Putting my top end back together

[Wiseguy]

I lucked out with minimal damage to my cylinders after running WAY too much compression on my 96" Shovel. I'm de-tuning it a little by dropping my compression down to 9.5:1, and running a Mackie 580 cam. Regardless of what that three barrel Weber has you thinking, it's been sleeved down to thee 27mm venturi inserts, as opposed to the 30mm ones it came with on the 911 Porsche that previously used it and another one.
I've got a Pingel electric shifter on it that lets you shift with the throttle wide open. It cuts the ignition for about 70 milliseconds.



That electric fuel pump is just there to help what gravity can't do because the carb is a bit high in relation to the fuel tank level. I've got more than enough brakes. The front is early Hayabusa with Buell 13 1/2" rotors, and the back is later Hayabusa with an 11 1/2" floating rotor and dual mc's.







There's a few other mods (actually a lot more), but I'll go over those later. Thanks gor having me here, guys.

[HotRodShovel]

Thats some rear brake you got going there.!!!  Very interesting build.  By all means tell us more

[Wiseguy]

I get a lot of my parts on ebay. Great prices. I got that pair of calipers for my rear brake for $40. I made the caliper bracket on my drill press and band saw from 3/4" T6 aluminum. The front caliper brackets are from 3/8" T6. I'm always tinkering with something. The heads are the new Ultima Big Bore Shovel with three bolt exhaust flanges, pressure releases, and some really nice ports.





I converted the heads to outside oil return. I'll post a few pics when I can find them.

Wiseguy

[HotRodShovel]

Funny, I was going to ask about the brake brackets.  Nice work.  My Shovel is also 96" but the last and only HD parts are the heads & cases both of which have been modified for the big bore plus the heads are dual plugged and have compression releases cut in.  I must say those Ultima heads look beautiful compared to my old ones. Makes me want to dig out a credit card and SPEND SOME MONEY!!  I just promised myself no more Shovel bucks unless its a repair. 
Wiseguy, you are making me want to spend money again!!!

[Hossamania]

And I tried to warn him that we would be the ones trying to spend HIS money!

[76shuvlinoff]

Welcome Wiseguy, nice work!

[Dogbone45ACP]

Wiseguy, It's good to see you here. I followed your issues after you installed the new heads. Hope the bike is running well.

[cbumdumb]

Oh dear lord you got my attention as an old willright /mechanic that peaks my attention an interest very nice work sir.

[Wiseguy]

Thanks. I've described my bike as an exercise in excess. It's just a platform to test out things. I never wanted it to compete with other bikes that are smooth, cushy, quiet running, etc. I haven't had it dynoed in about twelve years, when it was putting out 95 ponies. It's probably just at the triple digit mark at this point. I've bent two axles doing holeshots. I've got a stronger chrome moly one now, and so far, it's still straight.
My flywheels had six pounds shaved from their already 3 1/2 pounds lighter size.



It spools up pretty quickly. Since I'm partial to spoked wheels, I got an eighty spoke rear for added strength. Here's a better shot of my dual rear mc setup. I needed more capacity than my stock mc had. Nine bucks each on ebay got it done.


It's not much to look at right now, but that'll change in a week or two.

Wiseguy

[JW113]

What? No 6-71 blower??


Wow dude, that's quite a machine you have there. Love seeing that kind of handywork. Keep it coming!  Oh, and welcome!

cheers,
JW

[Wiseguy]

I got my jugs back from being sized to my new pistons today. One less step to go.




My front intake and exhaust valves and seats took turns mashing tiny pieces of piston into tinier ones on their way out of the combustion chamber, so I'm getting the seats and valves touched up a little.



I could lap them, but I don't want to risk it if the valve heads might have gotten tweaked a tiny bit out of square to the stems. I'm lapping them when I get thd heads back to check the work.
The new springs were advertised as good to .600" lift, but when I compressed them to 1.600" installed height, I only got 100 pounds pressure! I'll recheck things. That doesn't sound right at all. If they don't measure up, I can still use my 180 pound rated triple springs.
The material I removed from the spring seats for the .654" lift cam I had run gives me room to drop the seat pressure to 160 pounds, recommended for the .580" lift Mackie cam. No sense pounding things with more pressure than needed. I might remove thd oil pump tomorrow to see if anything got into it. That, and change the oil lines after the heads are installed so I can fit the outside oil return lines.
I've had this motor apart so many times trying out different combos that it almost puts itself together. I swear, I could almost go to sleep and wake up to find that parts have put themselves on the bike.😎

Wiseguy

[HotRodShovel]

Who's pistons you got there?   Nice work on those dual rear master cylinders.  I blew a hole in my front piston a few years ago and the hole was aligned with the exhaust port so I figured it all got blown out the pipe.  I took off the nose cone to get a look if any particles got into my gears and the breather had about a teaspoon of aluminum nuggets in it.   So I decided to pull the bottom end and split the cases, I flushed everything out and found enough particles to make me feel like  I did the right thing by tearing it down.

