Sunday, January 31, 2010

I'm learning a lot with this

So I finally went out and grabbed a compression tester and ran it this afternoon on the engine.

Cylinders 1, 3, and 4 were 120, 110, 100 respectively.

However, Cylinder 2 didn't register at all.

I'm waiting for my pals over on the SOHC forum to weigh in, but I think this means I at least need to rebuild the top end. More to come...

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Progress to share

3 pics of my progress at cleaning up the engine cases. It's a slow work in progress and the PO (previous owner) really went to town with the Krylon, but it's working. The combination of elbow grease, Tal Stripper (that's aircraft paint stripper, mind you), and brake cleaner is making my cases pretty.










Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Onward and... onward?

No pics to show yet. I've started stripping the engine to get all that nasty paint off of it. It's quite the chore. I managed to pull some from various sections but as I'm doing so I'm realizing that all of the exposed rubber on the motor will need replaced. Shouldn't be a huge deal, but I am a little concerned about all that crap maybe being in the engine. Still haven't decided whether or not to break the seal on the engine block - maybe a top end.

Wait - getting ahead of myself. Do one thing at a time. I'm focused on the case right now. Then on to the frame and maybe work on the front forks at the same time.

Man I have too much blue paint to remove!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Day 5 - Been a long time coming

The story goes like this. I was really busy. Really. No seriously. Anyways, it's been over a year and a half since I did anything on the bike. I ran out of time. A friend of mine at work rides a Triumph and he suggested that I call his mechanic since I was ready to just pay somebody to get this bike going for me. (I know, I know - one of the main reasons I bought it was to learn about it - but time = money and I needed more of both). So I called Eric at British in the City. Super nice guy, but as I figured, he wasn't interested in working on what's essentially a Japanese basket case.

So I decided to get back to it and that's how I got here again. I may take a more leisurely pace and work primarily on weekends, but as you can see below, I've made some progress.

Here's the latest - I got everything (well everything but ONE DAMN CHAIN) off the frame.


So, I can't figure it out. I didn't see a master link on the chain so I'm wondering if the guy I bought it from welded up the hard tail without pulling it? I can't figure out if I can get this chain off the frame. And further, I have no clue if I should. Obviously, I need to so I can get started on the refinishing, but I'm at a loss.

Here's a closeup shot of the chain and the frame:


Off to the SOHC forumes to see if I can find some help!