Rob Needs a New Brain

[vanzen]

Why would I suggest a strictly written and adhered to "pre-flight checklist" routine ?

Not to cause Rob grief, certainly, but rather a case of BTDT and ain't goin' there again !

100 years ago when I was running a '65 Sportster XLCH 900.
I had just had the top-end apart to do some work, and was reassembling the heads
when I realized that I didn't have the two gaskets that fit the external oil feed lines to the heads ...
Being that I was anxious to make the rounds with the gang that night,
and being somewhat MacGyveresque when the situation presents itself –
I used SILICONE to seal the lines. Good enough, it really could have worked ...

So, 4 or 5 bar hops later, fairly short runs with spaces in between to swill beer, now it's closing time,
and after returning to Curt's garage for a last beer and a joint, it's time to head home.
One kick, the bike lights up as usual – and then suddenly bang seizes to a dead stop.

In my haste to get on the road, I did not check to see that oil was actually being fed to the heads,
you guessed it, the silicone sealed both fittings quite nicely – AND one of the feed lines as well.

The "post-mortem" revealed that the exhaust valve had broken into bits,
one of which jammed between the head and piston, shattering the piston
and punching a hole into the dome of the combustion chamber about the size of a penny ...

Moral of story: Don't go riding off without thoroughly checking your work.
It can very easily be an expensive mistake / lesson !
I'm sure Rob will concur.

[Deleted User 61]

I called Mikey at Airhead Salvage. He has a '77 5-speed that just came off a buddies bike. $400.00 There was nothing wrong with it, the friend just wanted a kick-start box. We had a nice conversation. He seems to be an O.K. guy.
So I sent him a deposit until payday. He was amazed when I offered it!

It will be interesting to see how/if this affects my lever clearance issue.

I will be pulling the transmission soon, to see what the poor clutch looks like. My throwout bearing assy is probably toast.

[Zombie Master]

[quote="R65 Rob"]I called Mikey at Airhead Salvage. He has a '77 5-speed that just came off a buddies bike. $400.00 There was nothing wrong with it, the friend just wanted a kick-start box. We had a nice conversation. He seems to be an O.K. guy.
So I sent him a deposit until payday. He was amazed when I offered it!

Why was he amazed?

[ME 109]

Yo Vanzen, does your silicone trick compare to my ass about valve trick or am I miles ahead on that one?

[Jean]

My '78 R100s has a foot-starter...German bike. My '71 R75/5 also has same but 4-spd gearbox.
/5 easy to start with foot starter, but the 5-spd is nearly impossible.
It is good for conversation starters tho. Also macho-contests.
Since you didn't say what size engine the salvage gearbox came from, I wonder if the owner really knows what he's traded for?

[Ken in Oklahoma]

I will be pulling the transmission soon, to see what the poor clutch looks like. My throwout bearing assy is probably toast.

I'm wondering why you apparently see the clutch and throwout bearing as likely victims of the transmission blowup. True, they could have been affected, and you won't know until you look. But my expectations would have been that they would both be OK. Both are rather isolated from the shrapnel and general mayhem that happened inside the box.

Also, I'm sure you've thought of these things already, but when you get the "new" transmission I would do Duane's bench test before final acceptance. It would also be "nice" if Mikey happened to ship the transmission without draining its oil. That way you would get a chance to look at the fuzz on the drain plug magnet. That would give you some insight into what has been going on recently with the transmission.


Ken

[gspd]

My '78 R100s has a foot-starter...German bike. My '71 R75/5 also has same but 4-spd gearbox.
/5 easy to start with foot starter, but the 5-spd is nearly impossible.
It is good for conversation starters tho. Also macho-contests.

Macho dude kick starts a 5 speed airhead.
It's all in the technique and timing.
A few primer kicks are required when cold to get an ignitible mixture to the combustion chamber.
click on pic for 35 second demo video.

[Jean]

Gee, GS...I was baiting Scot...

[Deleted User 61]

I will be pulling the transmission soon, to see what the poor clutch looks like. My throwout bearing assy is probably toast.

I'm wondering why you apparently see the clutch and throwout bearing as likely victims of the transmission blowup. True, they could have been affected, and you won't know until you look. But my expectations would have been that they would both be OK. Both are rather isolated from the shrapnel and general mayhem that happened inside the box.
Ken

Extreme heat?

Doesn't the throwout bearing get it's lubrication from the gear lube? I thought I heard that, once.

[Major Softie]

Gee, GS...I was baiting Scot...

You THOUGHT you were baiting Scot. Apparently, you were baiting GSPD.