Brad's '75 Shovelhead Rebuild

Drill the cylinders' skirts today

2012-02-05T22:20:00.000-05:00

With the oil returning from the heads to the case via hose instead of the passage in the cylinder, I chose to put the fittings in the thickest part of the case, which meant that the cylinders' skirts would have blocked them off. To fix this, I placed each cylinder on the case, and using the fitting hole, used a center punch to mark the skirt where it needed to be drilled.

After marking, I used a 1/8" bit to drill a pilot hole, then chucked up a 3/8" to drill the final hole.

Heads are done

2012-02-03T19:25:00.000-05:00

I sent the heads out to have a second spark plug port and external oil return ports milled into each head. The additional spark plug aids the combustion in the engine, as the chamber is hemispherical and the solo plug is off to one side. The external oil return lines will help keep the oil about 30* cooler than the OEM design, as the oil will no longer flow from the heads to the case via a passage drilled down the cylinder wall--about 1/8" away from the combustion chamber.

External oil return fittings

2012-01-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

Here I drilled and tapped for the external return line fittings on the lower case. The other end of the lines starts at the heads; instead of returning the oil from the heads to the case through a passage in the cylinder wall, it will now return via oil lines which will allow the oil to remain 20-30* cooler than the OEM set up.

Hole started with a center punch, about to pilot drilled:

Holes drilled with a letter "R" bit:

1/8" 27TPI tap:

Installed:

Mock up

2012-01-25T13:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I mocked up the frame with a car tire and a buddy's springer and girder front ends to get an idea of how it'll look when done. I like the length of the girder better, as the bike sits better. I'll be running a telescoping front end though, as they're easier to set up, ride better, and are easier to put dual disc brakes on.

Here it is with the longer springer:

Here it is with the girder:

Oil tank delivered!

2012-01-09T14:40:00.000-05:00

A buddy of mine welded up the oil tank for me last weekend. The filler cap is to the left. The two center bungs are for the return (from the pump) and the vent (to the case). The bottom bung is to the pump. Not visible in the picture is the drain bung, which is on the right side and just behind the line of sight on the bottom of the tank.

I'll be working with Kevin from www.fabkevin.com to make a bracket for holding it to the frame later.

Finished with gloss black powder coat; the smudges are my finger prints.

Here's the kit as I bought it:

Here's the finished product:

Milled out the breather opening

2011-12-15T22:42:00.000-05:00

I didn't change the "timing" of the opening (when the breather gear's window enters and exits the window in the case), as it isn't needed for this build, but down the line, if I bump it to 93", I'll need to widen it to match the new stroke.

You can see in my previous postings what the opening looked like. With a Dremel tool and wand attachment, with a cutter attached, I ground down the rough spots and squared up the opening a bit. I also "flattened" the leading and trailing edges of the window.

I also cleaned up other areas of rough casting marks in the cam cavity.

Gonna get moving again!

2011-12-03T13:46:00.000-05:00

Alright...Haven't done anything since...April? Yeah, it's been a while. It would appear that taking the engine to my buddy's house was a mistake. Not because anything bad happened, but because nothing happened at all!

He lives 10 minutes from where I work, but 40 minutes from my house. Finding the time to go to his house just hasn't happened, so we decided it would be best if I just took it home, worked on it when I can, and if I get stumped, to go to his place or ask on the forum for help.

So let the games continue!

Just like any engine, the Shovelhead needs a way to "breathe"--when the pistons move up and down, they create a vacuum/over pressure situation in the crankcase. Not a big deal if the pistons are moving opposite each other, but these move up and down at roughly the same time, so they don't balance each other out. To remedy this, the Shovelhead has a hollow tube with a steel screen on it that spins in a housing and is "timed" by the crankshaft so that the screen fits a window in the housing at just the right time.

What this does is allow over pressure to be blown out a relief tube that is attached to the engine. This tube is often run out over the final drive chain so that any oil mist that comes out of it will help lube the chain.

On the up stroke, this screen is opposite the window, which causes a vacuum in the case. This vacuum helps suck (or "sump") oil from the bottom of the crank case to the oil pump, removing excess oil from the crank. The Shovelhead is a "dry-sump" engine, which means it shouldn't store oil; oil should constantly be moving through it, but at no time should there be more than six ounces of oil in the crank case.

