TOPIC:

April update.
Well... i finally had the funds available to send my head to PitStopPerformance for a valve-job, but was dealt bad news by Joe.
Seems that one of the valve guides slips in and out of its place, and an oversize valve guide will just not cut it...
In addition to the valve guide issue, the valve seats are badly corroded, which also leads to corroded valves... not good...

This comes as no surprise judging by the condition of my top end, so it was a scenario I had considered.
On the flip end, I was able to source a really good cylinder head off a '95 from Fleabay...!
After shipping and handling it comes up to half of what I would've spent on the valve job. I will lap valves and replace the seals on this one should my guides be in good shape... wish me luck!!!

Luck.
Steve

Best of luck Ed!
Judging by the quality of work and die-hard desire you've been showing us here, you'll be successful with this head coming in.
I had a very similar experience with my KZombie and resorted to an online auction deal too. I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived to see it was exactly as shown on that weBay site. I reckon that's part of the process. Set your expectations low and they may very well be exceeded

Good Luck, Ed, your original head looked in sorry shape, like it was pulled out of the Ocean, I'm sure you'll be a lot better off with the 95 head,
Pete

haha I agree.
Never had high hopes for that ball o' rust!

pete greek1 wrote: Good Luck, Ed, your original head looked in sorry shape, like it was pulled out of the Ocean, I'm sure you'll be a lot better off with the 95 head,
Pete

First of May update.
Well, I finally made some headway on the project. My head arrived so I decided to prepare for it by finally installing my pistons and cylinders.

Pistons installed!


I then was faced with the dilemma of installing the cylinders. I had three options:

1. Try to slide the rings into the cylinders by hand
2. Spend $80 bucks on spring compressors
3. Be a cheapskate and design my own spring compressors

Soooooooooo...................... I Obviously chose the latter...!

I had to sacrifice a three ring binder in order to harvest my ring compressor strips


I then took a quick trip to the home depot in order to buy four hose clamps.


Which I proceeded to install on top of my rings:


And every piston

After lots of cussing #*&*$&%##%$ , re-adjusting, griping and complaining my cylinder was installed... all pistons went in smoothly with the exception of #1 which kept popping out, most likely caused due to "manufacturing imperfections" on my ring compressors...

It was then time to turn my attention to my fleabay head...
Removed and tagged ancillaries



And then it was time to disassemble the valves...
For this I also went the cheapskate way, re-purposing a piece of PVC


And marrying to a large c-clamp to make a super-sophisticated valve-spring compressor




After inspection I found that most of the surfaces were quite acceptable with the exception of one exhaust valve which may need to be ground. I will have a better idea once everything is cleaned and I have the opportunity to take a better look at all my components.
The remainder of my weekend was dedicated to cleaning the head, which is not an easy feat in a kitchen sink


More updates to come! (hopefully)

Congrats on the progress and looking good! Keep after it, you are making good headway and before you know it will have an awesome bike and can spend many miles and hours enjoying the ride

Brett

It looks like I'm updating this log every month or so now, which between work, family, and school seems to be a pretty good pace..

I finally was ready to tackle my DIY Valve Job.
Started with soaking all valves on degreaser to see if it would aid with carbon removal.


Degreaser removed dirt and oil, but did nothing for carbon. On to mechanical methods...!
So... i mounted the valve on my drill and rotated it while holding it against a wire brush, which yielded crappy results on its own:


Time to undust my carbon removal tool (also known as a screwdriver)


Then alternate between screwdriver, and rotating drill against wirebrush method...

Ahh.... much better!!!

Pretty good surfaces to work with. Some exhaust valves showed a bit of pitting, but all of them were workable.


On to lapping!!!


Then Rattle-can treatment


Add some viton seals!


All assembled!


Cams in place in order to check clearances


5/8 valves were within clearances. I ordered a couple of shims from Z1enterprises.com which should be coming soon...

Getting excited!!!!
It's been a year and a half in the making, but this motor is almost ready to go!!

Woooh hoooo!!!!

Good to see you are still at it Ed, keep up the good work!