Well.... I made a decision today. Got the bike out for a run at last. Rides well, but once it was warm I noticed white/blue smoke from the exhaust at idle - and also from the exhaust gasket on the front jug. Seems to go away when the throttle is cranked a bit.

So that indicates either dodgy rings or valves to me. So - decision made, it's going to be a full teardown and rebuild just so I know exactly what condition the whole motor is in and will be confident it's as good as can be. Plus it'll be 3 months or so before it warm enough to really enjoy the bike. And I also need a winter project.

I pulled the seat, battery, air filter assembly, drained the tanks. So my next question is.....how the hell do I get the instrument console off - I can't see any bolts holding it on.

Reading the manual, it says to remove the odometer rest **** and the choke **** and locknut. Is that it? Or does that just let me pull the speedo and access bolts under there?

So tomorrow's plan is console off, tanks off, carb off (and sent away for refurbishment) and then start to take the top end apart.

I plan to send the heads to the awesome guy that did my FXDF heads - not for performance work, but more for refining as I understand shovel ports are too big already. Probably new valves and guides. A good multi radius valve job and new guides and seals to work well with unleaded gasoline and a general tidy up.

Then I need to think about the jugs and pistons. Presumably it's a case of measuring to see where I am at, then get them bored and honed and get some matching pistons.

What's considered good pistons for these? And what compression ratio should I really be thinking about? I want reliability over performance here and will plan to run a mild street cam - any recommendations? I had head an Andrews A grind might be good....

All opinions greatfully received!

 

Got started on my teardown today and made good progress. These things are easier to wrench on than Twinkies as there are no real electronics.

Console off, tank off, carb off, pipes off, associated bits and bobs off, then heads off.

Those Shovel head bolts can be a pain to get to - but ingenuity won the day in the end.

So here's some pics!






Here's where we are at right now....

And a bit more detail:




Heads on the bench now they are off. Planning to send out for a valve job, but also to clean them up with vapour or bead blast - then refinish somehow but I don't know how - should it be powder coat or what? I'm a bit worried about the high temperature....




Here's a look into the front cylinder exhaust port. From all the oily residue it certainly looks like the exhaust valve is leaking oil and causing the smoke.



Rear cylinder exhaust - much cleaner, but still some residue. So it looks like a valve job is a good idea.

Intake valves are nice and clean though.











Cylinders and pistons. Don't look too bad - but I plan to get the jugs honed and new rings at the very least. Might just get them bored and get new pistons anyway.

Can anyone tell me what the semi-legible marking on the piston is? I can't tell if it says "2.75" or "3.75" and don't know what it means anyway.... I was hoping for some markings that would let me know whether these were stock pistons or oversized so I would have an idea if they cylinders have previously been bored and oversized pistons fitted. But I was looking for something like "+10" or similar.....

Next up, jugs off and pistons off. Then somebody needs to tell me how to evaluate whether the bottom end is good or needs new bearings/rods etc.....

 

They didn't come stock with a chrome front fender...and the PO decided to ditch the blinkers. Ehhh...they were fugly anyways. Here's a pic of the one I sold last year.

 

Very nice! What year is that? The oil tank is completely different to my one.

On the chrome fender, I know it's not original, but I do rather like it. Sadly though I think I will back to a cooler scheme very much the same as the factory "fireball", except done with deep candy flak paint to make it really pop.

 

This shovel was an '82. The oil tank was swapped out several prior owners ago along with the chrome rear shocks. One of those owners spent bukoo bucks on chrome goodies like lower fork legs, rocker boxes, banana caliper etc. The tins were also painted prior to me getting her. I drained the shellac-like fuel and put a brandy new Series 'E' S&S on the machine. It ran great. Someone got a perty shovel. After I flip this Evo in my sig, I'll start looking for a shovel 'chopper' to have fun with.

 

Have mine currently registered 51 with wishbone rigid frame have changed all using wide glide frt. with full skirt klock weeks fender custom one off skull spacers . Has early Pachos one piece 2" pipes fish tails also updated engine with Dyna twin tech ign. Dual plug heads transmission changed to a Rev tech 5 in 4 case improved hi way cruising also has Primo bullseye primary belt set in original tin primary covers . And yes it's strictly a kicker always attracts crowd at shows lot people not used to seeing Went to solo seat passenger with pipes doesn't work .painted last gold fleck Black cherry and had friend did Air brush smoking skulls on tanks to cap of the whole look was wanting.

