Big progress tonight!

Wow, look at this - two posts in the same week! But I made some good progress on the assembly tonight and I'm kind of excited.

First accomplishment for the night was installing the head. That's a bit difficult with the engine in the frame and no assistant. It's the pushrods that make it difficult. You have to shove them up inside the head as far as you can and then hold them in place while you angle the head and slide it into position. That actually wasn't as difficult as I feared, but getting all four pushrods engaged with their rocker arms was a struggle. I'd get three in place then one would slip out of position. I struggled with it for over an hour, but finally got them all in position and snugged the head down. Everything looks good, no pushrods were harmed in the process, and Mr. Valve did not say hello to Mr. Piston when I cranked the engine over. Definitely a Good Thing.

Next up was bleeding the brake. I tried the other night but the line was full of air, having been just installed, and I wasn't having much luck. So I borrowed a vacuum bleeder. That made quick work of the job. Definitely a nice tool to have. The brake feels good - nice and progressive, not wooden-feeling like the stock brake. I can't wait to try it out.

All in all, a very satisfying night!

Just wrenching away

I've been told there's a few people who actually read this blog. If that's true, I apologize for the lack of updates. I've been too busy turning wrenches. It's a lot of work building one of these things and this particular bike has been fighting me every step of the way.

I've made lots of progress in the last month though. The wiring is all hooked up now, including all the new snap connectors I bought from British Wiring. Those things were hard to install because the sleeves are such a tight fit. I ended up buying a nifty little tool from British Wiring - a pair of pliers designed specifically for pressing the bullet connectors together. It cost $35 but made the job much easier. I'm happy to announce that no blood was spilled or wires broken on the hookup!

I've also installed an entirely new front brake. This is a custom creation, using a Nissan master cylinder from a Honda CBR600F2, a Nissin four-piston caliper from a CBR600F4, and a Harley rotor. The rotor carrier and caliper mount were designed and machined up by one of our club members. It's all installed and looking good. I just need to bleed it then it will be ready for testing!

And I've installed the motor and done most of the assembly. This particular engine (I have two) has a lightened crank and a Megacycle cam. That should put some snort into the old bike! As of tonight, the head is still off and I need to readjust the primary chain tension. Otherwise though, it's all assembled. I even installed the points and set the timing! I did that with a degree wheel and dial indicator. The timing scales on the primary cover can be wildly inaccurate. Some people have reported them being off as much as twenty degrees. This way I can have some confidence that the timing is more or less correct. And I'll have my timing scale calibrated for future use.

I'm pushing hard to have the bike running for our next club outing this coming weekend. Don't know if I'll make it as there's still a lot of little things to be done. Some of these simple little jobs can burn a lot of time. But I'm trying as hard as I can to get it done. Soon my Norton will be snortin once again! (with a little luck and barring any expensive mistakes...)