Little update. Here's what I found.
Got my electric start working well, have really strong spark across the board thanks to Calj.
I went ahead and put starting fluid in all the cylinders... Then my legs almost caught on fire (partially kidding). At this point, I knew something was very wrong and I knew there was only so many user errors that could be going on to cause this, so I said screw it yet again and disassembled it.
This is were it gets quite disappointing.
When I first initially timed the bike months ago, I was making newbie mistakes left and right (mostly just not doubling checking, and taking initial measurements. Live and learn) and I didn't double check to verify the cam didn't walk as I aligned the sprocket to it. I can be oblivious sometimes.
I think I turned it over once or twice to verify I was getting correct movement, or maybe I was turning it back to TDC again. I don't know. But after that I was a bit paranoid and retimed it, yet again not checking to see if it was properly timed. Likely, I think it was off timing and screwed myself over.
The second time around was very smooth and this time I combed over everything with a fine tooth comb. I verified everything was at TDC afterwards and went on my way.
Flash forward back to a couple of days ago when I was trying to start it back up, I did a compression test after the starting fluid scenario and wasn't getting any good readings ( I also only tested 1 & 4). I also wasn't able to get the hose in the spark plug hole as easily and smoothly as I wanted to, so I was worried that would be affecting my readings. We went ahead and verified the gauge was working, but with a different hose (this one fit on our lawn mower, the fitting for the bike didn't match anything). We didn't hear leaks, didn't feel them, so I took the head back off, ordered a valve spring compressor, and found this. My next couple of options are difficult ones to make.
Bent exhaust valve on cylinder 1. Here's where it gets interesting.
I removed all other valves and verified with a T square that no others were damaged or bent. It's kind of strange but the head of the bent valve shows no sign of contact, and neither does the piston.
I numbered all the valves, kept everything organized and reinstalled them in order to do a leak down test. I saw that the machine shop did clean the carbon off, and they did do a valve lapping job.
But virtually every valve is leaking.
(it's very faint lighting but you can see water droplets flowing down from the head)
Now, this unfortunately makes a lot of sense, as the bent valve explains why cylinder 1 had no compression, but I was confused what was wrong with cylinder 4 until now. Cylinder 4 is leaking through both the exhaust and intake valve.
The situation is hairy because, of course I want to take it back to the machine shop, show them what's wrong, and see if they will at least relap the valves and verify they don't leak. But, obviously I can't take it to them with a bent valve and expect them not to blame this on me.
One thing I know for sure, I do not want to pay $600 for something like this all over again. I can either:
- Buy a $30 lapping tool and lapping compound, hoping that a relap will correct the issue, along with a new valve and guide.
- Buy a used head online from a previously running CB and take a risk that it's in optimal shape
- Take this head, bring it to another machine shop, have them cut the seats, match the valves, do a bounce test, and then I reassemble it.
Either way, I'm disappointed in myself, but also feel really jipped and taken advantage of. I put all the valves back as they were, the valve seals stayed in place, they went smoothly into the guides, etc. The error on cylinder 1 is definitely my fault, but I can't help but feel the rest of the issues are at the fault of the machine shop.
If there is anyone out there reading this that has "been there done that" and was in a spot like I am right now, I would love some recommendations as for what to do next. Obviously, I've already spent more money than this bike is technically worth, but I don't want to cut my losses now and sell a non running project for next to nothing. I want to finish it, I just need to be as cost effective as possible where I can.
Right now, I'm doing a simple leak down test on the pistons to make sure there's no blow by and that there's nothing else wrong. Once that's sitting long enough to show if anything is wrong, I'm going to measure TDC on all cylinders to make sure the pistons are level and to rule out any potential bent rods.
