How bad is this!?! **UPDATE**

[Sparky]

I wasn't sure either but here is a 68 which I have;

http://www.tribsanoruk.com/product/2619/3/

and here is the one listed for my model (56-a10) which shows as a 69??

http://www.tribsanoruk.com/product/2618/3/

 

The 68 pitch chain shown in the link (ha ha, a pun!) indicates it is for the bike with sidecar.  My 54 to 57 parts book lists the engine sprocket for sidecar equipped engines at 18 teeth, whereas standard is 21 teeth.  Perhaps the mechanic (or previous owner) didn't note the distinction.  I recently had the second removable link used to insert the half link replaced with a riveted link.  With 69 pitches and a 21 tooth engine sprocket, my gearbox sits right in the middle of the adjustment slot.

[Rocket Racer]

sounds like the answer is to fit a sidecar!
but fix the shim first

[spiralz]

Engine came back last week 

It had the following done plus i have a bag of old parts to show for it as well.

It was re shimmed (obviously)
They fitted an SRM cush drive nut.
All new gaskets
New Piston rings (one had broken in half)
One new valve (they noticed a hairline crack in it)
New main bearing

Question when i put it back in i set the valve clearances as per spec (according to haynes and haycraft books) is this right  (10/16)?

It started first kick...

now being very carefull running it in (i think)

i intend to change the oil at 100 then 500 then prceed as normal, How long do i need to run in for and is there anything else i should be aware of regards running in?

i have noticed after 50 odd miles the plugs are very sooty.

I would like to change the plugs but am unsure of the modern type of champions i need can any one advise please?

thanks

[Rocket Racer]

Re the tappets, go to your haynes manual on page 46, there is a table of clearances. The big thing to note is the late '60-'62 A10's ran a different cam so if you have a '356 or 357 cam fitted need .008/.010 clearances. If you have more your engine will simply rattle more.

Can't help you with plugs, my A10 is an alloy head and on methanol, so not comparable.

Breaking in an engine is always another open ended question. It does depend what exactly your breaking in. For new plain bush crank and big ends (which like a gentle break in), the answer is different to rings which actually like to do some work during break in.
In my opinion the general answer is to quietly build up load on the motor over about 1000 miles, and then treat normally, but during break in to make sure the engine is given some revs, without necessarily running under heavy load. Does depend on your riding style and the clearances in the motor...varying revs is good, so B roads rather than A roads
Don't labour the motor,
if it feels like its tightening up... trust that feeling, it probably is.
Giving the motor some throttle is not a bad thing.

Sounds like it needed that pull down!
Tim

[fido]

The broken ring is a bit worrying, I wonder what caused that?

[morris]

Hi Spiralz,

I have been following your story with interest. After all, something like this is anybody's worst nightmare I suppose.

Regarding your question about spark plugs, I am running my iron head A 10 on NGK's B 6 HS. The Champion equivalent is L 82 C.
If your plugs are getting sooty, you may consider a hotter type. For NGK you go a number down (5 instead of 6)
When I bought my A 10 it came with the 5 type NGK, I think the previous owner tried them in order to get his plugs less sooty, but I found the mixture was set to rich, so after adjusting the carburettor needle, I went back to 6, and it's running fine now

There's some very useful information on this website;
http://www.championsparkplugs.com/sparkplug411.asp?kw=Heat+Range+Interchange+%28NGK-Denso-Champion-Bosch%29&mfid=2

Or try this one;
http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/tech_support/spark_plugs/index.asp?mode=nml

Good luck,
Patrick

[JulianM]

Re the tappets, go to your haynes manual on page 46, there is a table of clearances. The big thing to note is the late '60-'62 A10's ran a different cam so if you have a '356 or 357 cam fitted need .008/.010 clearances. If you have more your engine will simply rattle more.

Can't help you with plugs, my A10 is an alloy head and on methanol, so not comparable.

Breaking in an engine is always another open ended question. It does depend what exactly your breaking in. For new plain bush crank and big ends (which like a gentle break in), the answer is different to rings which actually like to do some work during break in.
In my opinion the general answer is to quietly build up load on the motor over about 1000 miles, and then treat normally, but during break in to make sure the engine is given some revs, without necessarily running under heavy load. Does depend on your riding style and the clearances in the motor...varying revs is good, so B roads rather than A roads
Don't labour the motor,
if it feels like its tightening up... trust that feeling, it probably is.
Giving the motor some throttle is not a bad thing.

