instructions where they were taken out….I think I’m being a bit too detailed here.
I got both cams out of the engine with little issue. I moved painfully slow because I do not want to break any hardware or potentially ding the cams etc. I stuffed some rags in the middle of the engine so I do not drop and hardware into the case but it is still pretty nerve racking to have, what feels like, an open wound ready for debris to fall into. With that said, please excuse my wrench that is being used as a cam chain holder while I disassemble. I promise it is being used gently! I didn’t have any properly sized wood pieces or anything sturdy enough to hold up the cam chain to keep it from falling in the case.
Fieldnotes:
Engine is
still dirty even after a good cleaning
Engine is pretty stable on the bench but torquing bolts might cause it to shift and be an issue
Drawer liner on workbench was genius
Engine components bagged and tagged and placed in chronological order
Upcoming:
Valve Head Off
Cylinder Jugs Off
After the wheel bearings were done the wheels were off to a local shop to have tires mounted - I had no desire to try and muscle these on myself and also didn’t feel like looking into how/if that’s possible.
