Sgt Jim:
The vacuum cap works very well, I only take the hose off the left side and use a nozzle that comes with a tube of RTV to plug the hose. The other thing is I make sure I do this while the bike is still on the side stand and I also cover that corner of the engine with rags and hold a transmission funnel under the hose connection to catch what comes out. Bill is right you will be surprised at how much fuel is still there.

When you say piston ring tool I am assuming you are talking about installation pliers. Be careful to not open the ring too much. I hold the ring straight with my left hand wrapping my thumb and middle finger around the ring and use the pliers to open it just enough to get it on the piston. Start with the oil ring and work your way up to the top of the piston. The fuel moto video is very good and this is a pretty easy engine to work on

Having the cam tool makes the job so much easier. The mistake I made when I had my cam chest open was the the rotor and washer fell out of the oil pump and I put them back in wrong the washer goes between the rotors to separate the stages of the oil pump. There is no worse feeling than starting your engine and not having oil pressure

Good luck man!!

 

I think I'm going to take the gas tank off while the bike is still outside, normally what I do is syphon out as much fuel as possible, then I have some air-hose tubing from a fish tank air filter and disconnect the crossover cable on the front of the tank, attach a piece of the tubing to each of those nubs, then tilt the tank forward and drain a little bit more out..it seems to work well enough.. but this time im going to do it all outside, then just have some friends help me push it up in to the house (as opposed to keeping a splash of gas in the tank and actually riding it in to the house)..

the piston rings i'm talking about (and off the top of my head i don't remember the names of them) are at the 13 minute mark of this video:

the ones that keep the thing from sliding out of the thing that keep the piston thing attached to the arm thing.. thing. :-D haha. That's all i'm really worried about. Oh well, if i stab myself with a screwdriver, it's only a few more drops of blood to the bike gods.

 

As promised. 2010 FB Lo 16" LA Choppers Tree Hugger Apes.

 

Anybody have pics of round style mirrors on a Lo and if so how you like them? I've been thinking about going with either HD's Dome Billet Style or Joker Machines' View Tech. HD's would be cheaper but I kind of like the holes in Joker's better. Seeing them on a Lo from a couple of different angles would be great.

 

I love my BR bars....

 

Dude, I watched all of those vids in that series. Talk about engine ****. Well, it was interesting to see how those jugs come off and back on again. I've pretty much done all the rest in that video already, so I wasn't too concerned about that. Good to know some of the small tips for when my day comes to do an upgrade.

 

So.. yeah.. the fuel system is pressurized. I probably shouldn't have been as tired as I am when I brought the bike in to the dining room. It's going to be a lot of fun depressurizing it now :-D haha. Instructions.. where we come from we don't read no stinkin instructions..

at least it's premium..it smells and tastes better than regular. i'll just tell everyone the christmas tree farted.

 

I never depressurize. Grab a rag, wrap it around the quick release and remove it. There will be less than a tablespoon that goes into the rag. YMMV, and I don't want to be responsible for you getting gas everywhere, but again I never do anything to depressurize.

 

and so it begins.. muwhaha. the quick disconnect fuel line barely even dribbled..was awesome.. my current problem is finding the right angle to get at the throttle body allen bolts.. the two rear ones (primary side) are easy, but the two front ones (intake side) are at an odd angle and making it difficult.. my neighbor has some ball-ended allen wrenches that may work well, but i wont be able to get my hands on them until tomorrow evening.. so im doing whatever else i can right now. Other than that, disassembly has been pretty straight forward.

edit: found one of my ball ended allen wrenches, made removing the throttle body a breeze.. it's funny..once you break the 4 bolts loose, there's like no tension on the bolts, they finger-thread straight out..
and in case anyone was curious..this is what the top of your heads look like:

 

Sgt Jim, those wrist pin retainers shouldn't be too much trouble, the originals are the same as those in the video (there is a relief in that piston too). Should be able to release them with an awl or small screw driver and use a hook shaped pick. Of course the service manual shows a fancy tool for installation, but the method in the video looks easy enough. Be sure to stuff plenty of rags around the rods because if that ring gets away from you, you know damn well it will end up down the crank case. Good luck man and keep us updated.