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Today the top end went on, first rings and cylinders, but only snugged up the nuts for now.
Shop did a good job decking the heads. The Cometic MLS gaskets should work great. Do they need re-torquing after heat cycles?
Temporary support for the intake manifold is a nail with the head cut off. Got everything aligned, and then tightened the base nuts. You can see the manifold is a little short, but the surfaces are parallel. This would be a problem with o-ring heads, but I think I'm okay.
Torqued the heads and installed the intake manifold, with a little Hylomar smeared inside the rubber bands.
Installing the rocker boxes last meant I had to run a bit of soft wire into the pushrod holes to keep the rockers from hanging up on the valves. But it wasn't a big deal.
The oil drain hoses are for show only. The fittings in the lifter blocks are solid steel.
The shop that I buy parts from is loving me lately. I'm finding all sorts of things I need to replace. I forgot how bad the pushrod tubes were, so I stopped for dinner. Later I will install the alternator parts, and the motor can go in the frame tomorrow.
I sealed the stator plug with hylomar and installed it. I bent the lock plates but used blue loctite also. The rotor is one of those shielded ones with a thick spline.
Found it!
Was on the top shelf of one of my parts cabinets, a little faded but the sharp edges on the raised part proves it's OEM. I got it about 1993 in one of the boxes my first FXR came in.
I know the original was riveted on, but I think I'll weld a nut on the inner plate and use screws like this. Looks a lot like a rivet and can be removed.
I see no reason to retorque a multi-layer steel gasket. What did you use for base gaskets and did you use any sealant on them?
The base gaskets are Jim's Fomet, and I just wiped a little oil on them. The rocker gaskets are also Jim's, but the metal ones with orange sealant molded on.
Once the motor was in, I hoped things would progress quickly. But you know how everything takes twice or three times as long as you hope.
First thing was the inner primary. I dry fitted it on to the motor and trans and there was about 1/32 wobble. That won't do. The motor and trans are attached with a plate that has four bolts into the trans and the two rear motor bolts. It took about an hour of tightening the inner primary bolts, and loosening the bolts on the plate, systematically, prying and persuading them to get it all nearly perfectly aligned. But that's what you have to do.
Someone suggested relieving the inner primary so the rotor can be removed, here and the lower side:
Installed the bearing with green loctite and staked the edge of the housing too. That's not going anywhere!
Finally everything was installed, and safety wired. Just now I realized I didn't put any sealer in the bolt holes. I hope I don't have to re-do it all.
I decided to keep the OEM primary chain oiling system so hooked up the hoses to the back of the primary before installing it.
Getting the other ends hooked up was a real pain, I had to remove the oil pump cover to get to these. Now I know why the one hole is a slot, the bolt hits the transmission and won't come out. But that's done too:
I think I got the rest of the hoses routed correctly. I know they go to the right ports, but there seems to be a lot of unsupported hose. The back ends go thru a big bracket attached to the transmission.
The one hose I need advice with is how the crankcase vent goes to the ham can filter housing. The diagram shows hose, then pipe, then hose. Any pictures of a stock arrangement?
Here is something I definitely should have done before installing the inner primary, it probably took half an hour or more to get the screw in. The chain oiler hose goes to this (blurry) bracket:
I couldn't stand not sealing the primary bolts, so I did it over, this time with hylomar on the bolts. That gave me opportunity to install this hose reasonably easily. There isn't any documentation on this, but it probably needs a short piece of tubing to hold it in place? I didn't look too hard for something because the bracket has marks where the chain hit, and I figured the tubing could damage the chain.
Installed the solenoid and starter shaft
Then the starter itself. I had to loosen the solenoid to get to the front bolt, and needed to buy new bolts. So it took a lot longer than I expected, but it's in and it works!
Cleaned and greased the clutch hub.
Installed that and then the primary chain, well greased compensator and the clutch shell.
All together! I used a bunch of blue loctite on the compensator nut, and torqued to 90 ft-lbs like the factory manual says.
I must be getting tired or the heat is getting to me, because for some reason I thought I could tighten the clutch hub nut with the chain wedge that I used on the compensator nut. I'll have to wait until I finish the rear brake to do that, unless someone has a better idea.
A couple more hours in the hot garage and the rear brake works and looks good. The bleeder weeps a bit, so I'll get a new one and hope it isn't the caliper.
Lots of pretty bubbles working the air out of the master cylinder.
I still would like to know how they routed the crankcase vent to a ham can air cleaner. Doesn't have to be an FXR, they are probably the same on all.
You need to buy or make a clutch hub wrench. You can bolt a piece of pipe, that is long enough to lock on the floor, to an old clutch disc to tighten the clutch hub nut. Also remember it is left hand thread.
Yes, that's the tool I don't have but should. Fortunately the apply the brake in 5th gear technique works too.
With the hub nut torqued and locked in place, it was simple enough to install the clutch plates and do the adjustments. I couldn't find a spec for the springs on an aftermarket pressure plate, so I put them about where they were before and made sure the spring plate was even all around. It turned out to be 13/16" by my precision stir stick gage.
The late model 4-sided float needle came in today, so I finished the carb work. Because the needle has a spring inside, you have to tilt the carburetor between 15 and 20 degrees to load it, then set the level. Butterfly carbs are 16-17mm. I also ordered a brass fuel inlet, but decided to wait on that, because if anything went wrong I'd be screwed for the weekend show.
Here's the surprised looking carburetor all mounted and ready to run. The epoxy repair on the fuel fitting looks pretty robust so it may be permanent.
Mounted and hooked up the coil too. Ran the wires for the aftermarket ignition behind the oil hoses, up to the battery box and to the coil. The wires from the OEM module also go into the battery box, but below everything else so you can't tell they aren't hooked up. I ran the round plug wires down towards the transmission and hid the plug. I'm sure a sharp eyed judge will see this, but most people won't.
I also blasted and painted the ham can air cleaner backing plate, and that is curing overnight. Tonight I'll clean up and install the clutch and throttle cables.
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