More snow for New England means more time to retreat into the workshop. There's something about the falling snow that locks out the sound of the world and allows me to focus on what is important to my being. Yes, clearing the walkways and drive are important to my overall safety. But to experience what this engine feels like in the lightened late model scrambler frame, to hear it on the pipe... that is a motivator that moves my soul.
When I walked away from the Velo last night I was still down to removing the last stud. That stud was seized in the socket on the block. What could have been an easy task turned into a challenge of heat, oil and vice grips. By morning one stud was out the other needed to wait until both the timing cover and magneto came off. Then came the snow....
With Snow comes school delays, closings and early releases. Today it would be an early release so Someone needed to be here for when the monkey came home. I'll take one for the team and hang around.... down to the workshop to wait.
After giving a couple cups of coffee and music to kick in I was settled into the process of removing the timing cover. I'd been curious to see what might be going on inside; there were two different push rods in this engine. One would be what is in the MSS engine, the other I suspect is from a thruxton style engine. With the MSS you can adjust the rockers by installing a feller gauge between the conical cup on the push rod and the push rod it self. With a thruxton push rod setup you need to remove the timing cover and use a feeler gauge at the cam and follower.
The timing cover came off after removing the shift lever. On the whole everything looked pretty decent, no broken teeth on gears or dirty cases internally. Everything looked ship shaped. I'd made a gear puller for the magneto gear a few years back, with a quick pop of the timing gear came. From there you need to use a modified wrench to loosen two of the three magneto housing bolts. I'd made one for the MSS but need to make a few more for each tool kit. its quite like a crows foot style but my personal one is welded and ground down 11MM wrench.
With the magneto off the vise grips had plenty of clearance. Heat, spray and beat; out came the stud and the head was off. A victory as no head stud needed to be cut! Its nice to have made it this far, with a quick inspection it looks as if the exhaust valve has a small nick in its face. I sprayed some penetrant on the valve faces. hmmm, the fluid level goes down quickly and flows out the exhaust port. A good size puddle on the floor proves that there might be a leak in the head. ok, that should explain the lack of compression. The next task at hand will be to free up the rear axle, more heat and beat in the future.
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