TexasAggie’s first bike build

https://i.imgur.com/wal7EF4.mp4

After breaking it back down and packing more grease, and removing shins from the commutator side I got this^ I think that looks good but I’ve never done this before so who knows lol


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That’s powered by a mostly dead 14ah atv battery


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Progress report:
Did a lot of work last night. Got the starter back on the bike and bolted on, successfully even got it to turn the motor on a few short tests. One problem I’ve found though is that my handlebars aren’t properly grounded, and to get it to turnover I had to ground them with some wire scrap (same issue with the horn). Looking around behind the headlight I noticed this hanging spade terminal:
b95b6b4b01cef3cf7d2587b095da98ee.jpg

It’s attached to about 2” of wire that is grounded to that handle bar nut pictured. Ground that terminal and the horn/starter work so I’m guessing it’s the culprit but I can’t find a female spade terminal for it anywhere near by. Can anyone confirm if this is the stock way the handle bars are grounded?

I also bolted the exhaust and pegs/kickstand back on which was a little tougher than I originally thought it would be. My head was sandblasted at the machine shop so I can clearly tell there’s no copper gasket in the head, I stripped 3 m8 nuts trying to seat the collar flush. Attempting to pick any gasket off the exhaust header proved fruitless so I just bolted both on top the copper gasket as tight as I could get them, each collar is about 1/8” from actually touching the head. Again I guess this could be normal, but it seems off to me.


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You're missing the other half of the ground wire. It's a short piece with the spade connector at one end and a bullet connector on the other that plugs into one of the solid Green connectors in the headlight bucket.
 
I’ll take a look inside the bucket then, maybe it’s still hanging on by the bullet side in there.

Is the exhaust thing I mentioned normal?
Here’s an illustration:
169536e1251cca0ebef1d6c4efdb743b.jpg



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You should be careful of overtightening things, you're lucky only the nuts stripped instead of breaking off a stud. The fit is normal, the flange isn't intended to be flush against the head. You put new gaskets in and tighten it until it's tight and the gap is even on both sides, then after you run it a bit you should snug them up again as the copper gasket crushes... but what we see in the pic is normal.
 
ancientdad said:
You should be careful of overtightening things, you're lucky only the nuts stripped instead of breaking off a stud. The fit is normal, the flange isn't intended to be flush against the head. You put new gaskets in and tighten it until it's tight and the gap is even on both sides, then after you run it a bit you should snug them up again as the copper gasket crushes... but what we see in the pic is normal.
Click to expand...

Good to know thanks

“Tight is tight, and broke is broke”

^useless shade tree mechanic quote I subscribe to


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With engines it is always best practice to go by manufacturer torque recommendations. Torque wrenches aren’t super expensive, and will save you a lot of pain and money in the long run if you learn to use them. Some things can be German torque... “Gütentight”, but suspension brakes, steering, wheels, and engines is not an area that I like to mess with.
 
Nick_Brox said:
With engines it is always best practice to go by manufacturer torque recommendations. Torque wrenches aren’t super expensive, and will save you a lot of pain and money in the long run if you learn to use them. Some things can be German torque... “Gütentight”, but suspension brakes, steering, wheels, and engines is not an area that I like to mess with.
Click to expand...

Yeah I’ve been doing that when I’ve got the spec, but I couldn’t find this one in the fsm. It’s probably not even factory spec because these were new nuts and I bet grade 5, can’t remember which I bought. Luckily the studs seem much stronger than the nuts in this case and I’m only out .82.


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5db243f2e9109da6877b64b90505b6fa.jpg

Removed for closer inspection, it’s not a terminal type but instead a snapped terminal.


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Soldered the eye terminal to some new wire and a bullet terminal, wired it up and it looks good. Starter turns every time now, and I used it to do a quick spark check on each cylinder. With spark on both cylinders and my new turn signals working, everything electrical checks out except the signal/high beam indicator which I’m not too worried about. I guess I don’t know if the charging/rectifier system works properly yet, but I’ll have time to find out on a running bike.

Really only fuel delivery and sizing my new chain left y’all, I’m both nervous and excited.

Fuel is going to come down to the condition these mikunis the bike came with are in. I cleaned out the bowls which looked good, but that’s it. Right now my plan is to bolt them up, sync them and see what happens. I’ve got uni air filters installed in the factory air boxes too.


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ancientdad said:
If you haven't already, you should pick up a modern rectifier/regulator combo from Sparck Moto, the best unit for the best price and he gives great support for all his products too.

http://www.sparckmoto.com/Products/Detail/7
Click to expand...

I’ll keep them in mind, a modern unit was my plan for my first “upgrade” post rebuild.


