newby question

[DCoul]

I apologize right off, I know the answer if it's a newer bike.

I took the head off my 42 WLA. It has a fresh bore. Fresh pistons 2 over and nice new valves. But he cylinder walls have pitting, but no rust. Deep enough to catch a finer nail on, maybe 1 inch long and 1/2 " wide.

The cylinders I believe are cast. Not sleeves inside a cast like newer bikes.

Is this a porous casting due to old casting methods that 3 sets of rings can handle? Or, is this from someone who just didn't bore the cylinders large enough?

Just run it, or get it perfect?

Sorry if it's a stupid question.

[T. Cotten]

DCoul!

You can trust your own instincts;
T'aint right.

Somebody wanted to just get off of it: the peril of this industry.

Personally, if it were mine, I would punish it by running it to death, ignoring the smoke, because it would all come out in the wash of the next rebuild. (As if I could still ride...)
Might as well get as much out of your investment as you can.

Damned are the mosquitos behind you!

....Cotten

[Rubone]

That isn't "pits". That is scoring, and it is not correct for any year bike. Casting methods for old stuff were extremely good and the cylinder bore if newly refinished should have a super nice and consistent finish. The question isn't stupid. Keep in mind that very skilled craftsmen built this stuff originally and in many cases the parts were BETTER than what is built now. So get over the "old technology "thing and treat it the same way and expect the same quality as a modern unit. All mechanical devices work the same way. A crappy finish on an old part is no different than a crappy finish on a new one...

[DCoul]

DCoul!

You can trust your own instincts;
T'aint right.

Somebody wanted to just get off of it: the peril of this industry.

Personally, if it were mine, I would punish it by running it to death, ignoring the smoke, because it would all come out in the wash of the next rebuild. (As if I could still ride...)
Might as well get as much out of your investment as you can.

Damned are the mosquitos behind you!

....Cotten

This bike is so easy to work on, I'm leaning toward running it and seeing how bad the oil consumption is. I'm changing to a larger carburetor and intake manifold and sometime in the future probably bigger intake valves. So, it will probably be apart next winter or so anyway.

It's not scoring. I've seen scoring and this ain't it. It's pitted. Like they rusted and the rust was removed. Guess I'd better take a look at the other cylinder too.

I think someone started on this project and gave up. I've got it up on a lift and just poke along on it. Kinda therapeutic. I answer phones, talk to people and work on computers all day. Nice to have a bike to tinker on that I don't have to ride tomorrow to get to work. Listen to music, heal some American Iron. Nice.

I know why they went with aluminum heads. This bike has the cast iron ones. Damn they're heavy! Real U.S. stuff! I don't think they were melted down Toyotas in those days.

I was thinking about putting a Mikuni on it but it just doesn't seem right to put a Japanese carb on a WWII bike. Ya know. Seems sacrileges.

[frichie68]

Stay with the Linkert.