Okay, got it—thank you. I didn’t look at the coils to see if they had ’stacked up’ sufficiently to prevent further compression and thereby limit full clutch release.

Cool! Armed with all this helpful detail, I’m confident that I can get the clutch 100% with a bit more tinkering—ideally in time to log the 50-mile oil change and do some weekend riding!

 

Way past "kinda"

 

Top end refresh: I was able to log the 50-mile initial ring bedding ride before lunch. Windy with stiff gusts—probably wouldn’t have taken the ’71 Bonneville out in this. But the ’51 FL has such a low center of gravity and is of course significantly heavier, so it was no big deal. I got tossed about but the bike tracked straight and unperturbed like the locomotive it is…

The PO was behind me in his pickup on the return leg and said two things: he could smell it running rich, and when I shifted there was a little poof of smoke from no. 1 cylinder / lower pipe. He speculated that as no 2 runs slightly hotter on these engines, could be that it’ll just take a few more miles for no. 1 to fully bed in. After lunch I will pull the plugs and see if no. 1 is discernibly richer or if it’s as he suspected.

Bike ran great—very smooth—and only hiccuped through the carb twice during 50 miles. Not sure what that was about but we’ll see how the plugs look…

Finally: if I feel like making a mess, I will also cut open the filter to see what kind of debris accumulated during the first 50 miles. Just out of curiosity.


Clutch: before PO called me unexpectedly to see if I wanted to log the first 50, I checked for the coils stacking up—and they weren’t doing that.

I then attempted to measure the throw and got measurements just under .060” even after backing off the nuts to where the spring retainer plate-to-pressure plate measurement was just over 1” (manual says start at 31/32" and no tighter than 7/8"). No slippage on the ride but still significant creep in 1st when standing still.

So, prior to doing any disassembly, I am going to get a small bottle of fluid and do a bit more bleeding to eliminate the possibility of a teensy bit of air still in the circuit.

Also, I will figure out a way to set up my dial gauge because it’s too difficult for me to get a consistent reading holding the calipers and working the lever, too.

Then, if still experiencing creeping, I will pull the clutch and proceed as discussed above. There is now very little resistance felt through the kick starter when moved by hand when I pull in the lever…

 

Oh, thanks for saying that.

I must say that during this initial 50-mile ride I missed not being able to rest both knees against the tank. But I’m reserving judgment until not distracted by breaking in the new top end. The primary jaunt this machine makes is into ABQ to run errands or grab a burger, so 40~45 mile loop. That’s enough for a small change to make a difference in comfort IMHO.

 

Well, I’m not happy about this. No. 2 is just about right, but no. 1… looks like oil fouling to me.

I am 99.9% sure that I installed the oil control rings the same way in both cylinders (must’ve checked two or three times when installing each cylinder), and the piston-to-cylinder fit was nearly identical in both cylinders. So, perhaps all that’s happening is the front cylinder is taking a little longer to bed in. I hope so because what a drag to have to R&R the front cylinder again to fit new rings…

The oil was exceptionally nasty, so even though I’ve got a spin-on filter in the scavenge line, I may think about pulling the tank and flushing it out.

After I changed the oil, I ran easily a pint through the hydraulic clutch circuit. I’m out of time today but mańana I will take another measurement and see if there was any air reducing the slave travel. The lever pull seems even lighter but just as likely it’s placebo effect. If no better, I’ll start the full-on diagnosis.

Second pic gives an idea of how windy it was today. Those redwood benches on the north acreage got tossed around like toys…



L/H no. 1 - R/H no. 2

 

This is a video of Billy Lane working on a Shovel clutch that drags. Early in the video it shows how the clutch basket moves out when the clutch is released. When the basket moves out, it is pushing the clutch plates together working against the clutch release. That is a very common problem that is over looked.


Paul

 

Good video, thanks for this. I don’t recall my clutch basket is moving in and out—but then I don’t remember checking for that while the primary outer was off. Can’t really see with just the derby cover off like I was doing yesterday.

As I said, I have a V-Twin basket rebuild kit, which has new rollers, springs, and a disc—but the disc is a plain flat version. So, although presumably the springs are supposed to keep the basket from moving, no way that's as positive a stop against movement as the thicker, stepped plate and circlips. I will see if Larry’s has them in stock when he opens later this morning.

It certainly can’t hurt to install this, plus upgrading to the aluminum pressure plate is long overdue. I’ll do these changes Friday—and check my rollers for slop, but I believe I replaced them when installing the new Kevlar BVD clutch. Hope that does it! Thanks again!

 

On the photo of the plugs in post #125, if it isn’t merely slow ring bedding on no. 1 cylinder, another possibility in light of the oil starvation that prompted this top end occurs to me.

It is possible that the intake valve seal grabbed onto the bone dry stem and got lifted up off the guide. If the problem persists, and before I pull the front cylinder and mess with what is probably a nicely bedded set of new rings, I may just pull the front head, remove the rocker cover, and see if the intake valve seal is displaced. I’ve got extra seals and rocker gaskets, so it’d just be a $40 experiment for a new set of MLS head gaskets.

 

Were the guides replaced?

Unless the valve to guide fit is too loose, there shouldn't much oil passing there even if the stem seal has lifted off. The original setup didn't have seals and they didn't burn much oil (enough to smoke on shifts) until they got well worn. Generally, rings smoke on acceleration, guides on decel.

Have you checked to see that oil is returning to the tank?

If it were mine I'd put more miles before tearing into it. And if you are just to curious to do that, remove the intake and exhaust and see if there is wet oil present on the valve stem. And / or use a bore scope to have a look in the cylinder.

Paul

 

OMG yes, oil return to tank was checked on first startup, after glancing at gauge to make sure (initial) pressure was there.

Okay, good to know about guides and oil consumption on these old machines—thank you. I will for sure chill out for the balance of the break-in period (500 or 1,000, depending on how you read S&S’s instructions). I’ve decided to fit my GoPro to the R/H rear frame tube just above the mufflers and a bit outboard, so will make a video at, say, 500 miles to see if there’s any smoke and from which pipe.

BTW the PO said the poof he saw from no. 1 was when I let off the gas to shift gears. Not accelerating.

To pull related info from the original thread: I bought reamers 60% toward the larger end of the spec, because S&S had reamed them at the bottom end of the spec in their ‘ready to run’ heads and the No. 1 exhaust valve seized and nicked both valves as they passed each other. That’s what prompted me to replace their valves with Kibblewhite black diamonds, recut my own seats, and while I was in there install roller rockers and machine the shafts to eliminate shims and achieve .008” all the way across with 12~15 ft lbs on the rocker nuts.

Started her just before lunch to get back into garage after checking clutch repair (see next post), and… man she sounds good. Two kicks cold.