SOHC Project

...well good news with regard to titles. I was think'n I was going to have to do an international title search and get an act of congress to title these bikes. While I had the titles I did not have anything notorized. It turns out since the titles are from Virginia I don't have to have anything notorized since Virginia is not a notory state (what ever that means). It wasn't completly painless, 2 1/2 hours at the DMV and a "Double Tax" since I didn't have a bill of sale. But I got out of there with two titles and one lisense plate for $240...so I ain't complaining.

On the rebuild front I placed orders for a complete gasket set and one set of piston rings. I'm suspect about the piston rings, so I just ordered one. If its the right one, I'll order the other 3. Got a couple contacts in Louisiana that I may be able to get an exhaust valve from, so still researching that.

Spent the weekend cleaning the heads, cylinders and pistons real good. If you remember last weekend I checked the compression and had zero compression on cylinder #3. Well, I found out real quick what the problem was there. The exhaust valve on cylinder #3 was bent...enough so that I was not getting a proper seal in the cylinder. Actually it was a severe enough bend that I had to cut the top off the valve to get it out of the head.

I also completely stripped the head and cylinder, and dipped them and cleaner. Alos cleaned up the pistons and removed the rings. One of the piston rings in cylinder #3 was corroded into the piston, but managed to get it out and get it cleaned up. Here are some pics...

...the head...
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/marklocklear/detail?.dir=8c67&.dnm=1f43.jpg&.src=ph

...the cylinder...
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/marklocklear/detail?.dir=8c67&.dnm=a261.jpg&.src=ph

...pistons...
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/marklocklear/detail?.dir=8c67&.dnm=dbc8.jpg&.src=ph


So now I'm ready for reassembly. The things I need before I can begin reassembly are a gasket set, a new valve to replace the one that was bent, and piston rings.

Also have been working diligently on polishing up the valve, stator, and gear covers. I'll post some pics ASAP.

I was pretty proud of myself yesterday. After about 2 1/2 hours of work I got the cam and head off of the donor motor. Was fairly straight forward had a stuck bolt on the cam that gave me a little scare. It was in an odd spot, and I thought I had stripped it, but I was able to get to it with a pair of channel locks. Also the manual wasn't great about showing where all the bolts were keeping the head on, so I muttled around with trying to get the head off for a while until I found all the bolts.

When I pulled the head off I was surprised at how bad the inside looked. Alot of gunk and sludge all on top of the pistons and valves. Not sure if there is any serious damage or not. I hope to find that out this weekend. I'm think'n I'll pull the cylinder out and completely tear the head apart. Clean all that up, and if everything looks OK figure out where I want to go from there. Basically sounds like I'm back to the original plan I laid out on Day 18 (at the very least). I'm hoping all looks solid below the cylinder...lets keep our fingers crossed...

So I finally get a decent Compression Tester (the one from harbor freight didn't fit) and tested compression on the motor. Cylinders 1,2 & 4 are good, all at around 120psi. However, cylinder 3 has zero compression. I mean none...nada, needle does not even flicker when I kick the engine. I bounced this off a couple people and it sounds like it might be a bad valve. This afternoon I hope to get the head off, then I can check out the valves and see whats go'n on.

...so now I'm questioning the plan I laid out in yesterdays post. I posted my plan of overhauling the top end of the engine on Hondachopper.com and folks responded saying to check the compression first, and if its OK don't waste the time doing the overhaul. I take the doctors oath which is "Do no Harm", so I'll get a compression tester today and check it out this afternoon. I should have checked the compression when the motor was in the bike still, but failed to do so. There is a part of me that wants to do the engine work, just to say I've done it...however I need to stay focused on the end task, which is a chop. I'll have plenty of time to tear an engine down in the future, no reason to do it now if I don't need to...and risk screwing something up.

Pretty cool last couple of days. Put about 40 miles on the stock 78 CB750 on Saturday. She ran like a dream. Stretched the motor out for about 10 or 15 miles over 70mph with no problems at all. Spent yesterday tightening up the cam chain tensioner. Had some knocking coming from the engine, so thought I'd go through the process of tightening the chain for maintanance sake, and just to say I'v done it. However, the engine noise did not change any after I was done. From what I gather these motors are pretty noisy, so I think its typical.

I've made a decision on how much work I want to do with the project motor. After much deliberating and question asking, and taking into consideration my skill level, I have decided to just do the top end of the bike. This will include, new head/valve cover gaskets, new rings, valve adjustment, and possibly a new Cam Chain. I'm fairly confident I can do all these tasks myself (with the assistance of the manual of course) and this will keep $$$ to a minimum...I'm hoping under a $200. After the engine work I plan on removing the motor from the stock bike (which I want to clean up anyway) and putting the project motor in and putting miles on it to tune it. At that point once I feel confident the motor is solid it will be ready for mock up in the chopper. And the saga continues....

