Topic: Terry Bob's redneck F-ing K2 bitsa project!

[BPellerine]

alot of work to make him a bike but that engine sounds really good!

[Terry in Australia]

alot of work to make him a bike but that engine sounds really good!

Thanks Bill, well luckily he's a pro painter, so as long as it's mechanically sound, he won't care too much about the cosmetics. I have to do some welding on the other frame I have and paint it, but then it's just a case of screwing everything back on to it.

[Alan F.]

That does sound good, I love it when a bike comes together (for someone).

[PeWe]

Terry, you are like a bike doctor, make bike parts to find the right path in a new life, together.
Or maybe closer to Frankenstein that also revived.....

[Terry in Australia]

Well you've gotta love a new engine build, you hope it's gonna be brilliant, but in the back of your mind, you know that your first "Shakedown Ride" will probably result in an early return for home.

I wandered out to the old bitsa this morning, and the first thing I noticed was oil on the concrete.

K2 Bitsa 14 Mar 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Bugger! Well I crawled underneath to find the source, and was happy to see that all I hadn't done yesterday, was tighten one of the bolts on the oil pan, and oil was dripping past it, so easily fixed. I decided to "borrow" the tank from the K0 for my maiden voyage, knowing that the tank for the bitsa has a leak @ around the halfway mark. I couldn't leave the K0 looking naked, so I installed the tank I painted for it, just for looks.

K2 Bitsa 14 Mar 2021 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So the bike was running well, the oil leak was fixed, nothing left to do but hit the road! 1st, 2nd, er, 2nd..... 2nd...... 2nd...... fcuk. I turned around and rode back down my driveway. Could I have messed up the gear selectors? Nah, I checked and double checked that I had the three selectors in the right order. I removed the shift pedal, removed the cover, and realised that the spring loaded selector ring had snagged due to my using a larger washer than specified, so I replaced the washers, and I suddenly had all the gears again. Thank God.

I took off again, but a few miles up the road, I noticed that it had dropped a cylinder. I felt each pipe, and #2 was cold, compared to the others. I really should have thought about this more after inspecting those horribly butchered pistons on the initial stripdown:

K2 Bitsa 14 Mar 2021 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Fair enough, either a lead or a cap had gone to God, so I've ordered some new 8mm leads and this week I'll install some Dyna knock off coils I bought on Ebay a while ago, and maybe install one of my old Martek ignitions, or I'll just buy a new Kokusan. I did think about stealing the new Kokusan ignition out of the F2, but I don't like doing that, even though I'm not riding it, I really should clean it up and sell it. By this time it was getting to mid afternoon, I was never going to make it to the Heathcote bakery for a pie, so I opened a Ginger Joe, and thought about life for awhile. A bit of a false start today, but nothing to be worried about.

K2 Bitsa 14 Mar 2021 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
   

[PeWe]

Your bike just marked it's territory!
Other bikes might sniff around in that very spot.....

I have a slow going engine build or 2...
An early 1975 block, here delivered on CB750 K2.
All parts in the garage.
-Late transmission, its final shaft need to be replaced by K2-K6 which I have.
-Good low miler complete crank, -Super rods with shells matching the cranks numbers.
(the stock rods can be used on my K1 bottom end).
-890cc cylinder (new bores), JE 67mm 12.5:1 pistons (Dynoman DP 890)
- Planned to use my old ported head with 24.4cc chambers. But it has 5mm stemmed 34/28mm valves with not that long living bronze guides, half of them need to be replaced. I'll look for a steel alternative.
- Can get my old VM29 carbs.

I have a stock K2 frame + swingarm in need of new paint with registration, wheels, tank set etc....
It is difficult to not buy parts.

That engine could be a spare engine. But might need  undercut trans....

I'll soon start my repaired K6 that has got new base gasket and another head for this year. New wheels will change the feeling too.
It will be exiting as always when something is changed or new.

[754]

Yesterday I was moving parts around and checking boxes. Found a set of high dome pistons ,, cast  and stuck on sorta rusty rods.,  and then partly because of this thread , I thought I should try to save them .. I think they came of a motor , or motor in frame I bought with no top end.. sitting out in a yard.
  So 65 mm, a bit of wear on the skirts..... so first thing is see if I can get rings for them... I have  a set of one piece Honda rings..

 BTW, my old buddy with the 300 K K2 was lamenting the fact he sold his in the box Action Fours kit long ago..
 His comment was, they were cast... I don't want to run forged.... I can see why..

