Cracking up

 

 

OK this has been ongoing, imperfections in the paintwork, hairline cracks etc., but I noticed on the weekend that there were two areas that had just reared their heads.

The first pic is a little out of focus, but you can see the hairline crack in three spots. Between the two stand nuts, to the left and down towards the corner of the pic and finally there is also one that is hard to see that runs up the diagonal join an inch or so. I know there is no welding in the tunnel because I have taken a photo myself during the first few inspections, I couldn't see nor feel any signs of repair welds and am sure that the cracks are the filler in the grooves cracking from the floor flexing through riding, sitting on the scooter whilst on the stand and transporting a box of beer on the floor once a week or so. The third pic is the non brake side, nowhere near as bad.

The second pic is of the trim cracked in two, this happened on Sunday when I rode down to Geelong for a club brekkie. The location of the two securing screws for the tail light cover has come through most likely by vibration and the top notch quality of both the paint and the painter, has come away. The corner is broken off, I'm not sure which one was responsible, but two of my boys were "helping" me "fix" the 200 engine I'm building, they went inside and I found the piece on the floor, most likely hit with one of the tools they were playing with...

There is a one inch crack on the rear of the bike below the back of the seat and finally I have had a vibration noise coming from the front somewhere and I now know where. the rear bolt that holds the front fender on had come loose, despite the Vietnamese restorers fool proof double nut securing system, this had caused a circle of paint to bubble away and I peeled it off, it was about the size of a fifty cent piece. I hit it with a small wire brush and cleaner, painted it with two coats of cold gal paint and finally I replaced the bolt, washers and nut. Good to go.

As for the rest of what's going on, on my way to Geelong on Sunday, the speedo clicked over 9420kms, no biggie really, but it is the 5000km mark for the DR177 kit, once I got it set up I haven't touched it, save an oil change or two, a re torque of the cylinder head nuts, check and clean of the plug. Hasn't been a problem since. although I do need to give it some love, the cables need to be adjusted, it needs a clean too.

She keeps jumping out of second, not all that often, but it does seem to happen when there is someone admiring the machine as I zip off from the lights or toot a group of girls passing by...all that other stuff can wait until the 200 rig is ready to slot in. On that, still no delivery, any day now. I have given the piston some 1200 grit wet and dry loving and a baby's bum would be jealous of how smooth it is, as I have said before, so now we wait.

Hanging

Just waiting on the new crank, it left the UK two weeks ago today, I expect it soon...in the meantime, I've had a chance to get some of the jobs around the house done, yay.

Those that have children or spend a lot of time with them will know that, at times they just come out with the funniest things, my middle son, 4yo, was singing and playing by himself and I was just pottering about when he started singing Incy Wincy spider....
" Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the water spout,
Down came the rain and washed poor Incy out,
Out came the spider robot and ate up all the sun....."

He stopped there to see what I was laughing at, I would have loved to have heard the last line.

The verdict

OK the beast is pulled down and here's the rundown.
Clutch side oil seal, although new, Rolf brand that came in a seal kit, and installed correctly, not caught on the crank, is the culprit.
Of course I wish it was that easy, just replace the seal and good to go....nooo.
When I drained the gear oil, it had the smell of fuel and given it had only been idling for a total of probably fifteen minutes was a murky colour, some of it would have came from the blue coloured grease, also there was a lot more tiny flecks of steel in it than I'd expect but it is the first time the parts had been run together.
As for the crank area, there were some small flecks of alloy or steel also, I'm guessing from the crank shaving the repaired rotary pad and I'd hazard a guess that some of the flecks in the oil in the gearbox had been sucked in as well, either way the brand new piston is scuffed, the scuffing goes a full half around the piston diametre on the exhaust or downward side of the cylinder, the cylinder itself fared much better , because it's cast iron I'm assuming, the rings are ok, they show some signs of the scuffing but no damage thankfully.
Where to from here? well I have a new crank on the way, piece of mind really. I have a new seal and I will be giving everything a really good cleat, I'll give the rotary pad another dusting with some wet and dry, I will do the same to the piston as well, put it all back together with care and love, fingers crossed...again.

Caution

I've decided to split the cases and have another crack at it. After many a discussion and opinion from more experienced than I, I've troubleshooted to the best of the collective ability and have realised that the possible causes and the outcome from checking each pose a risk of damaging something on what is a new engine. Unless someone else has a suggestion I'm going down the road of caution.

The facts.

