And now the renovation starts

Middle of December and the renovation has started, I just had to test the polishing equipment I got. It worked very well, maybe not as if a professional had done it but then again the cost for the polishing is very low! Just check out the rocker arm housing, the one in the back is polished and the front one looks as both of them did before I started with the dremel and polishing disks.

Look, it was a Andrews cam in it! It is a B cam that gives much more mid and high end power, but at the same time has a smooth idle. In other words it will be perfect for me, to be able to take is slow in the city but at the same time have the power when needed.

The year is almost at the end it is the day before New Years Eve and I have started with the disassembly of the engine to check for wear and measure tolerances. Just have to wait and se what I need to replace. The oil pump looks great so no need to do anything there unless I just happen to find one with a higher flow at the right price! Next to go is the cylinders but before that I will do some cleaning up on the engine.

It is now a new year and early January. A few things have been done during the last couple of days, some cleaning up, polishing the oil pump (I will keep this one as it is OK) and the cylinders are out. I assembled the oil pump again with new seals etc., did however run into a small problem with a locking ring. Can not get it in place with the tools I have, I will solve it somehow! Next to get some finish is the cylinders.

It has now been two weekend but do not think that I have been lazy! It has just been a lot of boring work to be done with polishing and painting engine parts and at last it is time to assemble everything again. But as usual I need a tool – a piston ring compressor. I was trying to find the tool locally but impossible to get the type that I had in mind, something similar to what can be seen in the picture.

I found another piston compression tool that worked fine…(approx. 3 EURO was the cost)! Might not be a professional tool for 70 EURO but that doesn’t matter. I was just going to reassemble the cylinders and the new S&S heads but as usual I run into a new problem. The old allen screws to the old heads does of course not fit the new S&S heads (why should it be easy…)! The hunt for bolts/screws of the correct dimenion has started, I really want to get the engine completely reassembled as soon as possible.

It is now the second half of February and I took the frame to a guy that will sandblaster and powder coat it, I should have it back within 2 weeks. My first thought was to have it in silver but the guy that does the paint jobs said that powder coating in silver is not a good idea, the silver powder coat usually ends up very uneven in the colour! So it will be black again, two layers with a first layer where zink is included as rust protection. I have also ordered head blots and nut to the rocker arm shafts from the US, as soon as I have these the engine will be reassembled within short.

The weekend has been a polishing weekend, the primary is now cleaned up and will soon look much better once I have done the final polishing. The gear box will get a checkup and new gaskets and at the same time some polishing.

March and got the parts from the US a couple of weeks ago. Realized that I need a better torque wrench than the one I have. Found a Stahlwille, a real professional tool of high quality that I can recommend. This one has the possibility with exchangeable end tools so I hade to make a few – one 16 and one 9/16 (did buy wrenches that I cut and weld to fit the socket) additional to the fixed for 1/2 inch sockets. The frame is still at the guy that are to do the sandblaster and powder coat but he has promised that I will get it next week. The engine is now almost ready, the brand new S&S head are in place.