Bling

So its been a while and the project has been limping along.
I have been concentrating on 2 big spends: Crank re-build
and sorting out the engine casings, heads and barrels.
The images below show the parts Vapour Blasted by
http://www.vapourblast.ie/. All parts were stripped to the
original metal finish.

Welded Cases

Both cases have been welded and dressed to accept the cover.

Clean Crank Case

Attacked the crankcases with Engine Cleaner, Diesel

and a tooth brush then finished off with a brass wheel

attached to a drill on the outer surfaces followed by a 

stainless steel brush on a dremil for the small spaces.

This is familiar work, had to do a lot of it on the aprilia re-build.

It turned out that there was very light oxidisation on the

outer surfaces of the cases thanks to the layer of dirt, 

earth, compost, organic matter but i uncovered two nasty 

little details that need attention...

The lower crankcase bolt hole at the final drive bearing

has suffered from the incorrect bolt being inserted at some

stage in a past life. The top case has a section missing

about 10mm wide. Hope to have them back from the aluminium

welders this evening, luckily this is the dry side of the engine.

 

Reunited

I had a productive evening today, managed to get the gearbox and left hand crankcase assembled. Again to fit the bearings in the crankcase I heated it to 100 degrees and popped the bearings into the freezer for about an hour. In preparation to fit the left hand case complete I cooled the left hand crank with some cooler blocks and compressed air . . . and yep the case just slid down to meet its partner.

Crank-In

The engine re-build has officially started. The right hand main bearing is on the crank and in the right hand case along with the shim and seal. First step was to fit the right hand main bearing on the crank which I did by cooling the shaft in the freezer for 1 hour and heating the bearing for about 5 minutes in a tin can with a gas torch. The bearing just slid on with no tipping or tapping. To then fit the crank shaft to the right hand case I again cooled the crank in the freezer for about 90 minutes and heated the crank to 100 degrees C in the kitchen oven - they just fell into place!

Prepping the crank cases

Following on from the last post on cleaning up the top end and removing the corrosion I am starting the crankcases this week. All the bearings have been removed and the joining surfaces are masked off for protection against accidental scratching with the dremil and wire brush.

Bags

The engine is now fully stripped with all the internal components bagged ready for reassembly.

After an initial cleaning of the 2 crank casings I have run into a decision as to whether to proceed further to remove the corrosion on the exterior. This will mean masking off and sealing the insides to protect the bearings, but the engine will not be seen . . . decisions decisions.