Man, the rings were fragmented and pounded into the top of the head.  What a mess but it could have been much worse.  Sh1t happens I suppose. 

About your T6 brackets, how did you get the 'ring' effect in the speed holes?   I like them very much.  Super nice work.

[david lee]

What? No 6-71 blower??


Wow dude, that's quite a machine you have there. Love seeing that kind of handywork. Keep it coming!  Oh, and welcome!

cheers,
JW

yea beats bolt on stuff

[david lee]

What? No 6-71 blower??


Wow dude, that's quite a machine you have there. Love seeing that kind of handywork. Keep it coming!  Oh, and welcome!

cheers,
JW

very similar what my mate does with alloy when it comes to modifications. stuff you cant buy

[FSG]

Any particular reason you went to dual calipers on the rear or was it just a case of 'why not' ?

[Wiseguy]

I'm using KB pistons. I'm dropping my compression down to about 9.5:1 with them. The speed holes are done with a stepped unibit. The rings in the holes catch the light and create a nice contrast.
The dual rear caliper setup was just a test to see if I could make radial mounted calipers work. The dual mc setup was needed to move enough fluid to activate all those pistons. The Wagner Lockheed mc wasn't doing it.

Wiseguy

[HotRodShovel]

I must say that your brackets are top shelf.   They really catch the eye.  So where did you get the T6 aluminum stock from?  Is it readily available?     Did you buff the T6 on a wheel?   I really like the look.

[HotRodShovel]

And I tried to warn him that we would be the ones trying to spend HIS money!

lol, I need very little prodding....

[Wiseguy]

I get my T6 from a sheet metal workshop near me. One of the guys there rides a Shovel, and has helped me numerous times welding sheet metal with beautiful work. The "coins" he makes on the beads always look perfect.
I sometimes polish the aluminum, but other times I might opt for a satin look and just polish the edges for a contrast after sanding the rest with320.

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

After getting home from work, I removed the cone from the bottom end to have a look. Breather gear had nothing at all in it...



Breather gear bore looked nice and smooth...



Maybe nothing got through?... Not so fast, bud...



If piston pieces got this far, then some probably made it into the pump return gears. I'll remove the pump probably tomorrow and have a look. Maybe tonight if my back lets me.

Wiseguy

[Hogman]

Brother Bill, GREAT to be able to Read More of Your Musings/Postings! Been Depressed Since the Shovel Group Kinda/Sorta Crashed, or Whatever is Actually going on. Glad You Decided to Post Some of your Knowledge here my Friend! (I Know, I KNOW, BUTT, I DON'T & WON'T do that Faceplace thing, EVER!) Also, I HOPE EVERYONE at Home is Doing Well my Friend. Done Plenty of Prayers for ALL of you..... 
Keep it Up eh!        
THANKS Again Bill!!!!








ME

[Wiseguy]

I hope you're doing well also, Hogman. Today I'm planning on removing my oil pump to check for any damage. Those pieces in the camchest show that there's a good chance that some probably made their way into the pump. I heard some ticking as I stopped that day. I'm thinking that maybe the pump sheared a key, but at first, the pressure gauge still showed 20 pounds before I shut it down. I wasn't going to leave it running to listen and wait for more damage to happen.
  If I end up needing a new pump, it's not a game changer. I'm really lucky that the cylinders suffered NO damage! I saw some scuff marks, but very minimal. The new pistons were fitted great with only .005" size difference. New S&S cylinders are about $900, so I really lucked out there.
All I'm waiting on at this point is copper head gaskets from Cometic and new valve springs from Kibblewhite. I should be back on the road by next weekend as long as the oil pump checks out okay. I'll know later today, and will post pics of what I find.

Wiseguy

[Ohio HD]

If there's garbage in the cam chest, you can bet there's more than likely garbage in the crank case, and maybe in the oil feed passages, crank pin, etc.

