Jim's 1980 SG Miss September

All 4 valves and seats lapped in with a nice pretty grey ring all around:). Now I just gotta stripped exhaust stud to deal with and the head is ready for reassembly.
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Jim.
 

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Stud removal 101.... threads are stripped so double nutting it's out of the question. Next, vise grips. Again no go, it's too tight. Next step, put a nut on it and TIG it in place... heh, works every time.:)
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Jim.
 
Checked spring heights, good. Straight edged the head face, nice and flat. Guides and valve stems all mic'd good. Installed new guide seals...
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Reinstalled valves...
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Bagged it, put it on the shelf ready for engine assembly. Was thinkin of splittin the case next, but I might finish taking the bike apart so I can get the frame off to the sandblasters.
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Jim.
 
...you may want to smear a very thin layer of grease on the bare/raw steel parts to keep them from rusting up.
Thanks Angus! Just before bagging them, I put assembly lube on em'... ready to install no matter how long they sit (within reason).
 
So, finally got the bike all tore down, degreased and ready for blasting. Remember I said it was a leaker? Holy crap, it had oil and dirt baked on about a half an inch thick in places. Now it's apart, the frame I thought had little rust... has plenty. I'll find out more when it's back from blasting, but I'm pretty sure none of it is a show stopper
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The worst rust is of course the left side where everybody forgot to reconnect the battery vent tube, which is odd because the battery box itself had little rust.
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Other than that, it looks in good shape. Swingarm bushings are as tight as I ever seen and I ordered a set of All Balls tapered rollers last night from Amazon for the head. Bout ten bucks cheaper than Mike's wanted and free shipping to boot:)

Now I'm doing something I always wanted to try... Ya know them areas on the frame where it's damn near impossible to keep clean? You know, where they welded two pieces together and didn't completely weld around the whole piece... left a gap like this...
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This is the swingarm brace with a gap large enough to push a #2 phillips into. Well, I peened it down and TIGed it closed.
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Once it's blasted, I'm gonna smooth the edges and fill it in with body filler. Then when you wash it, you won't have to take a damn tooth brush to it to clean it out. Gonna do that to the whole frame where you can see it. That and redo some of the welds where they gobbed the wire on.
Jim.
 
Can I ask what type of welder you have?

I’m looking at a Lincoln MigPak 180.
It's an Alpha TIG 200. Bought it about 3yrs. ago. Generally, I hate buying Chinese... goes against my grain. Not to mention the crap they turn out, but almost 5 stars out of hundreds of reviews... and for 700 bucks (when I bought it) I figured it was a good deal. I ain't been disappointed. To be honest, it works as good as a Miller costing 3 times as much.
Jim.
EDIT: I just noticed that you were looking at a MIG welder (MigPak 180). My wire machine is an old Hobart that's about a gazillion yrs. old. It was a freebee that didn't work. Reconnected a loose wire about 20 yrs ago and still going strong:)
 
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Yup - I’d strongly recommend some drain hole along the bottom of the tubes - and maybe a squirt of something up in there the odd time depending on how damp it is where you live.
 
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JimD54 - Fabulous work!!!! That set of barrels is too good to go on a bike, I suggest you place them neatly in a glass show case in your lounge!!

I liked you DIY valve grinder. Do you have a DIY solution for grinding the valve seats when they get pitted?
 
Yup - I’d strongly recommend some drain hole a long the bottom of the tubes
Actually, the TUBES are already sealed. It was built that way. Not gonna drill holes in that. The cross brace is now sealed, so what i'm gonna do is just like we did on aircraft steel fuselages... drill a hole in the bottom of the brace, squirt some linseed oil into it and cap the hole with a rubber plug.
 
JimD54 - Fabulous work!!!! That set of barrels is too good to go on a bike, I suggest you place them neatly in a glass show case in your lounge!!

I liked you DIY valve grinder. Do you have a DIY solution for grinding the valve seats when they get pitted?
Thanks Paul! My seats were good. But if they weren't, my plan was to buy a 45deg stone, turn out a shaft on the atlas to fit the stone and the valve guides and cut em with a hand drill. Would be easy enough to do but them damn stones are about 20-40 bucks apiece! Glad I didn't have to.
 
Actually, the TUBES are already sealed. It was built that way. Not gonna drill holes in that. The cross brace is now sealed, so what i'm gonna do is just like we did on aircraft steel fuselages... drill a hole in the bottom of the brace, squirt some linseed oil into it and cap the hole with a rubber plug.

Ah, linseed oil, wasn't that a carryover from the fabric days, less flammable?

Scott
 
OK Bob (Mailman), you asked for pics of the XS1. Here ya go. Remember, I told you it was ugly.

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This was about 5yrs ago. I think I paid 100 bucks for it. Didn't run and there's not enough there to restore. First thing I did was tear it down.

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Of course, I had a helper..

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It's in the basement while I work on the SG in the garage. My plan is to turn it into a replica/tribute of a Triumph Speed Twin along the lines of this...

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Was gonna wait till I got the SG done, but I see no reason why I can't do both at once. So, I might (emphasis might) start on it sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.
Jim.
 
Can I ask what type of welder you have?

I’m looking at a Lincoln MigPak 180.

Been looking at the same one! only they call it the Lincoln pro-mig at lowes just so they don't ever have to price match. I've noticed they do the same thing with their kitchen appliances haha. I've just been asking for lowes gift cards for birthdays and Christmas from a few people for a few years now, think I'll finally have enough to go grab it this winter. I really like the looks of that dual-mig that works on 110 or 230v, but they don't sell that one at lowes and I'm already invested in my gift card plan, so I figure if I ever move to a house that doesn't have an outlet to power, I'll use it as an excuse to go buy a smaller 140 welder to go with it until I can get a new outlet in. After this starts the HF gift card collection so I can pick up one of their 7" metal lathes and then a mini mill!

Jim, really enjoying seeing what you're coming up with to work on this bike. Great pictures and descriptions.
 
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