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Frank, which model Honda had 65mm pistons, one of their trail bikes? I’ve had (still have) both cast and forged pistons, forged pistons seem to be the choice of drag racers running really high compression, but cast are much lighter and I was surprised at how the 65mm Wiseco pistons now in my K2 engine were much lighter again, than those horribly butchered Honda 64mm pistons that the clown who built the engine previously used?

I’ve got another set of lightly used Wiseco 65mm pistons here, and some 65mm “Cruzinimage” rings in a box, I’ll have to see if they fit. The newer Wiseco pistons have a much thinner top compression ring than the older ones, and the new Wiseco pistons are much shorter too, with thinner (same OD of course) wrist pins.

I’m only thinking about this because I’m considering building my K1 engine into a mild hotrod engine too, as I’m sure I have a mild cam in one of my other engines, as my K1 will be a mild custom with Lesters, twin cast iron disc front end, Koni’s etc.

[754]

4 th over Cb 350 is what many used.. they look pretty nice , I mean cleaned up . I also have my RC cast one's out of my 836 that gave up the ghost in 97.., but geez 2.5 decades on those ones..
 I got some reall big ones too, a fresh set of 1000 cc,and some used 970.    And maybe more. ..

[Terry in Australia]

Nice! Anyhoo, today I attempted to start the K2, and it missed and farted, and only warmed #1 and #3 pipes. WTF? I tried the age old method of pulling the plug cap away from the plug on #2, and it started firing straight away. OK, so the 50 year old coils/leads/plug caps were on their way out? No biggie, 50 years is a good innings for anyone, sadly many of my friends haven't made it to the half century mark, and sometime I feel like I've somehow cheated fate, as a lot of those guys never thought I'd make it into my 30's, but they're gone, and I'm still here. Weird............ But sometimes I think too much about my past, and as usual, I digress.

I replaced the coils with some Dyna knockoffs, which is a pain in the arse, as you need to make up the signal and power wires, and even the 5mm screws that secure the wires to the coils. By the time I had them and the new 8m silicon leads mounted in the new coils, it was getting late, so i thought I'd try firing it up with the points ignition, and if anything it ran worse? Bugger.

K2 bitsa ignition 15 Mar 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Hmmnnn, cold #2 and #4 pipes. Is it possible that I'd messed up the valve clearances? I dragged out my 50 yeard old compression gauge with the rubber plug that you force into the spark plug hole, while holding the throttle wide open and cranking the engine. 170 psi across all 4 cylinders (+/- 5 psi) is more than acceptable, considering the rubber tipped end on the compression gauge was continually being blown out of the hole as I cranked the engine, so if anything, it's more than what the gauge is saying, so what's the go? The battery has plenty of "Ooomph" in it, but it's only firing on #1 and #3? Weirder and weirder.......... 

K2 bitsa ignition 15 Mar 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

Soooooo, are the points stuffed? The timing is spot on, the battery is fully charged, there's no sparking between the points so I assume the condensors are OK, are the carb jets blocked? Possibly. Anyway, after shortening screws, making leads, hooking it up, drinking way too much of my home brewed ginger beer, I dropped the tools where they fell, and wobbled inside.

K2 bitsa ignition 15 Mar 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Tomorrow I'm gonna steal the Kokusan ignition from my effing F2 while I wait for yet another new one to arrive. Hopefully that fat blue spark will do the trick, but if not, well, I guess the carbs are coming off, but I still think it's ignition. We'll see.

[grcamna2]

That's progress Terry 

[BenelliSEI]

Terry.... “New” spark plugs? I had this same issue with a new set of NGK D8EA’s. Two of 4 were crap! Sparked (weakly) on the head, dead under real compression. Drove me nuts for days!! Try some different ones before tearing it apart!

[grcamna2]

I just purchased some ND X24ES-U plugs(equivalent to D8EA)on Ebay last night.The ND's are good.

[PeWe]

Be careful with electronic ignition if there is an issue with coils or other electrical gremlins.
Make it functional with points first can avoid broken electronics

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, the problem is the points and OEM coils are the issue. I had a similar issue with another bike and the issue was immediately resolved once I installed an electronic ignition with much more spark energy. John’s point is relevant, I haven’t checked the spark with each plug, as the spark plugs that came with the engine were brand new so I just assumed they were good, but I remember that there were fake NGK spark plugs being sold on Ebay, so it could well be that the plugs are dodgy.

I’ve got new D7EA plugs here which work better with electronic ignitions, so I’ll give them a 1mm gap and install them along with the Kokusan ignition. I might also run another earth lead direct from the battery to the coils like I used to do with powdercoated frames, due to the insulating properties of thick paint/powdercoat.