[HotRodShovel]

   unfortunately

[Wiseguy]

Everything's gonna get a good flush and clean before any assembly. I'm not in a hurry on this, but once I do my cleanup, it's going together. If I could spare a little more cash, I'd get Dave Mackie to flow the heads. That'll probably happen around springtime.
This bike never really stays together very long. I get bored with it after a bit and try something new. I've had it for 26 years, and will never actually finish it.

Wiseguy

[Ohio HD]

My only caution is it's really hard to flush the crank crank pin and bearings. I've seen this bite more than one guy because a fresh rebuild or partial rebuild after engine damage wasn't completely cleaned of debris. Oil bag, oil lines, internal engine passages, everything can hold on to bits of aluminum, then come out to cause new damage to the motor. In each case they thought they flushed well enough, it wasn't like they didn't try to clean it up.

[Wiseguy]

Looking at the oil pump parts gave no bad news. The gear teeth, keyways and keys showed no signs of anything being forced between the gears.



The feed gear cavities showed no marks at all.



The return side was the same, no marks there either.




My S&S cases have a drain plug at the bottom, so I'll use that to my advantage to flush things nice and clean. I don't really have the option of taking my wheels anywhere for disassembly, cleaning, and truing again. Nobody here wants to mess with wheels shaved 9 1/2 pounds lighter than stock, with knife edges and numerous existing holes. I'm gonna clean things as good as I can, and use it.
If something happens as a result of my decision, it'll be my fault. I'm willing to take that chance.

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

Today I flushed out the camchest, oil passages, and flywheel cavity. Checked the gaskets for the oil pump, since '92 and later have a different bolt spread. The kit had a C clip that was too small. Luckily I decided to get a couple extras from an indie I've known for about thirty years.
Cleaned and mounted the S&S oil pump, making sure that the dots to pair the gear teeth were aligned. I would have mounted the cone, but my back said that was enough.



I'm not in any hurry anyway. I still need my .043" copper head gaskets from Cometic and valve springs from Kibblewhite. Since my new pistons have different-looking valve cutouts, I'll clay them and check my peripheral clearance snd the piston to valve drop clearance. I've got a pair of butt connectors that have threaded stops in them to do this. I'll pos pics when I get to that part.

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

I forgot to mention that I checked my oil pump shaft fit as I snugged up the bolts by pushing back and forth on the keyway slot in the camchest. As they say, the devil is in the details, and he's waiting in the wings for me to forget some of them.😎

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

I'm getting bored waiting for my heads, springs, and gaskets to get here, so I filed the piston skirts to clear each other. Nothing fancy, just making a little room.



No mystery in this build, just fit the parts and go. A few heat cycles, and it'll be on the road.

Wiseguy

Edited to add that these clearance marks were just eyeball engineering while bored. I put the pistons on the rods later, and slid the jugs on with gaskets to get the true needed clearance, which was about twice as much. When it comes right down to it, I split hairs when necessary.😎

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

I installed the pistons and scribed clearance marks at bdc on the rear piston, front non-thrust side. The front piston will clear with the rear piston's edge cut away.
I picked up the Ultima heads this morning. I got the seats and valves touched up a bit for two reasons: to clean any film of aluminum that might still be stuck to the seats, and to establish a good valve seal in case the valve heads were tweaked a tiny bit from mashing pieces of piston on their way out of the exhaust ports.





Looks like I just need my new valve springs to complete things. I'll post more pics as I go.

Wiseguy

[Hogman]

  Oh YEAHHHH, Getting there Bill, GETTING THERE!!!!!    /\ /\ /\          








ME

[Wiseguy]

I'm mounting my pistons and jugs after work today, Hogman. There's so much more room for valve clearance with these KB pistons that claying isn't necessary. I can move the valves over 5/16" at tdc, and peripheral clearance is good. I've done this about a dozen times on this motor testing stuff over the years.
I'm gonna be happy with this setup. The Mackie 580 cam is a great pick for a wide powerband. With the 9 1/2 pounds lighter stroker flywheels, it waps like a chainsaw motor when you hit the throttle.😎

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

There's always room for a snag in things when you think you're about to make progress. The spring shim set I bought had too small an I.D. To fit the guide steps.



Wasted money there. The "high lift" Andrews valve springs could handle the lift, but only at about 130 pounds pressure.



Wasted money there, but I have replacements.

I found that some thin spring bottom collars will work as spring shims. I had cut the spring pockets earlier to run a .654" lift cam, so there was a lot of room to fill.






My back's too sore from today at work, so I'm planning to take tomorrow off and slowly piece things together. All the details have been worked out to make all the odd type parts fit each other. At this point, it's just nuts and bolts to me. After almost fifty years working on Harleys, nothing gets me rattled, really. Careful study always turns up answers.

