Motorcycle Refresh – Walnut, CA – 17 June 2018

17 June 2018 – When I got up, I ate breakfast and got right to work on my motorcycle. I double checked that I had all the openings to the crankcase plugged with rags. I then released the cam tensioner screw loosening / freeing up the camshaft chain. I then removed the 2 ea. caps off the top of the exhaust camshaft, being careful not to drop anything into the engine. I tried lifting the end of the camshaft up and it was quite stubborn. Once it broke free, I then could remove the shim out of the bucket. That’s a little tricky too. I actually blew air under it to pop it out. The hardest part of the job is now over. 

I went into my spare parts bag and pull out my 35mm film canister. It contains a variety of shim thickness. I measured the thickness of the old shim, wrote it down and set it aside. I then measured all the shims till I found one that was .002 in. / .0508 mm thinner than the shim I took out. I double checked the shim thickness against the old shim and it was exactly .002 in. / .0508 mm thinner. I’m guessing your wondering how I measured the thickness of those shims. I knew when I left to go on this trip that I would check the valves twice. The first time in Walnut, California before I left and the second time when I returned to Walnut. So, before I left St. Paul / Minneapolis I found a cheap micrometer and wrapped it up carefully and stored it with my spare parts so till I needed it. I cleaned the new shim and put it in the bucket under the camshaft. I oiled both camshaft journals before putting camshaft back into it. I also oiled the caps before put them back into place.

I screwed in the 4 ea. bolts and torqued them down. When Mary visited, I had her bring along my SnapOn Torque Wrench so I could torque these bolts down in In / Lbs. When she went thru Airport Security in St. Paul / Minneapolis the metal detector rang off. The Security people wanted to know what it was. So, they checked her luggage. They were baffled. Some thought it was some kind of secret weapon. They were going to confiscate it till someone figured out what it was. He must have read the directions on how to use it. They were in the box with the torque wrench. Mary told them, my boyfriend uses it to work on his motorcycle and that’s all I know about it. They said she couldn't take in her carry-on luggage, and she would either have to leave it or check her carry-on bag. So she had to go back to the ticket counter and check her luggage, then return through security. Luckily she was early enough and the airport wasn't too crowded so she was able to do this and get to her plane on time. Tense situation for Mary, though. In any case, my torque wrench made it safely to Walnut, California.

I torqued down the caps over the camshaft and oiled them again. I screwed the bolt in on the cam chain tensioner and torqued it. Now I’m going to spin the engine five or six times and then check the shim spacing again. I engaged the transmission and then turned the engine over five or six times and rechecked the valve spacing. All four valves checked on the high side of the tolerance. It’s exactly where I want it. Yeah!!!! I go to my top box and take out my new gasket for my valve cover. I clean up the valve cover gasket surface on the head, oil it up and lay the gasket on top of it. I get the valve cover out and double check that it’s clean. Now the battle starts. With a little pushing here and little pulling there the valve cover dropped onto the cylinder head. I juggle the gasket and the valve cover around and eventually get everything lined up. I get out the valve cover bolts, put new seals on them and drop them in their holes. I turn them in with my fingers and then torque them. I check the photographs I’ve taken, then put the cables and electrical wiring back in the correct location and zip tie them into place. I mount the fan back into its spot and zip tie down all wiring for it.

I can’t put the top motor mount in place yet because I haven’t received it yet. I have it on order at Bert’s Mega Mall. But what I am going to do is put a small funnel into my gas line and fill my carburetor full of gas. I’m then going to start the engine and listen to it. I fill the carburetor till the gas was standing in the funnel. I steadied the gas line, choked the engine and pushed the starter button. It fired right off and the engine was quiet as a church mouse. I let the engine run until all the gasoline was drawn out of the carburetor and the engine stalled. Everything is good here. This task is complete.

Bert’s Mega Mall called and said my parts are in. Larry and I are going to drive over and pick them up. They have all my parts in except for one nut. It’s a special nut that you can’t put a wrench on. It’s designed like the letter “J”. The hooked end doesn’t allow the nut to turn or spin. It bumps up against a shoulder and stops rotating. Then you tighten the bolt. So, that’s not good. They said, they would call me when it came in. Now I’m going to have to hound them till it comes in. Well, I can change the oil, straighten saddle bag mounting frame and repair the broken gas tank mount. That’s something I will tackle tomorrow.