Here's the problem I'm going to fix: From the factory, the window cut for the screen is oval and rough. It was done cheaply and "good enough" for a stock engine. For a high-performance engine, a builder will actually split the crank case open, attach a timing wheel to the crank, and recut the window to match certain specs he has in mind. I'm not going to waste my time with that, as I'm just building a stock engine as close to factory spec as possible (with a few minor upgrades for engine longevity).

What I plan on doing is taping off the interior of the cam chest (the area I'm working on), plug the "deep end" of the breather housing with plastic and tape, draw a rectangle over the oval, and, using a Dremel tool, cut out a rectangle that matches the screen on the breather gear.

Here's the cam chest:

You can see the pinion shaft (out of focus). Above that is the cam bearing, and to the left of that is the breather gear and its window. See the rough casting and oval window?

Looking from above, down through the front tappet block hole:

Looking from above, through the rear tappet block hole for a different angle:

Here's the breather gear assembly. The screen is to catch anything larger than the holes in it INSIDE the breather gear, and has saved many an engine when a spring, washer, or spacer in the heads or rocker boxes has disintegrated (reaming a new hole and installing an over-sized breather is MUCH cheaper and easier than replacing, say, a crank):

I have finals coming up soon, so I'm hoping to get this done in the near future, but am not promising any particular time frame!

Work done to rocker arms

2011-04-21T13:50:00.003-04:00

I just got this pic from the machinist who is cleaning up my rockers and boxes; it's a tool he rarely uses any more because most riders now replace the old rockers with new pieces that have roller bearings for the contact surfaces. See that semi-flat surface on one of the arms? It was rusted, so he cleaned it up. Later on (years from now) when I punch this engine to 93", I'll replace them with the roller bearing style rockers, along with other engine upgrades.

Here it is in action:

Getting closer...

2011-04-21T12:30:00.000-04:00

The oil tank kit came in yesterday, along with a set of ugly, but serviceable pipes to get the engine started. They look like OEM-spec pipes, but it appears that the baffles were removed. Not a big deal; I don't plan on riding the bike with them anyway. If I do ride it with them, I'll buy and install some perforated baffles.

I also placed an order for most of the little tidbits that were missing from the engine; stuff for the oil pump and cam chest that needed to be replaced.

Just got off the phone with my machinist down in Florida, Jesse, of www.dragstews.com ; he just finished up the machining on my rocker boxes and cleaned up the contact surfaces on the rocker pads last night. He's waiting on an order of seals and will be sending them back to me next week.

Got my primary drive, clutch, and coil in today.

2011-04-15T21:49:00.000-04:00

Along with those are the "mouse trap" springs--really stiff springs designed to be used with a "mouse trap"--a mechanical assist for the clutch cable operation. When I get to that part of the build I'll explain it better. Also got the torque adapters I needed to install the cylinders and heads. Hopefully I'll get to do that sometime in the upcoming week.

New oil bag on the way, along with lots of other parts

2011-04-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

Been a rush of parts ordering to get the engine completed. The transmission is finally done; that's a huge relief.

I just received a new stator; my old rotor should be good to go. Also have a used but good R/R and a coil on the way. Also in the mail are a complete clutch assembly and a complete open belt primary drive.

I'm currently waiting on a couple of torque adapters to put the heads and cylinders on and the rockers and boxes are down in Florida for some machining for proper end play clearance.

Here's the oil tank kit I bought; it'll hang from the front of the bike:

Hopefully gonna put the engine together on Wednesday!

2011-03-15T12:11:00.002-04:00

Got all the nuts and bolts for putting the top end on; I'm hoping that Paul and I will be able to attach it all on Wednesday evening. Pics to come!

Gotta get a new cam...

2011-02-14T08:40:00.000-05:00

Paul and I inspected my cam and rockers this weekend. Aside from some surface rust in the rockers, they're fine. The cam? It's shot. There is a lot of pitting on the bearing surface which will destroy the bearing in short order. So now to figure out which grind to go with. Maybe an A or J...

Kick Starter

2011-02-07T20:34:00.000-05:00

I wanted to clean and assemble the kick starter tonight, but wasn't able to because of a problem of sorts...a snap ring is missing. I'm wondering if it caused the starter clutch to get damaged. Remember this picture?