Wiseguy

Edited to add that the pic of the shims shows one drilled to 3/4", but they're too thin to hold on to without ending up with distortion. Anyone needing spring shims with a .650" I.D., let me know. They're no good to me...

[Hossamania]

I'm quite impressed with how easy you make it look.
And I love your carb(s), I would be staring at that thing for an hour if you pulled into the parking lot.

[Wiseguy]

I'm quite impressed with how easy you make it look.
And I love your carb(s), I would be staring at that thing for an hour if you pulled into the parking lot.

Thanks. That's actually a three barrel Weber from an early 911 Porsche. A member from another forum gave me this carb for making a manifold for him like mine. He never reimbursed me for the consideral expenses I amassed making the two setups, so I left it up to him to figure out how to make his work. As far as I know, his is probably still sitting on his workbench.😎

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

Slow going because of my back, but progress all the same. The hardest thing actually was those damned spiro-locks for the wristpins. Once you get them started in the right position they're okay, but my back didn't appreciate it one bit.
   The cylinders are on, but I still need to clean the spray coppercoat.



I got the guide seals on, and used two different spring bottom collars on each valve to fill the spring seats where I originally cut them. Next is mounting the heads, and then all the usual nut and bolt stuff.



Jetting is already good, and the timing is already worked out. Gonna be a sweet ride after the heat cycles are done.

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

Okay, the heads are torqued down, and I made sure that they were clocked correctly to fit with the intake manifold.



Base nuts and head bolts had the threads thoroughly cleaned to ensure that torque levels were accurate. I'll mount the carb later today, and buy 3/8" reinforced lines for the oil lines. There's better material to be had, but I'm always trying out different stuff. This material is fine for the amount of time it's on the bike.
The front pipe is coated with oil on the inside from holing the piston, so I'll run some solvent through it. I'm worried about getting these new pipes blued in case any residual oil in the pipe raises it's internal temperature.

Wiseguy

[Ohio HD]

Liberally coat the inside of the pipes with Gunk engine degreaser, wash out with the hose, blow dry with compressed air, repeat, repeat, repeat, then use brake clean and air.

[Wiseguy]

Sounds like a plan. I don't want to waste a lot of solvent doing this. I'll get some Gunk today while I'm getting my oil line material. Thanks for the tip.

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

Sometimes it would help to have three hands, but I got this much together.



The electric shifter setup isn't too hard to assemble. It has a minimum if parts. The electric parts hide under the seat.

[friday]

youll have 1000 posts by time shovelhead.us is online .   who done the pin stripes or is this your other talent ? 

[Wiseguy]

No, I wish that I could pinstripe like that. There's a guy that is now around the Orlando, Florida area. He frequents moco dealerships and car shows. His name is Llewellen.



I got a few more details done since my last posts. All I need to do now is set the timing, clean and mount the pipes, prime the oil pump, and hit the starter button. Even though the Ultima heads came with compression releases, I shouldn't need them with the 9.5:1 pistons. Getting itchy for making those drag pipes put out some thunder.😎

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

All right!! First heat cycle done, and it sounds badass! I'll do a few more before I take it out on the road. Primed the oil pump and cranked it to get pressure. Finished wiping off the fingerprints on the pipes, rolled it out of the garage and turned on the fuel pump to prime the carb. Once it got gas in the heads it lit off and ran great. The super light flywheels make it spool up immediately.
Can't hardly wait to ride it now.😎

Wiseguy

[Big Dave]

Right on Bill , enjoy and good luck

Dave

[Chippitt68]

That's awesome! Too bad your backs bothering you, you might be able
To get something done!   👍👍
The pics are great. I enjoyed this post.

[Wiseguy]

I'm glad you liked it. Just gotta mount the air filters and solo seat to complete things. Here's some pics of other details I've added to the bike. This is the fuel pump used to compensate for the carb sitting up too high for gravity to fill the float bowls, and the electric shifter solenoid for full throttle shifting.



My spring loaded skateboard wheel chain tensioner.



My outboard bearing axle support. I had bent two other axles doing holeshots in the past. My current axle is chrome moly, much better than the l stock mild steel ones.



A few extra gauges; Autometer tach like the NASCAR guys use, fuel pump pressure, air/fuel ratio gauge, and oil pressure.




I'll spend the next few days doing heat cycles, then get a few miles on it in town before any longer cruises.