[BenelliSEI]

Thanks Per, the problem is the points and OEM coils are the issue. I had a similar issue with another bike and the issue was immediately resolved once I installed an electronic ignition with much more spark energy. John’s point is relevant, I haven’t checked the spark with each plug, as the spark plugs that came with the engine were brand new so I just assumed they were good, but I remember that there were fake NGK spark plugs being sold on Ebay, so it could well be that the plugs are dodgy.

I’ve got new D7EA plugs here which work better with electronic ignitions, so I’ll give them a 1mm gap and install them along with the Kokusan ignition. I might also run another earth lead direct from the battery to the coils like I used to do with powdercoated frames, due to the insulating properties of thick paint/powdercoat.

Good plan, good luck. If you can’t fix it, we’re all in trouble......

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks John, and the winner of the “What’s wrong with Terry’s bike, is...... (drum roll).....,, John! Yep, dud spark plugs, who’d have thought? Of the 4 spark plugs, only one was sparking constantly, and one intermittently! I had new D8EA plugs in their boxes, so I installed them in the new leads, and they all sparked away happily.

I am wondering if some of these plugs are fakes? While they were almost identical to the new NGK’s that I bought at my local auto parts store, the printing on the other plugs were higher up on the insulators? Interesting. Anyway, all good now. Next issue is a slight oil leak from the sump pan, so I’m gonna drop the oil (again, so far this engine has cost me $150 in oil and I’m thinking that if there’s no chunks in it after the whole 20 miles I’ve ridden it, I might re-use it?) and check the pan for cracks, and I think I’ll install another oil pump while I’m at it. Gotta love old bikes, always something to do......

[onepieceatatime]

Thanks John, and the winner of the “What’s wrong with Terry’s bike, is...... (drum roll).....,, John! Yep, dud spark plugs, who’d have thought? Of the 4 spark plugs, only one was sparking constantly, and one intermittently! I had new D8EA plugs in their boxes, so I installed them in the new leads, and they all sparked away happily.

I am wondering if some of these plugs are fakes? While they were almost identical to the new NGK’s that I bought at my local auto parts store, the printing on the other plugs were higher up on the insulators? Interesting. Anyway, all good now. Next issue is a slight oil leak from the sump pan, so I’m gonna drop the oil (again, so far this engine has cost me $150 in oil and I’m thinking that if there’s no chunks in it after the whole 20 miles I’ve ridden it, I might re-use it?) and check the pan for cracks, and I think I’ll install another oil pump while I’m at it. Gotta love old bikes, always something to do......

If you buy new NGKs, look at the box for "Made in China" or "Made in Japan". The Japan ones are the ones you want. On the plug themselves, I don't know a difference.

[BenelliSEI]

Well I’ll be darned! The first time that happened to me I almost had the engine out of the frame before I stumbled on the duff plugs! The ones I had were not fakes. A few minutes of good running and then they just failed. Wow......

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah it’s weird, as per the video from Saturday’s first start up it ran like a new bike, then 5 minutes down the road, it started missing a farting, and I barely got it home. It was so nice to hit the button after I installed the new plugs, and it fired right up. Those other plugs went straight into the bin.

[PeWe]

Here about fake plugs and how they can look like.
http://ngk.sr/technical-information/fake-spark-plug/

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, nothing to do with genuine NGK's either made in Japan or made in China, all the fake NGK's were marked "Made in Japan", but of course, they were dodgy. I've never had a problem with NGK plugs in the past, these are not made by NGK, they are fakes. I didn't buy them, they were provided by the previous "builder", but were counterfeit. No problem, it goes like a raped ape now. I've ordered a new Kokusan electronic ignition for it, and will use the points/OEM coils on the K2 build I'm doing for Dion.

I've stripped and ultrasonic cleaned the oil pump and will check it tomorrow for wear, and if it's good to go, will reassemble it and install it tomorrow. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it now.

K2 Bitsa Tuesday 16 Mar 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

Good news Terry!
One question though... Who did what with an ape?

[Terry in Australia]

Good news Terry!
One question though... Who did what with an ape?

Ha ha, yeah, all those old sayings will probably get you in trouble nowadays, "Goes like a scalded cat" comes to mind too, I'll have to come up with something less offensive in this new "sensitive" world..........

[BenelliSEI]

Here about fake plugs and how they can look like.
http://ngk.sr/technical-information/fake-spark-plug/

Per.... watched the video! They showed D8EA’s as the fakes!! Explains a lot.....