Well, here's where the snap ring is supposed to go:

Roughly in the center of that picture is the bottom of the Release Lever Shaft. At the bottom of it, you can see an indentation. In there is supposed to sit a snap ring that prevents the shaft from moving up. It wasn't there. I'm awaiting a response from more seasoned mechanics to find out if this caused the damage pictured above.

I have reason to believe that this kick starter assembly isn't OEM, as it doesn't match what's in my service manual. There are notable differences on the shaft I just mentioned--the OEM piece was held in place with two washers and a cotter pin; this one doesn't have washers (or room for them) and is secured with a snap ring. On the outside of the cover you can see an Allen screw, which appears to used to adjust the throw out rod; this, too, is missing in the OEM drawing.

On the kick starter shaft there are noticeable differences, too. All that I removed in this image are the kick lever and the spring.

Reassembly continues!

2011-02-02T21:09:00.000-05:00

It appears I didn't have the gear lined up properly. Once lined up, it went together easily.

Main shaft and counter shaft have both been assembled; now it's time for buttoning it up!

Transmission reassembly begins!

2011-02-02T19:21:00.000-05:00

I got the new machined main gear seal for the transmission; it's the basic seal with a groove machined on the inner face to accept an o-ring. This has ALWAYS leaked with this transmission design, no matter how well you build the bike. Recently some guys that are smarter than me figured out how to fix it--put an o-ring in. Here is it pressed into the oil seal and then inserted into the transmission case. The ring with the blue border is the oil seal; the inner metal ring with the key way is the main seal:

On the inside of the race that accepts the oil seal is an inner face that accepts loose roller bearings. You get them to stick by coating the face with thick grease, then insert them one by one...

And that's where I have to stop for now. I don't remember how tight the fit is for the main gear and the main seal. I don't know if it's snug, tight, or a press fit. I'll find out and then continue on.

The gas tank looks good, but it's so SMALL!

2011-02-02T12:04:00.000-05:00

I won't be using the gas tank that came with the bike because there's a large dent in it and it's full of crud, not to mention a paper wasp nest that is about four inches across...but I will be replacing it with a unit that is as identical as I can find.

Being such a tiny tank, this bike won't travel very far between stops. Having said that, those frequent stops might not be a bad thing, considering the marked lack of rear suspension...

I doubt I'll be riding this bike distances where that will come in to play, but if I ride it often, I don't want to worry about filling up the tank each time I hop on. Last night I was pondering this, and think that I may have come up with a solution. The theory seems sound enough to me; I'll just have to test it out later.

Here's my thinking:

My SV650 has a vacuum operated mechanical fuel pump; it's "powered" by a vacuum line that is tapped into the throat of one of the carbs. The carbs on the SV are actually HIGHER than the lowest part of the gas tank, so gravity can't be used to pull fuel from the tank. The pump only "runs" when the engine is running, and it doesn't have to push the fuel very far "up" against gravity.

I won't be using the oil tank that's currently in the bike. I'm taking inspiration from another builder and will be mounting a cylinder-shaped oil tank to the front down tubes. It'll look much like this:

So now I'll have a big open space under the seat, much like his bike. Not only that, but the mounting of the battery doesn't flow as well. Why not turn the oil tank into another three quarts of fuel capacity? Great, right? I can run a 1/2" ID fuel tubing down from the top tank to the oil tank. Then run a 3/8" ID "burp" line from the oil tank up to the top inside of the top tank so that it'll fill faster. So far, so good, right?

The challenge is to get that fuel from the oil tank to the carb. That's where the SV's fuel pump comes into play. First, though, a bit more on that fuel pump. It's small. I mean tiny. That's great for hiding it. Here it is:

One line runs to a brass fitting pressed into the carb throat; it's a vacuum line. One runs to the fuel tank, and the third runs fuel to the carbs' float bowls.

My initial worry was that it wouldn't be able to "push" the fuel far enough to reach the carb on the Shovel. Then I got to thinking...The Shovel's displacement is twice that of the SV. Not only that, but it has only one carb feeding both cylinders. Considering this, I bet it'll draw enough of a vacuum to push the fuel that far.