Sounds like it needed that pull down!
Tim

Good bit of advice there!

Running in.  We run in every single engine we build either on the dyno or on the rolling road for about 30 hours running time. Progressively increasing the load over a wide RPM spectrum,
Start at very low load but varied revs from about 1000 up to about 2/3 your max revs  but "light load"
Then move up in load gradually as time goes on, until on the 25th hour you are using 2/3 throttle and 3/4 max revs,
After that you can do what you like.

Very important though is to do as Rocket racer says and avoid "laboring" i.e., low revs heavy throttle.  This will seize a new engine very quickly indeed!!

Regards,
Julian

[RichardL]

CRAP! My turn to discover twisted shims sitting on the sump screen. Made it about 3700 miles on this rebuild. It has to be a loose inner race. No question as to the location of the shims. This all started out so innocently - just convert to SRM dynamo belt drive, then, replace loose dynamo bearings, then, change oil including a tank and sump-plate cleanout, voila, plan time for a strip-down and reassembly.

Apologies in advance for the inevitable tales of discovery to come of this.

Richard L.

[groily]

That's a bummer Richard, sorry to hear.
Had pretty much the same thing towards the end of last year as I might have mentioned  . . . but with any luck you'll have no other damage to speak of. My b/ends and T/S bush were still spot-on after a lot of miles, so I just replaced the shells and the slightly worn cam followers and oil pump worm and gear while it was stripped.
I tried to eliminate shimming by getting the crank outer web built-up to a perfect measured fit for the new inner race etc (while having the drive side mainshaft built up and ground to spec at the same time). Didn't work for very boring reasons so had to pull it apart again, get crank web outer face cleaned up (again) and then proceed as standard with shims  . . . .
So far so good, but whatever anyone says, not a great design feature on these things!
Were a ball bearing deemed solid enough (like on the early engines and ? some A65s - I know nothing!) it would have been a lot easier - and indeed I think one or more people here have sourced a modern high-spec ball bearing instead of the roller. Food for thought, but I stayed standard, using the roller supplied as standard by, IIRC, CD Autos.
Good luck anyway. Bill

[muskrat]

Tale of woe's time by the way the thread is going.
Nipped up the cafe at 100mph last week. On inspection it looks like a combination of too much piston clearance and a slight tweak in the rod. Yep, L/H side.
Also timing side journal has worn 1-1/2 thou in 1000 miles so now has too much clearance as well, and end float has increased to 5 thou. Think I'll do a roller conversion.
Cheers.

[trevinoz]

0.0015" in 1000 miles is a bit excessive, Musky.
What is your main bearing made from?
I had an aluminium bronze bearing once and it wore like that.

Trev.

[muskrat]

G'day Trev. It's one of those steel shell bronze sleeve types. I prefer the solid type.
Cheers

[RichardL]

Thanks for the comiseration.

Groily,

In trying to decide what to do about the drive-side inner race fitting properly, I went back and read the story of your metal build-up attempts last year. So, for the drive-side shaft, was that built-up and ground for a tighter fit for the inner race? If so, did that stay intact, even when the web build-up went south?

Richard L.

[groily]

Yup, the shaft was quite fine Richard and presumably still is. It was 'build it up or risk loctite' (which might have been perfectly adequate, I don't know).

The 'only' prob was the outer face on the web, which my favourite people didn't make perfectly flat for sufficient width radially from the mainshaft. Some of the material got picked up by the cage - and a few shards flaked off. Quite an 'only' though, although I still think the idea's a good one in principle!

It's done a few more thousand miles with a single tailor-made shim and seems to be fine again (for a scruffy hack that is).

Best to you as you sort yours out, Bill

[Topdad]

Hi Richard, sorry to hear about you engines descision to be a pain. However having read the various posts on this wouldn't it be better to go down the route of a conversion. There must be someone over your side of the pond who A) you could trust to do a good job and b) wouldn't cost you the earth ? It must save money and annoyance for the long term future . I only say this as when I rebuilt mine  I treated her to the conversion via SRM .I know I'm tempting fate but 8 yrs on still running without a hitch from that department . Just my own personal experience although it was merely luck that this was solved for me as I'd forgotten all about the shims when I plumbed for the conversion and merely a suggestion with certainly no intention on my part to play "the know it all" to such a capable guy as you ,regards BobH