I had a breakdown today...

It's alive! woohoo

The new motor fired right up, and it sounds good. Nice purr to it already, what a difference cleaning up the ports makes. (The motor I replaced with is one I had started cleaning up for a new build, thank goodness I had it. )

Okay, more info... I meant this to be one post but hit the wrong button. No worries.

So, it's wired blue/blue black/black for now, white's safely tucked away. Everything's sealed where it needs to be, torque's good on everything. I cleaned out a fair bit of crap, and Dremeled off a lot more (the shop vac's going be full of glitter). There was a lot of debris under the pressure plate around the clutch pucks that could have been pretty messy, and the flower nut was loose.
With the guidance of the machinist in the house I lapped the head and jug on a slab of polished granite, using fine wet sand paper followed by toothpaste and baking soda until it was nice and shiny.

Unfortunately the run to work in the morning is likely to be it's first real run. I buzzed up and down the lane a few times but my lights aren't great for seeing by and there's no light back there.

rc: Hard to say, I think it had around 800 miles on it. I've always been a tinkerer on bikes, but I'm working my way there. I inherited my dad's "smart hands" when it comes to the toolbox. There's a lot of great info here and elsewhere on the net.. if I can figure this out, just abut anyone can.

vincent: Yep, that's the stuff. I'm a little uneasy about it but I'm trying it, we'll see how it goes. I was hoping not to sacrifice a motor for parts, now it looks like the first motor is the parts supply for at least a few things.

Wrestling the old motor out of the frame was a feat, it had settled in and didn't want to budge. The old motor was my first install, before I found the forums here and learned a lot. It was installed straight out of the box with no prepping done. I've made excuses not to make the time to tear it apart and do it right since, and now they've come back to haunt me. That won't happen again.

The weather's changed my plan for the morning, going to take the cage instead of the beast. The wind this morning would blow me off the bridge if I tried it.

vincent713 said:

What exactly is lapped head?

Click to expand...

The contact surface has been polished to be as smooth and flat as can be, same for the top of the cylinder it matches up to.

The parts are all painted, so it took a little bit to get to metal, and then a while longer getting the nicks and grooves from the factory. I wish I'd taken before and after pics to show how many scars and scratches there were in both surfaces under the paint.

A while ago I picked up a slab of granite, polished one side like a countertop, so I used that as a work surface (others use glass, I didn't have any I could get at easily that the wife wouldn't kill me for using, and she's trained as a machinist and was telling me about granite 'lapping tables' and such - but it has to be an absolutely flat surface). I don't recall the grit counts exactly, but really fine down to 'are you sure that's sandpaper?'.

Put a sheet down, sprinkle a little water on it, put the contact surface against it and move in circular motion with smooth, even pressure. I switched directions from time to time, and wiped off the sandpaper now and then. One past the paint, switched to even finer grit and went at it until the surface was nice and smooth and shiny. After that I took up the paper, sprinkled some baking soda on the slab, a bit of toothpaste and a bit of water makes a nice thin paste. Then back to polishing the surface against the slab. The idea being that the final contact surfaces are as close to completely smooth and level for the most contact you can get.

It did take time, but at least it's aluminum so it's easier than it would be with steel. It's hard to describe exactly what you're looking for in the finished surface.. it's a sort of satin-like shine that's almost a glow, like the edge of a well honed blade.

killercanuck said:

Hey corgi! Don't get "Rub it on some concrete or a curb" into Newbies heads!

Lapping is time consuming, I should've taken before/after pics too, stock finish is a mess for sure. On glass- all wet(need wet paper btw ppl, water will just wreck regular paper). I started at 300 until the major nicks/gouges were gone, to 600 to get out the 300's lines and ended on 1500 three hours later(total) for a nice polished finish. If you harvest a wife/gf's picture glass, make sure it's washed good before putting it back Granite slab is a great idea.

CT, did the baking soda w/toothpaste leave a nice finish? The 1500 did a good job, just curious about that paste.

Heh heh, speaking of blades, I wonder what a 6x6" honing stone would go for. Or even a rough stone... Probably more than a years worth of 300-1500 grit, lol.

Click to expand...

rustycase said:

and CT, it's not really necessary to have a magnificent mirror finish on the mating surfaces... I've done many, and basically just look to see that they are 'frosty' in a uniform way all across the gasket bearing surface.

Click to expand...

The paste worked well finishing from 1000 grit paper. It isn't a mirror finish, but a uniform shine with no blemishes. I'm sure there's a compound someone reliable makes and sells but for the shoe-string budget it performed well.
A 6"x6" honing surface... how about the side of a bench grinder wheel? Lay it flat on something that'll keep it from sliding and add a few drops of oil before working it.. If it were tried against the wheel on the grinder I doubt it would work (and with the grinder on it would just eat the aluminum, too easy to grind unevenly too).
I lucked out finding the slab, it's about 12"x18" and about a half inch thick, polished one side. It's just one of those things I saw being thrown out somewhere one day that I knew would be useful somehow in the future. I find a lot of stuff like that.