So...having gone through all that, I won't really start trying to fab up a "test unit" until this summer at best--gotta have a running engine first. I'm thinking that after I get the engine up and running, I'll pull the carb off, drill a hole in the intake side throat, and press in a short brass tube. I'll run a line to the fuel pump (placed approximately where it'll be mounted), then run a line from the pump down to a small bucket or similar container that will sit where the oil tank is now. Then a line up to the carb to supply fuel.

Once that's done, start kicking the heck out of the starter to see if it will draw fuel up into the carb. If it works, well, I'll be able to add about 40 miles between fill ups!

My next concern is whether the pump's pressure is greater than what the carb's needle valve can seal against. I believe it can seal up to 1.5psi.

We'll see. Maybe.

Prepping the transmission case for reassembly

2011-01-30T19:03:00.000-05:00

Jessie didn't like this too much, but since I'm the one that does the cooking in the house, I over ruled her objection. Anyway, it was mostly clean; just needed to get the final film of oil and dirt off for painting...

Taped up for paint.

Done in the same paint as the engine cases and heads.

Got the heads assembled today

2011-01-30T17:10:00.000-05:00

I went over to Paul's house today. With his guidance I was able to install the valves, springs, collars, and keepers into the heads. Before doing that, though, he showed me how to lap the valves on the seats to ensure a good seal. It's a very easy process, though a bit time consuming. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, so I had to make do with my phone's camera. They didn't turn out too badly though.

Here you can see an unlapped and a lapped valve (the dull part is the lapped surface):

Here you can see an unlapped seat and a lapped seat (the lighter color is the lapped area):

The process is simple: Attach a lapping tool to the face of the valve with the suction cup, apply the lapping compound, insert the valve, and spin the tool back and forth, like you're trying to start a fire with a stick and tinder.

Once that was done, we assembled the valves in the heads and then poured kerosene into the intake and exhaust ports to ensure that the valves were sealing properly against their seats. We found no leaking!

Next will be the rocker box covers; I'll hopefully get to them within the next few weeks.

Good and bad stuff/news today!

2011-01-14T22:54:00.000-05:00

I received from Tony all the parts I need to put the heads back together; now I just have to find a few hours to head over to Paul's to put them together! Tony also put a new bushing in the fourth gear and sent me a new set of roller bearings for the main shaft.

Unfortunately, he also found some damage to the first/second gear unit. Something, at some point, got caught between the teeth of this gear and its mate, so I'll need to closely inspect the other gear to see if it's damaged, too. The damage doesn't look severe, but it's enough AND the gear is inexpensive enough that it's easier to just replace it.

Transmission work getting done

2011-01-05T11:47:00.000-05:00

Last week I sent off the main shaft and fourth gear from my transmission to Tony to have him replace the bushing in the gear and make sure it matches up with the main shaft. When it gets back I'll begin putting the transmission back together.

New Year's resolution: Get this engine running by summer!

2011-01-01T23:00:00.001-05:00

Aside from getting back into shape this year, this will also be the year that Dad's old bike runs again. Well, that the engine will run. It'll be at least another year and a half before I can get the rest of the bike built.

Here's a mock up of the major engine components. The front rocker box was the one painted silver; you can see a bit of silver that I need to hit again with the black.

This is the final engine paint configuration. The cam cover will be painted black to balance out the colors; I haven't decided if the oil pump will be black or silver yet.

So then...if I'm remembering correctly, and I've inventoried correctly, I still need to buy valves, their springs, and keepers, a coil, plugs, a gasket set (cam, cylinder, heads, rockers), pushrod tubes, and a stator to complete this engine.

Black it will be!

2010-12-29T20:40:00.002-05:00

I've decided on black for the rocker boxes, as the cam cover and lifter blocks will also be black; it'll lend balance to the whole thing. I should have the lower end completely painted by the weekend and will start assembling it after the new year.

Which color should I go with?

2010-12-27T20:53:00.000-05:00

Black rocker boxes?

Or silver rocker boxes?

Decisions, decisions...

More painting

2010-12-26T19:07:00.002-05:00

Cylinders are painted!

2010-12-26T17:50:00.002-05:00

Looking good! I'll need to hit them again in two days as I noticed a few of the lower fins had areas underneath that were missed.