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It seems the air box boot doesn’t quite reach the mikuni on either side. Previous owner solved this with some sticky pipe wrap, but I’d like a more elegant solution.
Is there some kind of elastic coupler out there I’m not thinking off? Or should I just get coolant hose that fits snug (I don’t think the air box side will take to a clamp well)
d924ab78d30c9564643742c5670598b9.jpg



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LongDistanceRider said:
The interior surface of the hose has to be smooth so a flex hose is a bad choice.
Click to expand...

I’m imagining something elastic/form fitting, like non porous leggings. Maybe this doesn’t exist though because I’ve tried a lot of different googles.


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You’re losing inner diameter of the intake with that coupler to begin with, so your best bet is probably to use a pipe reducer. It will be cobbled together for now, but would work. Something plastic that you could slide over the mount on the carb, and then clamp the filter coupler to that flange.

Something like this.

544b5bb7241bc267d94b77d1c4e7bf66.jpg


Then you can seal it onto the carb mount, with RTV, and use it to clamp the filter to.

Since you are going up in size to the mouth of the carb, this won’t really affect performance more than already having a smaller intake. Air would technically speed up in this case.
 
On the stock carb, does the air boot fit into the carburetor or over it? I think that’s part of my initial confusion


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Found this at Home Depot and pulled the clamp off the small side:

d776cbed5906af11f3c880611fccdee8.jpg


It was snug on the air box side, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to add 6 twists of stretch/seal tape to be sure. Final result:
30e9c3ea334200b0411fe488433bf492.jpg



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After that I poured out the mmo+gas mixture to change the petcock:
cd1e3840eec57975c7810cb4a10128d9.jpg

I dumped it in my Jeep, it won’t mind.
Also I used a cautious amount of gas safe pipe dope on the threads of new petcock. Don’t know if that’s normal but I figured it couldn’t hurt if done right.


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Welp I successfully turned it over, but that’s about where my success stops. It’s making a clacking sound that I’m hoping is just too much valve clearance but worse than that I’ve got a major oil leak out of the right side cam bearing.

https://i.imgur.com/YCg2O11.mp4

Help.


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I can't get any sound and don't see a volume control on that player, but the oil leak is likely one of 2 things - no o-rings on the rocker arm shafts or the cam bearing gasket on backwards
 
Looks like the bearing Phillips head screws aren’t tight. Anybody know the torque spec of the top of their head?


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TexasAggie said:
Found this at Home Depot and pulled the clamp off the small side:



It was snug on the air box side, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to add 6 twists of stretch/seal tape to be sure. Final result:


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Click to expand...

Adapter looks good. You could use that smaller clamp to tighten down the air box side to the adapter.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
TexasAggie said:
Looks like the bearing Phillips head screws aren’t tight. Anybody know the torque spec of the top of their head?


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Click to expand...

There is no torque spec for JIS screws, you just get them tight with the proper tool - and it's not a #3 American phillips screwdriver, it's a #3 sized JIS bit or screwdriver. Not so sure that is your problem since it's dripping like a leaky faucet. The noise just sounds like valves grossly out of adjustment
 
ancientdad said:
There is no torque spec for JIS screws, you just get them tight with the proper tool - and it's not a #3 American phillips screwdriver, it's a #3 sized JIS bit or screwdriver. Not so sure that is your problem since it's dripping like a leaky faucet. The noise just sounds like valves grossly out of adjustment
Click to expand...

Yeah I tightened them and oil still flys out. 0% chance I can fix this with the engine on the bike, isn’t it?


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You could, but great care needs to be taken. You have to find the spot where all the valves are closed - essentially where the cam chain on a 350 is supposed to be adjusted - and then remove the cam chain tensioner from the back of the cylinders to remove tension on the camshaft (but only after locating the position where all valves are closed, NOT before). THEN, AND ONLY THEN, is it safe to remove that cam bearing. It will slip off with little to no force and result in damage to the aluminum bearing (bushing) surface, but you must be careful not to pull the rocker shafts out with the cam bearing or you will likely never get them back on the shafts correctly without pulling the engine and the top cover off. Then you can put the gasket on the proper way, slip the cam bearing back on and tighten the screws.
 
ancientdad said:
You could, but great care needs to be taken. You have to find the spot where all the valves are closed - essentially where the cam chain on a 350 is supposed to be adjusted - and then remove the cam chain tensioner from the back of the cylinders to remove tension on the camshaft (but only after locating the position where all valves are closed, NOT before). THEN, AND ONLY THEN, is it safe to remove that cam bearing. It will slip off with little to no force and result in damage to the aluminum bearing (bushing) surface, but you must be careful not to pull the rocker shafts out with the cam bearing or you will likely never get them back on the shafts correctly without pulling the engine and the top cover off. Then you can put the gasket on the proper way, slip the cam bearing back on and tighten the screws.
Click to expand...