This was a pretty painless process. Had plenty of help though, so that made it easy.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/marklocklear/detail?.dir=8c67&.dnm=6c37.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/marklocklear/detail?.dir=8c67&.dnm=6ae9.jpg&.src=ph

...and couldn't resist pulling the valve cover off to check out the innerts...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/marklocklear/detail?.dir=8c67&.dnm=ecf7.jpg&.src=ph

So now I'm at the point of trying to decide how far I want to go with the rebuild. At one side of the pole I can just do the top end...gasgets, valve job, ect. At the other end of the poles is a complete overhaul. The disadvantages with a complete overhaul are $$$ and the chance of screwing things up if I try and do it myself. Right now I'm really leaning toward just doing the top end. I feel fairly confident I could do that. Considering this is my first build, and I'v never done anything more than change my oil, I think that would be quite an accomplishment.

Been cleaning carbs and preping the motor in the donor bike for removal from the frame. Learned a good lesson while cleaning the carbs. I bought some "non-corrosive" cleaning agent from walmart. Basically I want to dip the carbs and just let them soak overnight. After about 3 hours in he this suff they started to blister. I think they are still workable.

In removing the crankcase cover I ran into a stripped screw. Used "screw remover bit", also known as an "easy out" to remove it. I was pretty proud of myself on accomplishing that. Removed the front spocket cover and took the chain off. I think the motor is ready to come out now, just got to coordinate some help to get it out and up on a table.

Titles to the bikes should be in any day now. However this is gonna be a problem cuz they are NC titles. To transfer them to Louisiana I need a notorized tite or bill of sale...neither of which I have. I'm gonna see if I can get a local notory to hook me up. If not then I'll try and get the guy I bought them from to send me a notorized bill of sale.

Talked with Kate from CycleOne last night. This is the place up in Canada I'm planning on buying my frame from. I think I may go with a 5.5 inch Harley rear wheel. Think I can get one off ebay for under $200. Kate has the best Canandian accent...eyy?

Got to work early so I can get home by 5pm. My goal is to get this bad boy to fire before bed time. First check out the plugs and compression. Plugs got good spark...compression feels good. Next, disconnect the fuel line...fuel is flowing out of the petcock at a good clip. Next the carbs. I blow on the tubes go'n into the carbs. I can't force any air through. I pull off the airbox and carbs. Don't do anything special to the carbs, just move things around...and finally I can move air through them by blowing into the fuel intake tube. Reassmeble everything...bam!!! Shes fires up. Man thats a sweet sound!!!

...here we are at day 7. Last weekend was a bear. I did a world wind tour of the South East to pick up the bikes I won off ebay. Took a 1/2 day off work and left Baton Rouge at around 11am CST. Had been worried about the weather all week, and though it wasn't bad when I left BR, I ran into ran at about hour 5 or 6 before I got into Atlanta. Not to mention the check engine light on my little '95 Nissan truck I bought about a month ago is coming on and giving me greif. After a long night I pull into Charlotte at about 2am. I'v got a cousin there, so I crash at his place for the weekend.

Up at 9am on Saturday. I'm depending on directions I got off Yahoo to find this guys place so I can pick up the bikes. Yahoo says its about an hour from my cousins place in Moresville, NC. Fast forward 3 hours and I'm sitting in this guys yard somewhere on Lake Norman. Hes not home and his adolesent son says he'll try and get him on his cell. Kid comes out of the house 30 minutes later and says to follow him...the bikes aren't there, there at somebody elses house. Why am I not surprised? So I follow this kid to a church where the kids dad is doing a constructon job. The kids dad is not there, but he hads me off to the dude that has the bikes at his place. So I follow him another 30 minutes out of Mooresville to a Modile home, and sure enough there they are strapped to the back of a 12ft flat bed trailer.

Me and "haus" get the bikes in to the back of my truck. Pull my back out doing that...haus was making me do all the heavy lifting...there my bikes...I guess he has a point. So I leave there and have to meet another guy who has the keys and titles. He has the keys, but his dad has the titles in his truck. After trying to get a hold of his dad on his cell for 15 minutes we decide they will mail me the titles so I can be on my way.

Up at 4am Sunday morning for the treck back to Louisiana. It took 14 hours to get to NC...and I extimate is will take about 16 to make it back. The truck can pull the weight of the bikes OK. However having the bikes straped in the bed of the truck makes the truck real top heavy, and going faster than 55mph would put me in a fatal speed wobble.
I pull in to Baton Rouge at 7pm. Success!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/marklocklear/detail?.dir=8c67&.dnm=9301.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/marklocklear/detail?.dir=8c67&.dnm=7fe5.jpg&.src=ph

...actually its not day one, this has been in the works for the past 6 months or so. I've ridden some type of motorcycle since I was 12 years old (bigs ups to DW Locklear). CBR and Sportser about 5 years back. So I'm just like every other idiot sitting around watching OCC on discovery channel thinking "Cool, I'd love to do this!" Then you look at the prices and say..."How much for a big twin motor?" So I come across this site www.hondachopper.com . OK, I can do this...I'm reasonably mechanically inclined, and OK, I could part with 3 grand for one of these. So fast forward 6 months and here I am. I won 2 78 CB750's off ebay, and taking a half day off work to drive and get them over a long weekend. Stay tuned...