Prepping the engine for paint

2010-12-26T16:42:00.000-05:00

I taped up the lower case and the cylinders for painting today. I'll get the cylinders done today; the lower case will take sever days, as I won't be able to hit all the surfaces at the same time and there's a 48 hour waiting period between coats.

Got my lower end back today.

2010-12-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

I finally got my lower end back, after waiting for a month for the mechanic to call me...You see, he finished it a month ago, but the total I was told that I owed was MUCH higher than I was expecting, and more work had been done than I had asked for.

He finally called me today and explained all that was done. When I had been given that info, I decided that it was worth biting the bullet and just paying for it. He replaced the pinion shaft and line honed the left case (as I had asked) but then went ahead and cleaned all the mating surfaces, replaced the cam bearing, and buttoned it all up.

So now I will begin installing the components of the cam cavity, such as the cam, the timing gears, and the lower part of the valve train (lifters and blocks). I'll also install the oil pump. BUT, before I start all that, I need to take some time to finish cleaning it, taping it off, and then painting it. It'll be painted "Bead Blast Aluminum" by Harley Davidson. It gives the look and feel of bead blasting, without all the nasty side effects of the actual process, while leaving a durable, oxidation-free surface.

Drilling and Tapping for Exhaust Studs

2010-11-08T21:50:00.000-05:00

I finally drilled and tapped the heads for exhaust mounting studs. They appear, at first glance, to be too long, but I've never seen a Shovel up close that had this done, so I don't know. If they are too long, I'll remove them and insert studs of proper length.

Starting the tap:

Keep it oiled! I didn't use much oil on the first one, so it was a bit hard to cut. I applied it very liberally the second time and it cut like butter.

Starting the helicoil in the hole on its insertion tool:

Done!

Cleaning up the gears

2010-11-06T16:53:00.000-04:00

Here are pics of most of the gears in the transmission, along with the shift forks and shift clutches. All the gears appear to be in great shape--no wear showing on the contact surfaces and no broken teeth. The shift forks MIGHT need to be replaced, along with the shift clutches; I'll find out tomorrow. There is minor wear showing on them.

Cleaning up the gears

2010-11-06T16:52:00.000-04:00

Cleaning up the gears

2010-11-06T16:49:00.001-04:00

Now to clean up and find things to replace/repair

2010-11-04T23:12:00.000-04:00

Alright, the transmission is taken apart. Now I'm off to a buddy's house this weekend to inspect all the gears and other parts and to come up with a list of what I need to get before we can put it back together.

Main shaft out, problem found!

2010-11-04T23:08:00.000-04:00

Here's the main shaft pulled and coming apart:

See those rollers? They're supposed to fall free if you have an "early" model of my transmission. I don't. Mine are supposed to be captured.

I found what happened...Somehow the race got eaten by something. You can see the shredded metal here. Luckily for the guy that owned this thing before I did that the gear "held" the rollers in simply because there wasn't any room for them to move. Had they escaped into the transmission gear cavity, the whole thing would have been destroyed. Probably even the case, too.

Transmission almost fully apart

2010-11-04T23:05:00.001-04:00

High-tech drift for tapping out the shift fork rod:

Counter shaft out; partially apart:

This little spring clip that holds third gear onto the main shaft was a bear to remove. It kept popping into place JUST as I would get it loose.

I found the source of the flakes...

2010-11-03T06:33:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I "adapted" a 4" gear puller to remove the starter clutch on the transmission. By "adapt" I mean that I ground down the jaws on my grinder until they fit...

What I would is both promising and a point of concern. It's promising because I've found what I think is the ONLY (I hope) source of the metal flakes in the transmission oil, and a point of concern because I need to figure out WHY it happened so that it doesn't happen again.

See that big gear? It's on the main shaft and slides freely left and right on the shaft. In front of it, you see a round bit? And between, you can just make out the ramped teeth that engage each other. That out bit is the clutch. The gear is held against it by a spring between the gear and the transmission wall.

Here is the starter clutch. No, it isn't supposed to look like that.

I have another transmission, so I'll be pulling it apart in parallel and will scavenge from it what I can to repair this one.

Opened up the "new" transmission

2010-10-21T11:26:00.000-04:00

I started tearing into the transmission yesterday. Not too bad, not great. I found metal shavings in the oil, and it's been pointed out to me that there appears to be wear on the 1-2 clutch shift dogs. If that's so, there's probably wear on the 3-4 dogs. I won't know for sure until I remove all the components and clean them with kerosene so that I can see all the surfaces well.

