Putting my top end back together

[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