TOPIC:

Do you have gaskets or you reuseing them?
Steve

I ordered a cheap set. They will be here tomorrow or Wednesday. This go around is really just a practice. The next go around I'll get a little bit more in depth, I'm just running out of time now. I have three bikes that have to move with me. I would rather move one basket case and two complete bikes instead of two basket cases.

Good luck with the move! I had to do the same with mine. Now I'm tearing into it for the second time and I'm glad for the practice previously haha.

I actually found myself with some free today so I decided to get some work done!

I honed the cylinders, pulled the engine, washed the frame and started cleaning everything up.

Wow you got a lot done! I'm kinda jealous! What do you mean by honeing the cylinders?

Jbosh wrote: Wow you got a lot done! I'm kinda jealous! What do you mean by honeing the cylinders?

I guess honing probably wasn't the right term, deglazing, is probably the correct term. When I removed the cylinders, I never oiled them. Last night I noticed they were getting pretty nasty. So I pretty much did exactly what the dude in the video does to clean them up, so the rings will hopefully seat when I put it back together.

Deglazing is OK for a known good bore. What he didn't talk about is having a ridge, uneven and/or tapered bore. While it may not be too important on a "thumper" that runs at low RPM's isn't used every day, on a high performance engine, it is critical.
Ridge; the area at the top of the bore. This is where the piston/ rings stop and change direction thus creating a groove that if left there can catch the rings briefly and cause them to "chatter", causing damage to the ring lands on the piston.
Uneven bore; that's where the rings will have to expand and contract to make up the difference of the surface of the bore due to uneven wear. (further damage to the piston and bore)
Tapered bore; where the bore is larger at the bottom as apposed to the top. Usually a out of round condition due to excessive wear.
When checking the condition of the bores, it is important to measure them. There are special tools for this but at home it can be done roughly with a feeler gauge. With a known round, good piston, you can slide it through starting at the top measuring the clearance, middle and bottom. If it is out of spec in any of these places, a overbore is called for and new pistons and rings.
A shop manual is a must have for this. There are other things to check as well.
Reusing rings; If this is to be done, it's important to use a coarse stone for the cross hatch. Otherwise the rings won't seat causing low compression, oil burning and overheating. "Slapping it together" is temporary at best and could cause further damage to the engine.
There's an old saying, "penny wise, pound foolish."
Do it right the first time and you won't regret it later.
Steve

Using a spring hone is just fine to " de-glaze" the cylinder walls. A ball hone is better, but size specific, and more expensive. Spring hones have different stones( coarse, medium and fine usually) so make sure you pay attention to that.

You have to be careful with a spring hone, at the top and bottom of the cylinder if you hesitate too much you can hone a hourglass shape into the cylinder. I've had to fix a few engines where the top and bottom of the cylinder was larger than the middle, both times I've seen this someone had gotten carried away with a hone. Try to get an even pattern by turning the drill slow, and moving back and forth quickly. It doesn't have to be a perfect cross hatch, but really try and get and even finish if you can. If you can do this in a slow drill press that will produce the best results, but a drill works if you have too.

Also remember honing is just surface preparation for the rings, it won't remove taper, or out-of-round. It can clean up minor scoring marks and such. 440 twins are pretty bullet proof engines, I doubt there is much real wear in the cylinder. Use OEM piston rings, and try to find a OEM head gasket. replace to O-rings too. 440's are notorious for oil leaks at the cylinder base and head.

I just did a few quick passes with a lot of oil to get rid of some of the rust or oxidation that had started to form due to me stupidly leaving it dry for a few days.

I found out today, I have another month before I have to pack up, so I plan on really digging into this as much as I can. If I keep having days like yesterday, he will go back together really nice, and correctly.

I use diesel to flush out the crap that fell into the engine. It's cheap, a good grime cleaner and you can strain it as it comes out with a old tee shirt or clean rag.
Steve

swest wrote: I use diesel to flush out the crap that fell into the engine. It's cheap, a good grime cleaner and you can strain it as it comes out with a old tee shirt or clean rag.
Steve

That's good too. I've always used straight and cheap automatic transmission fluid to clean out the bores before installing pistons and rings... and regardless of what other have said, I do not bath the pistons, rings and lands in motor oil or assembly oil/lube.
However, I do use lots of oil and or moly be damned lube with camshafts and plain bearings.

swest wrote: I use diesel to flush out the crap that fell into the engine. It's cheap, a good grime cleaner and you can strain it as it comes out with a old tee shirt or clean rag.
Steve

Aside from the sprocket cover, from what I can tell nothing else has ever been taken off of the engine before. It took me longer to remove the stripped sprocket cover than it did for me to remove the untouched clutch and alternator covers, I somehow acquired a set of JIS drivers back when I was in high school. They just looked like normal bits to me then, so I threw them in a drawer and forgot about them until recently. Six years later I am glad past Dominic was a hoarder.

You read my mind, Lots of crap has fallen into the engine regardless of my efforts to keep the inside clean. These stock gaskets were really glued down or something. They are proving to be a real pain in the ass trying to get off.