Wiseguy

[76shuvlinoff]

Great thread, lots of work has gone into that bike.
Enjoy!

[Wiseguy]

Okay, one last shot with everything on it.




Kinda makes me wonder if it can still be called a Shovelhead since there's no oil leaking anywhere. I've had this bike 26 years, and have been screwing around with it all this time. Lately, though, I'm more inclined to riding it more and wrenching on it less. The Mackie 580 cam is great with the other engine mods I've done. It pulls from a touch over 2,000 rpm and just keeps pulling all the way up.

Wiseguy

[Big Dave]

Damn Bill Maybe ya gotta broaden your horizons , Maybe a Twinky LOL

Dave

[Wiseguy]

I'd probably lean towards the M8 if I was to look at anything else....but I still want to see if there's a solution to the valve train wear being handled by a single rocker arm contact point. Time will tell...

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

Fourth heat cycle is done. Sunday morning and afternoon for the first two, two more after that, and looking forward to a nice Saturday ride.

Wiseguy

[friday]

never noticed how the tank is scooped out . all good . have you thought about getting one of those leather braces ?  Im gonna keep my eye open , originals are too expensive

[Wiseguy]

The tank cutout was done some years ago when I ran a two barrel downdraft Weber that tucked into the recess.



The fuel inlet on the three barrel Weber seemed to line up good enough, so I left the tank as is.

Wiseguy

[Wiseguy]

I did my fifth heat cycle today, so I tried to put the video I made onto Photobucks to put here. No dice, so I did a Youtube video. I don't know how to load it here, so if you would like to see it, I titled it "Wiseguy's fifth heat cycle".

Bill.

[ecir50]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwsOVPg2VC0

[Wiseguy]

Thanks. I'm not too savvy on these kind of things. I pretty much stick to my nut and bolt stuff.

Bill

[kd]

That's a mighty fine sounding shovel Bill. It sounds tight with a nice compression crackle.   

[HotRodShovel]

Wiseguy, I read your flywheels are 9.5 lbs heavier than stock. Who made them?  I have T&O Torque Monster wheels and I believe they are 6 lbs heavier.

[Wiseguy]

I must have needed more coffee or something. I meant to say 9 1/2 pounds LIGHTER than stock. They were done by a Shovel master (Nitrous Jim) in California from Shovelhead US, the other Shovel forum.

Bill

[Wiseguy]

That's a mighty fine sounding shovel Bill. It sounds tight with a nice compression crackle.   

Thanks, Kirk. I can't wait to take it out tomorrow morning for a few miles to enjoy my latest work. That Mackie 580 cam suits it just fine for the street.

Bill

[HotRodShovel]

I must have needed more coffee or something. I meant to say 9 1/2 pounds LIGHTER than stock. They were done by a Shovel master (Nitrous Jim) in California from Shovelhead US, the other Shovel forum.

Bill

OK...thanks

[76shuvlinoff]

Light wheels should tach right up.  Heavier for smoother less shifting crusing....or at least that's how I was told. My S&S wheels are allegedly lighter than stock but I can't tell you how much, I would think the higher compression leveled that out some. Getting too greedy with the gearing had me shifting a bunch local but it felt like it was idling at 70+ mph. I ended up gearing the shovel for local putts between the cornfields and take the TC for anything on the slab.

[Wiseguy]

I took the bike out for about 40 or so easy miles today. Varied the throttle a little. If you don't occasionally put a little pressure on the rings, they won't seat as good, and the cylinders can get a little glazed. It starts up good, and it's a little on the rich side. It varies from 10.5:1 to about 11.2, 11.3:1, but I'll change that after a few more break-in miles. So far, it's running great, and showing just a touch more heat than usual. I expect that to subside, but for now, it's nothing to worry about. I'm happy with the results.

Bill

[Wiseguy]

I've only got about 200 miles on the motor so far, but I'm gonna change the jetting, probably this week. According to my air/fuel mixture gauge, my mainjets aren't coming in soon enough, showing about 13.5:1 before they come in, but 10.2:1 or so when they do.
That means going a little smaller on the air correction jets, which influences how soon the venturi vacuum starts pulling the air/fuel mixture through the emulsion tubes and into the airstream. The mainjets will need to be a little smaller also to get the numbers up higher than 10.2:1, where it shows now.
I'll change both types of jet sizes by filling the jet holes with solder and drilling them out with a smaller drill bit. When you have three of everything instead of just one, replacing jets gets a little costly. I've been doing it this way since the early seventies, so this is nothing new to me.

Bill