- When putting the flyside bearing bush on the crank, I got half way through tapping it on after heating it when I realised I hadn't chocked the crank webs, Mistake 1

- Pulling the crank through the bearing, clutch side, I was so focused on keeping the home made pulling contraption straight and the pressure off the bearing, I neglected to ensure that the conrod was clear of the case, it was only after realising while turning the nut on the bolt got harder, that I realised the conrod was caught and was most certainly caught with enough pressure to cause the crank to be forced out of true. I undid the nut and hit the crank back enough with a rubber mallet to free the conrod, did this unseat the bearing? I don't know? I just pulled the crank back through until it was home, I should have pulled it right out and checked everything. Mistake 2

-Once installed I noticed a bit of play in the bearing, only a few mm and I was assured that it was normal. I proceeded to put the case halves together, I had a lot of trouble and it seemed to be getting stopped by something. On and off a few times and finally, without really finding anything out of sorts, I got them together by heating the cases and giving them some love with a rubber mallet, only to realise that in my efforts to try and figure out why they wouldn't go together, I forgot to put the kickstart gear back in.....off and on again and then I realised that the crank wouldn't turn without some slight force and a spanner on a nut on the flyside of the crankshaft, I kept turning it and it got a little better, but it was catching on something. Mistake 3

- I split the cases and found that there were small shavings of alloy throughout the crank area, seals etc, the leading edge of the crank web was shaving the smallest amount off the repaired rotary pad. I eventually pulled the crank and  tidied up the pad and the crank web with a dremel and tiny wire wheel, I chamfered the leading edge of the web slightly to avoid it shaving any more. I reinstalled the crank and put the cases together, the crank spun by hand so I though it would be ok. Mistake 4

 I proceeded to finish getting the engine to a point where I could kick it over, to my surprise it did after a while, ran for a few seconds and stopped not to be started again that day, something wasn't right, turned out the retaining clip on the clutch assembly didn't want to play and the clutch fell apart in the case. Since then I have tried everything to get it to rev with throttle applied as explained in previous posts, idles ok for a while, plug fouls with oil,  lots of white smoke, 2% mix, 2.5 turns on the mix screw, timing is fine, carb and jets checked and cleaned, everything is torqued to spec and the only thing I haven't done is actually put the engine in the frame and hook it up in prep to ride it, but I can't see what difference it would make and I'm reluctant to only because the engine in there is running like a dream, reliable and I've learnt over the years that if it ain't broke, don't fix it....the only thing I can think is not quite right is the crank as explained above.
Back to the drawing board for now. Happy for some input guys....

Sitting Idle

The bloody thing won't play. It will idle fine but no joy with the throttle opened, it does speed up a bit, but doesn't sound to be firing on each stroke, I have tried a few things, adjusting the timing and checking it manually and confirming it with a strobe. Cleaned the jets, changed the carb gasket, tried every combination of airbox on, off, a rag stuffed into the bellows opening, starter fluid, choke on, off, adjusting the air-fuel mix screw, I even changed out the carb float needle and the list goes on, the plugs are fouling with oil, I only have 2%, maybe a smidge more, have a new B6ES plug. blowing a lot of white smoke too, only thing left to try is to actually fit the engine in the frame and hook it up ready to ride and see what I can get it to do, the idle will be able to be adjusted a bit in the frame, but I can't really see what difference it'll make. The fuel delivery might be the issue, a longer than stock hose connected to a plastic bottle, gravity shouldn't be a problem unless it's delivering too much fuel?
I've asked around and tried all the suggestions.... I'll persevere until the weekend when I'll be able to swap the engines over and see what happens. Lucky the other engine is running so well, touch wood.

W.O.T. mark II

Another fantastic morning, a slight breeze though, swirling a bit so not really favouring any direction, same deal, same road and....same speed 93kmph, the GPS flicked to 94 but just couldn't make it, so I'm convinced that unless I ditch the tools, don the lycra and drop 15kgs I'm not going to get to 100kmph real speed. Never mind the 200 engine will.

W.O.T.

The Lava run has given me more confidence in the DR177 to really give it a go speed wise, so this morning I took the old girl to a road I have mentioned before, Deans Creek Road, where everyone goes to blow off the cobwebs and get some wind in their hair.

 

The morning was a crisp 8 degrees C (47F), no wind and as you can see, not a cloud in the sky. The road is a couple of kms long, straight, flat and rural traffic, read hardly any, I set up my iPhone in a zip lock bag, electrical taped it to the headset above the speedo and I was good to go.

Once in fourth gear I assumed position, bent down with the face shield against the headset, knees and elbows tucked in and throttle wide open......I wound the needle off the clock as far as it would go and I held the throttle open as long as there was enough road in front of me to stop before the highway.

The result...........couldn't get past 93kmph (57mph) GPS speed in the space I had but that is respectable enough, I will do a few more runs when I get a chance, just so I can see and because it's fun.