Morning, All, from an exceedingly wet, cold and windy NE Fife. I've made some good progress with my build so I'm documenting it here for those interested. These past couple of months have been spent working on the engine rebuild and doing a few bitty jobs here and there. It has been a good distraction in the late evenings when the baby has decided to concede defeat for the day and go to sleep (for a short while at least).
Firstly, I measured up and ordered a custom single braided brake line to the front caliper from Hel Performance. I didn't like the idea of the junction at the triple tree; as far as i could tell it's just impedence to efficiency. The line looks well so that's the front brake set up complete. From Hel I also received a banjo bolt incorporating an hydraulic switch at the master cylinder which will activate the front brake light.
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Next was on to rebuilding the rocker box cover. Fortunately the rocker arms and the camshaft lobes were in good condition so this was straightforward. The rocker arm shafts were refitted by screwing an M6 bolt into the threaded end before lightly tapping them home with a rubber mallet. I read previously that it is very important to fit these shafts back in with the threaded hole 'outboard' (they will go in either way), otherwise getting them back out again in future will be cause of more than a small headache and a few bad words. At disassembly, I'd bagged and tagged each rocker arm and its associated parts with intake R, exhaust L etc.
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Next I pulled the trigger on a Pipes n' Stuff PMA CDI kit. Ants who runs this one-man-band outfit is absolutely top notch. He is absolutely passionate about XS650s and is almost unbelievably helpful on the phone. He's very knowledgeable and is always on hand to provide technical support by text or call. His products also have an excellent reputation for how well they work and how precisely they're made. Another big recommendation from me. The only issue I did have with him was trying to understand him at times as he speaks very quickly and in a very strong welsh accent! A lovely bloke.
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I wrote previously about the issue with the engineering outfit and my block. It turned into a bit of a saga, but they eventually agreed to take the new piston kit and do a full assessment and measurements. I went ahead and ordered my new piston kit from Cruizinimage (2nd oversize). The communication was excellent and they arrived surprisingly quickly from Japan without any custom charge. All great, except he'd sent me the wrong pistons...! Some correspondence later, packaging the wrong ones up, and returning them to Japan (at a cost of 35 quid! (reimbursed)), the correct ones arrived within a week. I must say, his communication was top notch and although there was a cock up with the initial order it was an honest mistake that he rectified very quickly. A big thumbs up from a customer service point of view from me. If you ever read this, Mitsuo, cheers!
I got my block back from the engineering shop earlier this week (12 weeks after handing it in). All is well.
I spent the last two evenings rebuilding the top end. It went something like this:
The rings were fitted to the pistons. The Cruizininage kits come with no instructions whatsoever, so if anyone ever finds themselves wondering, the ring with the polished edge goes in the first groove (nearest the piston crown), the all black ring goes in the second groove, and obviously the expander and upper/lower rail rings snuggle together in the bottom groove. I fitted them very carefully by hand and then into the jugs with my dad's old ring compressor. The jugs were cleaned very thoroughly with hot, soapy water and brake cleaner until a white rag came out clean. They were then lubricated thoroughly with oil before the pistons were fitted. I placed the base gasket with a very sparing layer of sealant on both sides (the Haynes manual says not to use any sealant on the base gasket but extended reading told me otherwise). The block was then seated with very little persuasion with my rubber mallet. It's not easy fitting the block single handedly while ensuring the chain doesn't go south, the rod small ends are lined up with the gudgeon pins, and you don't inadvertently amputate a digit or two, but it's not impossible. The new pins and small ends were lubricated generously before new pin circlips were installed.
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On advice from a few of the very knowledgable chaps on the forum, I sprayed the head gasket with Permatex copper spray-a-gasket to get the sealing job done and to (allegedly) assist with heat transfer. Then, the freshly rebuilt head was slid down over the studs and lightly tapped home with a mallet.
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I have a new 'endless' DID chain. Getting it on to the cam sprocket was a bit of a job bit as many of you know it is possible when the camshaft bearings are slid off allowing for the shaft to 'drop' creating more space to work with. Even with this, it was a bit of a fight but we got there. That was until I realised I'd fitted the camshaft back-to-front. Idiot. Lots of swearing etc. So, back off it came (getting the chain off the sprocket was a LOT more difficult than getting it on). Don't be like me - make sure you've fitted the shaft in the correct orientation first time round. As most of you are well aware, to set timing you ensure the crank is at TDC and that the cut out notch in the LHS face of the cam sprocket is at 12 o'clock. The punched dimple on the RHS face (in my case - some camshafts have the notch and dimple on the same side) should be lying parallel with the orientation of head gasket.
I ensured the chain was running centrally in the tunnel, the shaft bearings were lined up against the inner edge of the head mating surface, lubricated the chain, and applied build up grease liberally to the cam lobes.
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From here, it was simple reassembly. The tappets were backed right off after loosening their lock nuts to allow the rocker cover to sit easily, unimpeded. TB sealer was used on both aspects of the mating surfaces before the head nuts and bolts were torqued in sequence. I upgraded to a Typpe-D camchain tensioner. The engine rebuild is, for now at least, complete.
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I'm pleased with how this has gone. It's been a learning curve and I've made more than a couple of mistakes along the way but it's been fascinating and I've learned an awful lot. I've tried to do everything as precisely and as carefully as possible so i hope it's a good'un. What I plan on not doing is adding up how much this has all cost...
Cheers!
