What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Greybeard]

Wow Muskie! 👌

[dave55]

Looks nice Muskie, i like the tank protector with the Manx emblem on it, do you think you might keep the bike like that now or once your healed up will you put it back to how it was ?

[muskrat]

G'day Dave.
I'll wait and see as to how long she will stay this way. Just waiting on the parts to make a new front brake cable and new clutch cable. Hope to test her next week.
Looking at the tank I should have put the protector on up the other way.
What I did yesterday was make a cable adjuster on the lathe out of stainless. Now I won't have to cut the old one off and have a spare cable.
Also discovered I have allergic reaction to the coolant on the lathe. Left arm is red and itchy as hell.
Cheers

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
Cables made and fitted to the cafe. All good but haven't tried them out on the road yet.
Doing the head re-tension on the A7 plunger. I noticed on the w/end after she got hot (30 miles at 70mph) a bit of a whistle. The tappets had closed up about 4 thou so must have been ever so slightly propping a valve or two.
I removed the r/box and gave the h/bolts 1/4 turn to get back to tension.
Not happy with the r/box bolts being 3/8" unc (in past life as a racer the holes had been stripped and opened up) I recoiled the holes back to 5/16unc. To do the center back one I had to make an insertion tool as the one in the kit is too long. All done all good. Now to swap the shafts and rockers over to the spare r/box.
Cheers

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
Well I opened a can of worms. After about 3 hours of rubbing washers on wet & dry to get the right clearances for the rockers in the r/box (I don't use the springs, just shims (another spot to reduce drag). I dropped the r/box onto the head dry. Bugga there was about 10 thou rock. OK i rubbed the r/box on glass and wet & dry but it was still high in the middle. After about an hour setting up in the 4 jaw chuck I got it to 1 thou true and took a light 2 thou cut. Beautiful and flat. Put it back on the head but there is still a 5 thou rock.
Looks like tomorrow the head comes off, valves and guides out, (good excuse to machine them to take Notrun valve stem seals) and set it up on the face plate to true it up, take a few thou off. Drop new guides in and lap the valves again. .
Wish me luck.
Cheers

[RDfella]

That doesn't make sense, Musky - they can't both be high in the middle. Have you run a decent straight edge across these surfaces?

[Greybeard]

OK, I know you know what you are doing so I respect your decision and you do not want leaks. But  I doubt many people check the fit of their rocker box; I don't think I've ever thought of doing it. As the gap is only 10 thou would not the relatively weak casting have just flexed down onto the head?

[Worty]

G'day Fellas.
Well I opened a can of worms. After about 3 hours of rubbing washers on wet & dry to get the right clearances for the rockers in the r/box (I don't use the springs, just shims (another spot to reduce drag). I dropped the r/box onto the head dry. Bugga there was about 10 thou rock. OK i rubbed the r/box on glass and wet & dry but it was still high in the middle. After about an hour setting up in the 4 jaw chuck I got it to 1 thou true and took a light 2 thou cut. Beautiful and flat. Put it back on the head but there is still a 5 thou rock.
Looks like tomorrow the head comes off, valves and guides out, (good excuse to machine them to take Notrun valve stem seals) and set it up on the face plate to true it up, take a few thou off. Drop new guides in and lap the valves again. .
Wish me luck.
Cheers

Much respect   If it were me, I'd crate it up and send it to Bergs FAO MWAS, with a couple of hundred beer tokens or so.

[muskrat]

G'day RD.
The only straight edge I have is a steel rule so not that accurate. I did test the r/box after machining on 10mm glass mounted in a 3/4 timber frame. All good. So yes both must have been warped. That head had been raced at 14:1 comp for a few years and possibly the 4 outer bolts have been moved 1/2 hole outwards. The 5 inner bolts are 3/8 BSF and the outer ones 10mm x 1.25 so maybe the clamping force has warped it The clamping force should be equal when all bolts are torqued equally.
Oh well I was running out of things to do in the shed 

G'day GB.
Yes it's the first time I've looked at it that closely but that is because it's a different r/box. It may well flex on installation and with .032" gasket paper would have sealed.
Cheers

[RDfella]

Another thought Musky - you don't need to strip the head - put it on //s on a mill and run a small flycutter or endmill around the surfaces that need levelling.

[muskrat]

G'day RD
I would if I had a mill. I know a fella that does. 99% of the time I make do with what I've got.
Cheers

[RichardL]

Musky,

The good news is that, after you clean it up and get it back together, it should be fine because you won't abuse it like the previous owner. 

Richard L.

[Rex]

G'day RD
I would if I had a mill. I know a fella that does. 99% of the time I make do with what I've got.
Cheers

No mill? A surface plate of some sort, some engineer's blue and a set of files will do just as well if you're a skilled filer.

[muskrat]

G'day Rex.
To be able to check the head wit blue and plate the guides have to come out. That being the case the head will be set up on my lathe.

The head is of and as suspected right ex valve had a slight leak. At the rebuild the valves got a lap.
Firing the BBQ up to drop the guides out now. I have a new set to go in after the inlets are turned to take the seals.
Cheers

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
In the heads previous life it must have had a loose valve guide replaced with a +.002 guide. The others are std. No worries I have two +.002's and two +.004's but no std's. Now the decision to ream or wait for std's to turn up.
To take my mind off for a minute I made a walking stick holder for the HD. Deb bought me a folding one that I was shoving down my jacket but a bit uncomfortable.
Cheers