Worth a shot

Thanks for the help


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982f393a880f847e62363a048d23f85b.jpg

Popped right off.
c5a564411dbe93961ca48d1109b76d56.jpg

Looks like you were right. Backwards.
38d5f8934f33b6b6d229f554557987cf.jpg

Flipped it and popped it right back on. I’ll update next time I fire it up to see if that stops the leak.


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Good - hopefully there was no resistance when you took it off so it will go back on without gouging the bearing surface. It's an easy mistake to make, the gaskets fit both ways and seem correct.
 
ancientdad said:
Good - hopefully there was no resistance when you took it off so it will go back on without gouging the bearing surface. It's an easy mistake to make, the gaskets fit both ways and seem correct.
Click to expand...

Slipped right on, didn’t even have to tap it


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Now I just need to figure out valve clearance


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Kicked it over once before the sun went down, oil leak is officially solved[emoji1303] thanks ancientdad

But, the clacking persists.


https://i.imgur.com/WddZnVV.mp4


I adjusted the exhaust valves tighter, the intake valves I felt like were already tight, but they still had about 15 deg more to go and it was difficult to get the feeler gauges on the intake side with the carbs on.

Things to note:

I for sure have a major exhaust leak on the left side muffler (dime sized hole maybe), could this affect it?

I’m a noob with regards to feeler guages.

In hindsight, I’m also pretty sure the choke is on during this video.


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My main takeaway from today though:

My pamco hack worked! I honestly only gave it about a 50% chance ha.


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Happy for you on the Pamco, finally a dead one brought back to life to get the money's worth. The valve clearances - stone cold, BTW - are .002" intake and .004" exhaust, done on compression stroke per cylinder. IOW, you turn the engine over while watching the left intake valve open, then close and look for LT immediately after the intake closes. Stop there and set the left side valves, then watch the right intake valve as you continue to turn the engine and when the right intake closes, you find T and set the right valves there. The crankshaft generally wants to roll past the LT mark a bit and you can set a prop of some sort to hold a wrench or ratchet and socket on the rotor bolt to hold it still if you want, although it isn't really necessary as long as it stays within a few degrees of LT. If it rolls too far past LT then the exhaust valve will start the process of opening and it will affect your clearance
 
That’s what I did and removed the spark plug to hold my finger there to confirm it was the compression stroke.

Probably won’t be today, but I’m just going to keep trying. I’m hesitant because don’t want to set it too tight and blow a fresh valve.


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Also these are not new rockers, could scarring on the arms cause this?


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If the pads on the rocker arms are a bit dished, it could lead to erroneous adjustments with a feeler gauge, yes. You want the feeler gauge to slide out firmly during adjustment, if it slips in between the rocker and the valve tip easily or loosely then the gap is wider than the feeler gauge
 
Last night I adjusted the valves tighter on the intake side, resulting in these settings on both sides:
Left
19c1e93b3baa8ef6554f115d58d5eb0f.jpg

Right
085037c723f02e8f0db54d8149b65aab.jpg

Turned it over just now and it’s still making the noise, except now I can’t get it to idle like I did in yesterday’s video when I walked around it filming it.


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Did you use a feeler gauge? The "settings" you're showing have nothing to do with what a feeler gauge will tell you when the valves are set on the proper stroke. The little index marks on the adjuster shafts look different on every bike when the valves are set properly and the visual of where they are or what they look like is immaterial to how the valves are set.
 
Ok yes I did use a feeler gauge, .004 on the exhaust side and .002 on the intake side I just thought I’d include the pictures for context and to show I don’t have much further to go. I feel mostly confident I have them tight if not possibly to tight on the intake side.

Could something else make that noise? My cam chain was tightened after I fixed the bearing. Could the starter clutch be hung up and the starter chain be making the noise?


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I’d take another video but right now I can’t even get it to run without the choke on and then only for about a second or two


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I think you need to go back over everything you've done since it last ran. At this point, the only thing I can think of other than the valve adjustments is the ignition, but you mentioning it needing the choke on to even try to run might be a clue as well.
 
Yeah only thing I’ve done since I ran it Saturday was tighten the intake valves and remove the foot pegs because of a stripped bolt hole.

After a few more kicks I can clarify that it’s not running without the right side cylinder choked, I can run with my hand on the throttle with both choked or cut the choke on the left one but as soon as I touch the right one it dies.


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