Monday 26 November 2007

Lord Of The (piston) Rings

A little progress has been made on the motor. When buying a motor in big lumps, why oh why, do you convince yourself that its just a case of bolting it all together?!

I had conveniently overlooked the fact that valve-to-piston clearances and squish clearances would have to be checked, and then the motor taken down and built properly...


So this weekend I've been replacing the studs which had sheared on the old barrel (102mm; 690cc). I've carefully gapped the rings to the recommended clearance, and got the piston on and into the bore.

Can you believe this took 2 days??! My God, at this rate, we're not going to be running by February...

On the plus side, I did receive a special dispensation to work on the motor in the house, thus breaking:


Co-habiting rule 1.1
No motorbike bits in the house"


However, rather than cover myself in glory, I covered the carpet in oil. I managed to rescue it, but I'd rather not have had do. Dust sheets are now down, and I've cleared it so that the annexe to the Solar Shed takes up only half the dining table. Can't say fairer than that, can we?

I've been reading lots of tuning theory, and recommend A Graham Bell's "Performance Tuning in Theory and Practice".
I tried to impress she-of-the-soiled-carpet with this fabulous still-life. It didn't work! And yes, the flowers were a direct result of "Carpet-gate"
I've also noticed that the cam chain has come off the sprocket on the crankshaft. So I think tonight will be spent guddling about in the cam chain tunnel with a coathanger to try to persuade it back over the teeth. I'm trying to avoid taking the rotor off, but maybe its not such a bad idea... And thanks for all the advice I've received from the single-cylinder afficionados in The Thumper Club. Top blokes, who've played this game before. Cheers for now,
andy

No comments: