Ok, I’m a little slow, but the light is starting to shine. I just had to get my lizard brain around this. My “ setback” was just my lack of understanding. WHEW! I really didn’t fancy tearing that motor back apart to fix some screw up!
Thanks again for helping me understand! ;)
 
Bob, you made getting a new house look as easy as getting another car !

Keep in mind that if you begin to sense that you're running out of bike workspace, there's always the kitchen.
Lots of room there, probably.

961974.jpg
 
Bob, you made getting a new house look as easy as getting another car !

Keep in mind that if you begin to sense that you're running out of bike workspace, there's always the kitchen.
Lots of room there, probably.

961974.jpg

That’s a great idea! I’ll have you talk to my wife! :cool:
 
Bob, you made getting a new house look as easy as getting another car !

Keep in mind that if you begin to sense that you're running out of bike workspace, there's always the kitchen.
Lots of room there, probably.

961974.jpg
I believe you are correct !
We can always count on Azman to identify an aircooled item....

I found an old picture of him in his living room.....

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He's got "The VW Bible" in his lap.
 
Ok, I made a discovery regarding my rocker box and my cam. I was wondering if I rotated the crank to Bottom dead center if it would still contact the cam. So once again I just set the rocker cover on the head and slowly rotated the crank and watched it. Sure enough, there is a sweet spot where the cover will sit absolutely flat and when I line my TDC mark up on the crankshaft with my cam 180 degrees off from TDC, that’s where it is.

I did not have time to install it today ( life is conspiring against me ) but I was happy to see this work.
Here is the rocker cover sitting absolutely flat all the way around, with no gasket sealer or bolts in, and another of the cam in the position that will allow it to sit flat.
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I confess! I am a air cooled VW fan! I do own a copy or 2 of "that" book. Along with many, many other Clymers and other manuals. XS's are way easier and less expensive to maintain. It's the German in me...

Great work there Bob. Very detailed work. Congrats on the new house.
 
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Sure enough, there is a sweet spot where the cover will sit absolutely flat and when I line my TDC mark up on the crankshaft with my cam 180 degrees off from TDC, that’s where it is.

Yup - that makes perfect sense - on a 360* parallel twin. If you fasten it all down with the cam on that spot, and then rotate it vvveeerrrryyyyy slowly...you can check that everything is all well in the world.
 
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This will be my last update until after I get settled in my new house and get things set up. This move occurred at a really unfortunate time for my engine build. I can’t tell you how much I hated stopping in mid build , then having a big delay before sealing up the top end, but you play the hands you’re dealt.

My objective today was to get the engine assembled at least to a point where it could be handled and moved, and it could stand to be parked for a while. So with that in mind I wanted to get my rocker cover back on the bike and all external covers back in place.

I started by inspecting all gasket surfaces for the rocker box and wiping them clean with paint thinner. After drying them off I applied a thin coat of Hylomar Blue to the gasket surfaces and let the solvent flash off. A word about Hylomar, up to this point I have used Yamabond which is really thick and sticky, this Hylomar is amazing stuff and really nice to work with. If you’ve never used it, I’ll tell you a little about it, it comes out of the tube like a clear blue liquid gel and it allows you to just smear it around with a fingertip and get a nice thin even coat, then as the solvent evaporates it sets up to a very sticky non hardening sealer. It’s so easy to work with, really great stuff.

I then placed the rocker cover on the head and started threading in all the head bolts and acorn nuts, once they were on and gently snugged, I installed the cam seal housings on both ends WITHOUT gaskets or o-rings to help center the cam bearings. Now I had already taken accurate measurements as to how far the cam bearings were recessed into the head, but this was just to make sure. Then I installed the valve covers again without gaskets and lightly snugged them down.
NOW with all those in place, I began torquing the head down. I only torqued things to about two thirds of their eventual settings, all I wanted to do was close this engine up and seat the gasket surfaces.
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Here’s the current status, the top end is together and not fully torqued, I’ll re torque everything later when I’m settled. The advance and ignition components have not been installed yet, I’ll do that later, I don’t even have a new sump filter installed yet, the cover is just bolted in place. But it’s sealed up enough to move to my new digs.
Back in a while,
Bob
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Nice work Bob. Shame you don't have another engine to put in the bike to get road grime all over it. That one belongs in a display case!

Good luck with your upcoming move. Try not to keep us hangin' too long eh? :D
 
Nice work Bob. Shame you don't have another engine to put in the bike to get road grime all over it. That one belongs in a display case!

Good luck with your upcoming move. Try not to keep us hangin' too long eh? :D

Haha! Thanks Robin, believe me, I just want to get this move behind me and get back to my happy place, working in my garage!
 
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