Day 17 - Lets get this done already!

You know it's one thing to have an idea in your head and get all enthusiastic about it, and a completely different thing to put that idea into practice. I'm experiencing this with this project. Although I must admit I'm not the most patient of people, and a lot of this project is..well....mundane tasks - a lot of scrubbing, cleaning and it takes a long time! So saying that it is rewarding to see it all nice and clean. However I really am looking forward to seeing if this thing will ever start again. So the engine currently stands in the garage like this...


So time for more cleaning - this time the cylinder head. I bring the cylinder head inside and grab the Scotchbrite pad and start scrubbing.


But then I got bored and completed only half of the cylinder head and the valves still have to come out and be checked out.


I'll be honest. Doing a full engine rebuild like I'm doing here is a LOT of work. A Lot for one person anyway, and I can really only stand a couple of hours in the garage at a time before I need a break from it. Thats partly why I bring parts inside (manageable parts) So I can clean them whilst watching a movie in the background.

Today the clutch has also been reinstalled and the Oil Pump has also been installed. That should have been the other way round as the Oil Pump went in first. However one of the things that discouraged me slightly was when I started to try to turn the engine by hand. It was very VERY tight. I could just about do it with a 3/8 inch wrench and then I kept going for a couple more revolutions and it got easier, but I'm not really sure how tight it should be when turning and thats with the cylinder head off!

Although been doing some reading and apparently it's normal for the engine to feel tighter to turn when using things like moly lube to grease when putting it back together. It's a lot thicker than engine oil and makes it feel harder to turn.

Although good news is a got an scissor lift delivered today, so that means when putting the engine back in I'm not going to be struggling like mad to get the engine raised up and aligned with the mounting bolts on the bikes frame so hopefully that job should be much easier.

Really just want to get this engine finished, and get the bike started - but that will come soon...