Thursday, July 8, 2010

She Still Hates Me.... Round Three

It was a beautiful thing..... everything went back together as it should... I had loads of compression.... it started easy and when I stopped there wasn't three quarts of oil beneath it. I even hit it with some degreaser and hosed her off. The sun was setting and the insects where buzzing about. It smelled like rain and the gravel roads were moist. When I rolled through town... it seemed as if everyone was cheering me on. I just rolled with it and waved like I was important. A quick glance back.... main street was smoked out. My rear exhaust was billowing like a smoke house.... I hope the towns people appreciated the fact that I just killed off the entire mosquito population in Dekalb County. I already have an Ironhead that smokes more than Slippery Pete so I wasn't happy to see my PanShovel puff the blue cloud.

I thought...... it must be a valve guide. I didn't replace them in the rear but checked them over before putting everthing together and they seemed fine. Compression was still good. I put the bike back on the bench for the third time this week. Off with its head....

It was painful to take it back apart but I knew it had to be done. What I found is a simple fix but frustrating non the less.



P.S. I can't wait to get rid of these silly handlebars.

Head gasket with 20 miles on it.

It blew out at the oil passage filling the chamber with oil. Which explains why it smoked more as I let off the throttle.




Why can't you just learn to love me? In time you will find that I spend more quality time, more money and Love you more than any other woman on this earth. Maybe I should just ignore you and treat you shitty..... then maybe you will love me back.

11 comments:

Lonnie C. said...

Well, they don't call them "painheads" for nothing. Then, of course, there are "troubleheads". "Knuckleheads" - what can I say?

The Lil Misfit 13 said...

Ah nothing like the love/hate relationship of a good woman to keep you on your toes.. Like you said maybe you should neglect her a little and she will come around..

hard life bikes said...

leak down test do it 1 time do rite....... less wrk = more ridein

Kid Kurpius said...

Please describe this leak down test you speak of. I am by know means a motor builder but will attempt to do it myself and most often wont look at books. I fuck things up and learn from it I guess. Guys like you set me straight when I have issues. I got it back together today but I think I have the same issue. Can you tell me more about this leak test?

hard life bikes said...

ok well the tester it self ther are all kinds ther is even rite ups on the internet on how to home make them..... but what it is is .. spark plug out tester in the plug hole.. now some use a compresed air some you kick the motor over ether way after that hold throttle wide open then lisen air out the pipe ext valve...air out the carb int vavle ... and so on and so on iam sure ther are rite ups on the net that will tell you this better but hope u get the idia of how it works if thats ok it me a retard and cant do thinks over the p.c ..

Kid Kurpius said...

Yes I did this but I left my pushrods out so the valves are closed. This tells me that the valves are sealed and not bent if no air escapes through the exhaust or carb but doesn't tell me that I stand a chance of blowing out the oil feed portion of my headgasket. I'll look online to better understand this.

Hyde said...

After my Shovel's pinion shaft went and the bottom end came apart and fixed, the rear cylinder oil feed blew out twice before I got her to finally seal. I used the thicker blue head gasket to get it to seal instead of the paper thin Harley gasket. Don't know why they left that portion of the gasket so thin, but it can drive you crazy, good luck with it.

righteous said...

Il tell you what's up, same exact problem and blew exact same spot on the gasket. Put your head on the cylinder without a gasket, do you see light through the gasket faces? If you do, which I bet you will....back in the day people used to plane the gasket face because rhey thought the heat warped them. Your fire ring, "lip on top of your cylinder" is most likely too long now because of the material that was taken away. File down the fire ring on cylinder until the head seats properly. Then buy fire ring head gaskets. You'll be right as rain homey

hard life bikes said...

righteous is spot on... leak down will tell this all so did you take your timein plug when you did it that will let you know if its the rings also... also like he seid see how deep the fire ring seat is on your head .. then how tall it is on the cyl matbe deck the the head also ...

speedyal said...

Josh,
I had the same thing happen to my 80 shovelhead I put copper gaskets on after I checked to see if head was warped or the gap between head and cylinder was ok ,put it all back together and was ok.,
AL

Kid Kurpius said...

Thanks for all of your help guys! I normally would use a better gasket but figured it only has to last until the winter when it all comes apart. I should have not even dicked around to begin with. Today I ordered some better gaskets. I planned on checking the heads to see if they need to be decked and I will check to see if the fire ring needs to come down as well. I will also pull the timing plug to see how my rings are. Thanks for all of your time and support!