Project BAMSFH™ - Part 6

Project BAMSFH™ sage continues...

My updates here have been very sporadic, mostly because I have been insanely busy, but at least the end is here. I have stepped down from the co-head position with the local chapter of a world wide non-profit organization (read: Prince of the Mists, West Kingdom, SCA), and hope to have more free time over the foreseeable future of weekends.

Almost a month has passed since my last blog, mostly due to preparing to step down from above said position. In those long weeks and days, I have found some time to work on a couple of things here and there. Notably, I received the carb boots in the mail along with a replacement bolt for the front caliper. I decided that while I have it all apart anyways, I might as well pop the valve covers and make sure things are good inside there. A lot of my reading since starting this project has pointed out that when rebuilding the carbs, it doesn't do a lot of good to not check you valve clearances.

So one bright morning, I got to work on the valve covers. The front cover came off pretty easy, but the rear cover was a royal bitch. I had to slowly and carefully wiggle and turn and angle it to finally get it out. Both covers were a mess which doesn't bode well for the gaskets but they looked fine other than being a bit dry and not so squishy. I cleaned them both off and set them aside after applying some oil based gasket restorer.

Breaking out with my trusty wrenches and feeler gauges, I processed to try to find top dead center. Then I ran into my first speed bump. On the right side is a screwed on plug that covers the place where you can see if you are TDC or not. It of course was locked up tight. I sprayed some WD-40 in there and attempted to knock something loose. No go. More WD-40 and tapping. No go. More WD-40 and some hammer taps and screwdriver force. No go. Realizing I am close to stripping out the screw slot, I raise the white flag and move onto plan B. Pulling the plug from Cyl-1 I slowly turn the engine with my finger down inside the spark plug hole. I can feel the pressure rising and hear the escaping air, here comes TDC for that cylinder. Watching carefully up in the valve/rocker area I watch to see when TDC is achieved. Finally finding it, I loosen the lock nut and start adjusting the gap. It is super tight on Cyl-1 intake, but on the looser end of the scale on exhaust. After some fiddling, rotating the engine two full turns, more adjustment and fiddling, more tunring of the engine... (you get the point) I finally get it where I am happy with it being snug but on the looser end which I read is better than too tight. One more half turn to get the rocker under force for the lock nuts and I torqued them down. Same pattern for each of the remaining cylinders working my way around 2 then 3 then 4. I don't see anything that alarms me inside the valve area and everything seems tight and solid, so that is a good thing, I think.

The rear valve cover was just as much of a pain in the ass to put back on as it was to take off, but I finally got it on.... BACKWARDS!!!! ARRRGG!!! OK... deep breaths. wiggled it out, turned it around, wiggled it back in. Now I have the valve covers back on and tightened up. I will keep an eye on the gaskets to see if I have leaks once I start her up and let her run for a bit.

Installing the carbs with new boots... SO MUCH EASIER! with a little bit of grease and angling them slightly upwards, all it took was some wiggling and downward pressure as I straddled the bike. I felt them pop into place and visually inspected things to make sure they in fact seated properly. Once I tightened down the hose clamps I realized that I had forgotten to install the new water tube o-rings. Which of course can only be accessed with the carbs off the bike. Sigh... called it a night.

Last Thursday night, I finally had time to pull the carbs again and replace the water tube o-rings, but discovered that the o-ring/gaskets in there were bigger than the ones sent in the Basic Carb Rebuild kit. At first I thought it was just them being smooshed flat, but even smooshed they were still ~33% thicker than the new ones provided. The problem is that once you attach the water tubes screw down mount, it pulls the tubes back a bit and the smaller o-rings unseat. Thankfully, the originals were still in good shape and I ended up reusing them. I'll let you know how they hold up once I get to the point. I sent off an email to V4 Market about this, and they said they would look into it. I'm fine with the ones I have in there if they don't leak, but wanted them to know so that they can fix the sizing so that the next guy doesn't end up in trouble with bad o-rings and replacements that won't fit.

With the carbs off again, I was able to get the throttle and choke cables attached. I checked and double checked many times to make sure I was attaching the cables in the correct direction. Then reinstalled the carbs and tightened everything down. Then I reached to test the throttle snap... huh, I don't think it is supposed to twist forwards. Yup, Installed the cables backwards. Sigh... no time to fix it now.

Skip to last night, and me having time to fiddle with the beast. I got the carbs off again pretty easy (new carb boots and experience starting to pay off) and spent several minutes fighting with the cables, carbs, and adjusters (what I would have given to have 4 arms right then and there) and finally was able to get it all connect up in the proper direction. Then with my new found carb installation experience, I angled the boots and easily seated the carbs back on and got them tightened up.

Tested choke, works fine and no binding. Tested throttle, rolls on the correct direction and snaps closed with no hesitation. WOOT! Swung handlebars left and right, no catch and no visible pull on the cables.

Next up, radiator flush while it is off the bike. Then on to the fuel pump! Fingers crossed I might actually be ready to fire up Project BAMSFH™ before the end of the year!!!!