Saturday 29th March 2008
Andy Harris the bike doctor came today and the news is not great. It seems
that the Harley needs a bit of a reconditioning after the heavy use it has
been put through. The compression had become very low due to normal wear
and tear, so the engine management computer had shut down the engine. The
next step is to strip down the top end of the engine and check the valves,
pistons and bore, and replace the worn out parts. Spanner is not too well,
so he is going to sit back and supervise me as I pull it apart on Tuesday
and hopefully (touch wood) it will be back together again before the week
is out, and before I've pulled all my hair out. What normally happens is
that a few corroded nuts and bolts hold us up for hours on end. Seeing as
we don't have the luxury of power tools down in my garage, things could
get very awkward and frustrating.
Monday 31st March
2008
Top-end strip down of the bike
Friday 2nd May 2008
My brother Simon ran me and my engine parts up to Sutton Rebores (thanks bruv) where they got given a clean bill of health. Therefore I decided that I was going to rebuild the engine ASAP and then see what happens. That meant that we had to go to Warr's in King's Road Chelsea to get a gasket set. Warr's is the oldest Harley dealership in Europe (since 1924) and it looks more like an art gallery than a bike shop.
Sunday 4th
May 2008
Engine rebuild
Today, with help from Dave, I got the valves ground in and the engine back together. Things are not completely finished yet as the tank, air filter, exhaust system and footboard still need to go back on. Things seemed to go very well, although I think I may have got a touch of the sun yesterday, so I had to stop proceedings at 6pm and go and fall over instead! Play will resume tomorrow.
Monday 5th May
2008
Engine rebuild (cont)
I got everything back together by
midday and Dave came over later with new Exhaust studs. With the bike back
in one piece we tried to start it, but the problem was still there. The
final option was to check the cams and the cam tensioners. On opening the
cover the broken remains of the cam bearing came pouring out, so mystery
solved.
The major concern now (apart from the potential costs involved) is what
damage the bearing bits have done while they were flying about. Two new
cam bearings and a cam tensioner cost about £100 and while I am saving up
for that I need to figure out how to take the cams apart.
Under the cam cover
This used to be a bearing and part
of one of the tensioners. Oops!
Tuesday 10th
June 2008
Cam repair
Dave has managed to find all of the parts needed for a major rebuild of the cams for only £50. So first thing this morning I got the battery and tank off, and removed the rockers so that the pushrods would be freed from the cams. Dave came over to assist with the strip down of the cams. This didn't take too long and to make things even easier to dismantle, I purposely destroyed the front cam chain tensioner with a screwdriver (that'll learn it) so that I could yank the front pulleys off without losing any of my knuckles.
All of the new (used) parts that
Dave was able to get.
This allows us to replace every part of the cam section, if necessary.
The end of the front cam (off centre
and with most of its bearing missing) can be seen peeping out from behind
the cam chain.
Here you can see that the outer cam
tensioner was very worn out.
Front pulleys and chain removed. The
right hand "eye" should look like the left! The outer section of the
bearing has remained in situ. If this had failed too, then the
damage could have been a lot worse.
The front pulleys, which also showed
signs of wear
Here's a close up of the broken
bearing
Off with the entire cam plate.
Here is the inner cam chain
tensioner, parts of which had rolled out of the bike when the cam cover
was first opened.
This is the reverse side of the cam
plate. You can just see the damage to the bearing retention plate caused
by the spinning, bearing-less cam.
The inner cam chain was completely
worn out. It was seized solid and also stretched.
I'm very lucky that this hadn't broken earlier.
The valve lifters. These were still
in good shape. Thank goodness as our repair kit doesn't include these.
The inner chain had also been
rubbing against the oil pump housing.
The front cam shaft, showing wear on
the outer cam and inner bearing surface
The inner cam bearings are now exposed and need replacing. I have the bearings, but getting these old ones out requires a special pulling tool that we don't have (yet). Until then, play is postponed!
Saturday 5th
July 2008
Tools are on the way
Thanks to the incredible generosity of Butch aka Coolmaker from Southern Carolina, the tools needed are on their way. They could be here by Monday, so we can get on and finally finish the engine work. With a little luck the bike may be running by the weekend.
Thursday 17th
July 2008
Cam
rebuild
Friday 18th July 2008
Bike fixed
All of the repairs went smoothly and
the bike started without a hitch. It ran a bit rough for the first few
miles until the hydraulic lifters filled with oil, then it purred like a
spoilt kitten. Now I all I need to do is get a new rear tyre and an MOT .