My turd polishing techniques

I realize hot rodding or even just messing with these engine shaped recycled ashtrays is akin to polishing a turd but they're nearly as fun to mess with as doing the horizontal dance in the dark.

Forgive me Father for I have sinned...I tore into this engine before base lining it's performance. Yes, I can fix it even if it's not broken but in this case it was only a matter of time until it broke so I decided to head them off at the pass.

Kept thinking about all the swarf and dried out insect exoskeletons that probably were inside, not to mention piss poor ports and misc casting flash. Good thing I decided to dig into this atrocity. Two of the head bolt washers were missing, wrist pin bearing has more slop than tossing a hot dog down a hallway, etc etc...read on and be astonished:


The victim:
2009 Skyhawk 66cc
Zero miles

• Spark plug gasket surface lacks spot facing
• Only 2 washers under cylinder head acorn nuts (2 nuts way too tight)
• Intake gasket ID extremely undersized. Port is rectangular, manifold round!
• Head gasket surface and top of cylinder have misc scratches/dings, will lap smooth
• Rod bearing can slip to either side of rod as there’s a .0825" gap on either side of the rod
• Big end of rod bearing appears to even have some vertical play! Hopefully a quality bearing will eliminate or reduce this
• Throwout bearing pivot rod (in cover) has LOTS of slop as if it needs a bushing
• “SPEED” carburetor, how does this compare to the CNS?
• BOOST TUBE any good or just so much hype?
• Cylinder base gasket not the same shape as the ports

What I intend to do before putting into service:

• Shim side play between piston and wrist pin
• Replace ALL bearings and seals with quality aftermarket
• Lap head gasket surfaces
• Trim bottom edge of piston on exhaust side and maybe opposite side
• Substitute intake with aluminum CNC replacement
• Make proper fitting gaskets where required (cyl base, intake manifold etc)
• Replace any substandard, missing or incorrect hardware
• Properly lube and torque all components

Photos to follow

Forgot to include the following mods I'll be doing:

• Polish combustion chamber
• Cut spiral groove on piston top (you all owe me a cookie for this secret--will explain the theory to those who ask)
• Smooth both ports, satin on intake, polish on exhaust
• Might modify to bairdco's "Backwards Engine" configuration---just brilliant!

Kudos kind sir!!

Oh yeah, have filed the edges of all the fins but not too much as I want to keep them thin but had to smooth them out before polishing. Am going to paint the bugger black and replace the clutch cover with one from SBP (that too will get polished). My goal is to make it somewhat resemble a microbial version of the engines I build day in and day out:

Where'd you search? Lifting the couch cushions ain't cutting it:
http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=13458

It appears that Norman may have been the first one to do this (at least on this here slice of the interwebs):
http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=3170

Basically it's just what you might figure it to be, remove the head, cylinder AND piston and rotate them so the intake and exhaust are in reverse positions. May need to match the transfer ports but it ain't strain burgery, er, brain surgery.

Manifolding will of course need modification. Had the crazed idea, well most of mine are, to cut out a section of the frame downtube and weld in a circle so the intake could point straight ahead, haven't checked yet if the tire will clear but I suspect that no one's tried this yet.

Turbulence my boy. Also research the Somender groove. The effectiveness of either are all over the map but they do work, just not every time due to more variables than the number of dollars of the national debt.