1966 Shovel engine rebuild

[T. Cotten]

Steve!

I have four grades of Clover compound, and even the 6-A would not improve a wide seat.
Just like a poppet valve, a narrow seat seals best, so a flat grind approaches an ideal sharp line upon the surface of the ball.

The tools, with the exception of the the flat stone on the left, were all failures.
Although the ball burnisher on the right improved some, particularly aluminum bodies, it proved disastrous on some chilled cast iron bodies.

I lost a lot of time and a considerable investment on that particular cranial flatulence.

....Cotten

[Steve Little]

cranial flatulence. he he

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Oil hole to the bottom of the timer shaft.

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[T. Cotten]

Steve!

You've got an aluminum pump.

That's one more reason to avoid lapping the seat.

....Cotten

[Steve Little]

Thanks Tom.

A couple of the sealing flanges of the push rod tubes needed attention.
The picture might not be picking it up but the flanges are dented and may not seal to the corks.
This happens when an owner pries a screw driver under the flange when the cover is hard to slide up.

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I have male and female mandrels to slide over the tubes which allows me to press the flange straight.
Fitted the inner tubes in the tool gave it some liberal pressure in the small garage press. No more wrinkles.

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After straightening the flanges I buffed the rust off the inner tubes to make them nice and smooth, so the cork wont bind on the rust when retracting the covers.

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The gear cover had custom studs and chrome acorn nuts which is pictured to the left of the shot on the cover.
I replaced them with a cadmium Colony replacement screws kit.
Dabbed the head of each new screw with some lapping paste and then a light lap into the holes.
This settles out any high spots or scaring from previous builds, and allows the taper of the screw head to match the hole and maintain even pressure on the cover.
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Pre loaded the pinion shaft with oil before fitting the cap head screw. I keep pumping oil until it comes up the side of the con rods

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[Steve Little]

Hi.
Can anyone identify this oil pump.
I would like to buy some gaskets for it, but it is out of my knowledge range.
The date stamp says it was made in 1995. Is it a Evo pump or just a reproduction pump?

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[T. Cotten]

...Pre loaded the pinion shaft with oil before fitting the cap head screw. I keep pumping oil until it comes up the side of the con rods...

Steve!

I found that pre-oiling risks oil drooling back out to foul gasket surfaces, unless you can assemble quickly.
(And I always smeared everything with a film of petrolatum anyway.)

So immediately prior to firing the motor, I would attach a charging bottle of oil to the pump inlet and push in about a half o' quart with low air pressure.

You never know how long a motor might sit before it sees duty.

....Cotten

[Steve Little]

Thanks Tom.
No drooling or sullied gaskets to report.

Found the spring posts on the distributor head were wobbling and rotating.
This kind of shenanigans isn't good for a fast response of advance and retard.
Disassembled the distributor, supported the head of each post on the vise, and gave the flare a bit of light hammering with a flat punch. It took a few goes until the posts tightened up nicely. Lubed the shaft with engine oil, put all the parts back together and greased the pivot points in the weights.

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[Steve Little]

Thought I should tidy up this thread and sign off on this one.
I can see why the chopper guys favored these engines.
When everything is stripped away, they are nice to look at.
Thanks for the contributions and ideas.

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[nuklhd]

Steve, thank you for taking us along and documenting the rebuild. I enjoyed it.

[Steve Little]

Thanks nuklhd..
Delivering the engine tomorrow and helping the guy fit it.
Just remembered why I don't do this for a living...nervous butterflies and thoughts of ...did I do everything right??
Show time tomorrow.

[Rooster]

I also want to thank you for sharing this rebuild with us, Steve, in spite of the interruptions. I'm not a motor guy, so it was very interesting to me.
I think you can relax, I think the motor will be just fine. You can't control what the owner does during the break-in period, though....

[Grumpa]

Good work Steve and thank you very much for taking the time to document your rebuild. I'd like to see more of this stuff. Next time I tear mine down I'm going to have to go through my bottom end and it's going to take an entire AMCA village to raise this idiot.

[Steve Little]

Thanks fellas.
Fitted the engine to the bike over the weekend.
The smell of that first fire up is sweet. Glad to relate that the engine runs beautiful and pulls like a sixteen year old.

Walked into the workshop this morning, cleaned the decks and had to decide on the next job. 1946 Knuckle engine? or 1968 XLR engine?
Hmmm? Which one? Could do both. The Knuckle was closest so got it up on the bench.

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What do'ya reckon? Can you put up with my convoluted diatribe. Are we in for it??

[BigLakeBob]

I'm in for another round, really enjoyed this one.

[painterdale]

I'm in for another round, really enjoyed this one.

Completely agree!
Dale