 

Nice looking bike. I love the paint!

 

A little update on progress, which is slow due to the cold weather here. However - my wife made an excellent suggestion yesterday. She said:

"Why don't you bring the bike into the house and work on it there".

I was stunned. Never thought she'd say that in a million years, and didn't bother even suggesting it. I love my wife!

So - once the bottom end, primary and tranny are all out, I will wheel it in and stick it in the spare room. Excellent!

Anyway...back to the matters at hand.

I got the rest of the top end off:



Barrels look pretty good, but going back to piston markings, when I cleaned them up a little the marking was "0.75" - and the measurement on the piston skirt was 3.527" - so it looks like the pistons are marked in millimetres. 0.75 mm = 0296". This is basically a 0.030" overbore.



Next up - getting the primary off. The compensator was a little tricky, but when I added a 3 foot piece of pipe to my breaker bar she came right off.



Clutch nut (left hand thread) came off fairly easily. I stopped here waiting for a clutch hub puller which I borrowed from my riding club. That arrived today, so the clutch hub will be coming off later today along with the rest of the primary. Then it will be time to take the bottom end out. The primary is still set up for oiling the chain from the engine - so that will go as I plan to run a sealed primary.

I made some calls and got the name of a highly recommended Shovelhead engine builder who is fairly local to me. Went over with the top end to talk to him about machining and saw a work of art on his bench - a 1979 Shovel engine he is currently building. It's beautiful - and I should have taken some pictures. After a long chat, I decided that I will have him build the whole engine for me rather than just do the machining. I didn't feel comfortable doing work on the bottom end myself, so I think this is the way to go and the guy (Steve) certainly knows his Shovels.

So a tentative plan for the engine work is below - this will almost certainly change as we go forward though:

Cosmetically, everything will get vapour blasted back to natural aluminium. The barrels and tappet blocks will be ceramic coated black. The rocker boxes will be polished.

For the top end, we will probably replace the entire valve train. New valves, springs, rocker arms and shafts. While I am doing that, I may as well add new lifters and pushrods for peace of mind. Barrels honed or bored as appropriate, new pistons - probably Wiseco 8.5:1

For the bottom end, the crank will be trued, new bearings and bushings throughout. Probably a new S&S oil pump. Maybe new rods. Cam choice is not set yet, but we like the specs on the Andrews #2 as recommended by Scott in the Engine tech forum.

Once the bottom end is out and being rebuilt, I'll pull the tranny as well. I plan to get the case vapour blasted and the top and side covers ceramic coated black. Replace all seals and gaskets and fit a main shaft spacer with o-ring (from "Saddlebagrail" in Canada). So hopefully I should end up with a leak free tranny!

Other stuff planned is a Hayden M6 primary chain tensioner and most likely a Rivera Pro Clutch.

Then there's paint to be done. And a whole host of other stuff. I am thinking about putting in a whole new wiring loom while the bike is torn down. Not sure, as the current one looks fairly good although there's a bit of a rat's nest under the seat where a previous owner has redone the turn signals.

 

Moving on, the clutch hub came off neatly with the puller:



It seems to have a Ram Jet clutch tamer already installed.

And I must remember to put this little woodruff key back during reassembly....



So - back to the manual for what comes next. Looks like it should be starter motor and right side foot controls to come off, then inner primary.

 

I had a good afternoon's work today!

First, I took off all the oil lines and breathers between the motor, oil tank and primary. That was a bit of a rat's nest that had been cut and joined in many places over the years. New braided oil lines on the rebuild and a sealed primary should clean the look up there.



I took the right hand side foot controls off, then the starter and starter solenoid followed by the inner primary.

That was a bit of a bugger as although the primary was loose, it didn't want to clear the tranny. Puzzled me for a minute until I realised there was another casing part bolted to the back of the primary that carries the gear between the starter itself and the shaft that leads into the primary. I got that off easy enough once I realise that was the obstruction.

(Edit: I now know this is called the Starter Shaft Drive Gear Assembly)

It doesn't seem to mention that in the manual - just "remove primary to motor and primary to transmission fasteners and pull the primary off.

The battery holder and oil tank came out next.

Then finally the motor mounting bolts came out and I pulled the bottom end.



Now I'm having a celebratory beer.

Up tomorrow, pulling the tranny....