Picked up a "new" transmission

2010-10-20T14:19:00.000-04:00

I picked up a new/used 4-speed kicker transmission recently because the one I have would cost too much to rebuild to be worth it. This one isn't without flaws, so I'll soon start to tear it down to ensure everything is in good order and to repair two flaws that I already see--a missing mounting stud and some sort of silicone sealant that isn't supposed to be there.

Soda Blasting works

2010-08-17T11:59:00.001-04:00

I bought an inexpensive portable media blaster from Harbor Freight a few weeks ago and finally got a chance to use it last night. First, it makes one helluva mess. Second, with some tweaking and practice--in other words, kinking the feed line a bit and bumping the hopper regularly to keep it flowing--it really works well.

I played with the left engine case and one of the rocker boxes. It didn't do too well up against oil/dirt build up, but removed corrosion like a pro. I'll scrub off the oil gunk later and hit them again. After that I'll primer and paint them to prevent further corrosion.

Respirator and goggles are a must!

More progress

2010-08-16T11:14:00.000-04:00

I spoke with the boys over at T&O last week. They bored the cylinders .010" over to clean up the walls, mounted pistons to match on the crank ass'y and it is now in the queue to be balanced. I told them not to worry about rushing mine out as it will be at least a few weeks before I can get the cases blasted in prep to be taken to the indy with the crank for reassembly.

While waiting, I kind of broke my promise to work on the bike in order--engine, transmission, fuel, rear, etc... You see, I have a CV carb I bought from a guy on eBay some two years ago. Doc from the Shovelhead forums is the go-to guy for setting up a Shovel with a CV. I ordered from him new jets, Allen screws to replace the cold-butter hardness Phillips screws on the carb body, and a killer air cleaner body.

Dad had a Maltese Cross rear brake light. I'll replace it with a new one (the lens is shattered and gone)and figured this would be a nice complement:

I wonder if Dad will approve?

2010-07-15T12:04:00.000-04:00

The biggest step in getting this bike running again has occurred: I just dropped off the crank ass'y and the original cylinders at UPS to be shipped to Truett and Osborn Cycle out in Kansas to have the cylinders rebored (if necessary), honed, and fitted for pistons. Those pistons will then be mounted on the crank ass'y and the whole thing will be balanced and trued.

I think my fiance' is getting tired of hearing about how excited I am about this...Yes, I'm like a giddy little school girl right now.

New crank is here!

2010-07-01T12:38:00.000-04:00

Got home last night to find a package at the door. Tom came through for me! It has about 10k on it and is clean as a whistle.

Dunno when I'll be able to start cleaning the cases to put it in, as the clutch on my SVT just died, so the car is gonna take up most of the space in the garage as I yank it and replace it.

Gonna get there, though. One day.

June 25, 2010

2010-06-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

So, it's been nearly a year since I split the cases. I hadn't gone any further than actually pressing the crank out of the case because the cost of it was just too high. I recently started a "Shovelhead fund", which I drop a bit of money into each payday to save up for parts. But even then, it'll take two to three years to get to the end of the project.

BUT! Just wait! A great bit of good fortune from an incredibly generous member over at www.shovelhead.us/forum is sending me a complete crank assembly with about 10k miles on it for not much more than the cost of shipping. I can't tell you how that made my day!

I think it's time to break out the case halves and start cleaning them up in preparation for putting the internals back in...

Here it is at his house, waiting to be boxed up:

Slowly, yet steadily, it gets closer...

July 13. Split the cases!

2009-07-13T22:27:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I finally sat down with a pair of 1/2" spanners and pulled all the nuts and bolts that hold the two lower end cases together. Once they were out, I then used a 7/16" spanner to remove the oil pump case.

Then a few swift taps with a rubber mallet separated them. But they wouldn't pull apart more than 1/2". What gives? Seems that the oil pump shaft and gear are held in place by a tiny circlip. Had to pull that to remove the gear so that the right side case could slide off the shaft.

Pulling it was easy--round nose pliers to twist until it popped and flew across the room. The question remains: How the hell do I put it in? It's located perpendicular to the visible plane, with a wall on its face that might make putting it back an exercise in frustration. Here's the little bugger:

Once that came off, the right side case slid right off.

