These things are sent to try us.....and they do.
Finally got some warm weather to do a bit of wrenching. I went to put on the Rick's rotor and found the keyway wasn't machined properly. The rotor would slip on a little ways then grab the woodruff key and tilt it up. I file fit the slot as best I could where I thought it was slipping on correctly, then I buttoned it up and checked for charging. I was getting 13.75 VDC at fast idle so I thought I had finally gotten things under control. Setting off with the heedlessness of drunks and children, I revelled in the newfound revvy nature of the bike with the Uni filters and bigger jets, then stumble...stumble...bwahhhhhh......CRACKKK, it backfires and dies. After some swearing and sweaty pushing, I got my bike to a grassy knoll, and I pondered using it like the one at Deely Plaza for a few moments. Luckily, a good samaritan gave me a ride home and my neighbour hitched up his ramp trailer retrieved my bike.
After pulling the alternator cover, I was greeted with flakes of melted plastic. I could see flashes of it around the case of my ignition pickup. Turns out, the rotor was too far out on the shaft, and it had been dragging against the ignition pickup, as well as the ends of the brush holders. What a mess. One of the brushes was seized in its holder, and the pickup and magnets were covered with smeared plastic. Well, so much for Rick's workmanship I suppose. $250 down the crapper. I unseized the brush, cleaned up the rings with steel wool,and began to work on the taper bore of the rotor with emery, scotch brite and a file. I found lots of little metal adhesions on the bore, like hard little nodules of steel, which appeared to be machining chips that had stuck to the taper and had been pressed in. They weren't that big, so I went after them with a file and knocked them off one by one. I made damn sure the keyway was good and clear and rotated the rotor on the shaft by hand to see if I could burnish any remaining high spots. As hard as I could force the rotor on by hand, I could not get all the slop out of the fit. When I got it as clean as I could get it, I put it on and hit it with my Bosch 18V impact. Lets just say the rotor remover will have its work cut out for it next time. I double checked clearance between the pickup and the rotor face and could easily slip a .010" brass feeler in there, so I figured it was safe. I went for a quick ride and everything seems ok now, but I have less than 100% confidence in this rotor now, and I probably need to fit new brushes and brush holders to feel safe. Hopefully this is the last of it.