Inside? Yuck. Water fouled oil, sludge, and general nastiness...

Now then...To find the time to head over to Kevin's and have the flywheels pressed out...

May 2009

2009-05-26T20:23:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I didn't do much, but I did pull off the front pulley yesterday. I'm moving to a new home (with garage!!!) at the end of this month, and plan on starting to work on this thing in ernest in July, even if it means just splitting the cases and beginning to clean them by hand.

Planning stages...

2009-05-08T15:00:00.000-04:00

I called the guys over at Truett and Osborn ( http://www.truettandosborn.com/ ), based on advice from the guys over at www.shovelhead.us/forum to see what they can do for me. I told them how I have to replace all the internals and asked what I can do to increase the power without going crazy, and with keeping as much of the stock pieces that I can.

They told me that the quickest route to more power would be to go with an 89" stroker kit. This would maintain my stock cases, cylinders, and heads, with minor work to make everything fit. I would need cylinder base plates (included in the price) and to have a local mechanic machine clearance space in the cases for the longer rods and to lower the oil hole on the cylinders. Otherwise it'll just bolt right in.

I'll be going from 74" to 89" (1200cc to 1443cc) with a 4 5/8" stroke. Yeah, it's gonna be a paint shaker.

~$1300 will get me a balanced flywheel, bearings, rods, and pistons. Pricey, but less expensive than a new engine and fairly cheap if I install it all myself (which I plan on doing).

April 2009

2009-04-30T21:35:00.000-04:00

Not much has been done to the bike, as that fiscal ability I thought I had didn't materialize as I had hoped. But, there's a change in the wind! The rebuild will begin again this summer. The next step will be to take the lower case to a local Shovelhead mech who will rip it apart for me and tell me what I need to replace (everything except the flywheels and the cases, I'm sure). When I take it in I'll see how much more it'll cost to bump it to 93ci instead of just rebuilding the stock 74ci engine. More power!

If I do that, I think I'll go with a set of second spark plug holes in the heads so that I can add pressure relief valves--kickstarting a 93" stroker is gonna be a bit of a challenge otherwise with my puny 150# frame...

May 2008

2009-04-30T21:33:00.001-04:00

So I was able to get the heads bead blasted. Haven't done anything since, but they do look better, which gives me hope for the rest.

The exterior is ugly!

2009-04-30T21:31:00.001-04:00

Corrosion. Need I say more?

What have I gotten myself into?

2009-04-30T21:26:00.000-04:00

So, not long after getting the bike, I started tearing the engine and tranny open. What I found wasn't promising. In the engine cases I found water fouled oil. The tranny was sealed, but one of the mounting studs leaks, so it'll need to be helicoiled and replaced.

The road to rebirth

2009-04-30T19:25:00.000-04:00

Two years ago I started a new career which offered me the fiscal ability to put dad's long forgotten bike back together. He agreed, with a bit of trepidation, to haul it up to me, with the admonition that I am not allowed to sell it or give it away.

At the time, I don't think that he understood that it wasn't the Harley motorcycle that I wanted. It was the bike my dad built that I wanted. If it had been an old CB750 or GS800 I wouldn't care. The fact that it's a cool chopper is just icing on the cake.

When he showed up at my house with the bike (after driving 1700 miles or so), the only thing in the back of his truck was a badly corroded engine, transmission, and frame. A few odds and ends were in boxes, such as some clutch parts, rocker box covers, oil tank, etc.), so this truly was a basket case.

There were more parts missing from this bike than were in attendance. This would be my first ever ground-up rebuild, and it was going to be a doozie.

The beginning

2009-04-30T19:19:00.000-04:00

This bike has a long history, but not much of a life. My dad bought the crated engine new from a Harley shop back in '75, a used 4 speed tranny, and a hardtail frame (he thinks it's a Paughco). From there he built a bare-bones bike that didn't get ridden much.

Sometime in '81 he was in a minor wreck, which tweaked the Sportster front end that he had put on it. Having four kids and an on-again, off-again construction job, family responsibilities usurped his wish to put it back on the road.

With what I'm sure was a broken heart, he watched his bike sit, in pieces, for more than two decades.