Topic: Sandcast Engine #1770 rebuild - it made it!

[MauiK3]

That will be interesting!

[grcamna2]

It's alive!
...so to speak, as I don't have the carbs for it...
It oiled up after sitting with oil in the tank, but with no oil filter housing on it (because I forgot to paint it, had to do that these last 2 days). What I noticed that was a good sign: there was a slight dribble of oil coming out of the lower port in front of the engine, the one that feeds the oil filter from the pump. It's been sitting 3 days with oil in the tank while I found a new battery for the garage, and had to charge that up last night.

I might mention this aside re: lead-acid batteries: when you get a new lead-acid (this includes AGM types) battery it has a 'factory charge' on it, which was a dry charge applied before acid was added to the cells. This lets the battery be safely shipped as it cannot discharge much of this power if the terminals are shorted, thus reducing fire hazards. But, when acid is added this charge drops to about 60%-70% of the battery's full capacity, enough to start whatever vehicle it will power. BUT...if the owner does not first charge the battery to 100% while wet BEFORE the first heavy discharge (like starting an engine) it creates a chemical limit that prevents the battery from being able to store 100% of its total capacity. Over time, this limits the battery's life, too (which is probably what happened to my last one, as I didn't get it new myself) because the lead decays from the first discharge point to end-of-life, and the first large discharge determines this lifetime. So, when you get a brand-new battery, charge it until it climbs out of the normal range-of-voltage (which would be typically more than 13.6 volts in these bike-sized batteries, when it will quickly then climb to 15 volts) and you'll be rewarded with a longer life.
NiCd and lithium batteries are a little different, and those can suffer from overcharging, which similarly limits their lifetimes and full capacities.
...a little something I learned during my NASA spacecraft training regarding batteries, of all types...

I'm supposed to get the new/old/junky valve cover this week, so I'll cut away the top of it to show the oil feeding to the rockers. Then I'll take some more pix and attempt a video to post here. Has been a long slog, but it's finally done and makes a running sandcast possible! Very cool. 

I remember buying a couple motorcycle batteries from auto parts stores;they always make sure to tell me, "you don't need to charge it,it's pre-charged"      just a ploy to sell more batteries..

[RAFster122s]

Congratulations Mark, glad your struck oil as anticipated with no issues!

[PeWe]

Good news!
I hope oil was squirted everywhere in your shop thanks to the oilpump doing its job.
Clean shop cost less than new bearings and other things that can be damaged.

Thanks for the battery reminder. I usually charge a new battery, but this will help me to ensure full load before first ride in spring too.

[HondaMan]

The convertible!
Well, it's more like a T-top.
Overkill? Probably. Cool? Absolutely!
I'll try it out tomorrow night, should be fun.

[grcamna2]

The convertible!
Well, it's more like a T-top.
Overkill? Probably. Cool? Absolutely!
I'll try it out tomorrow night, should be fun.

Lol 

[newday777]

Dod you do that on a drill press or a mill?

[BenelliSEI]

Dod you do that on a drill press or a mill?

Curious too.

[Stev-o]

Dod you do that on a drill press or a mill?

I'm guessing jigsaw...it's soft aluminum afterall.

[SanDogDewey]

The convertible!
Well, it's more like a T-top.
Overkill? Probably. Cool? Absolutely!
I'll try it out tomorrow night, should be fun.

Very cool. Overkill would be polishing it!!!

[newday777]

The convertible!
Well, it's more like a T-top.
Overkill? Probably. Cool? Absolutely!
I'll try it out tomorrow night, should be fun.

Very cool. Overkill would be polishing it!!!

It's peeling chrome.....

[HondaMan]

The convertible!
Well, it's more like a T-top.
Overkill? Probably. Cool? Absolutely!
I'll try it out tomorrow night, should be fun.

Very cool. Overkill would be polishing it!!!

It's peeling chrome.....

Yeah, boy: it's peeling everywhere! I pulled off lots of little pieces so they won't fall into the engine.
I cut them by first drilling the corners where I wanted the windows and smaller holes in between, then used a (several) cutoff wheel(s) in a Dremel. The whole time, I was thinking about the Bridgeports where I used to work...then all the sharper edges are filed off a little to reduce the need for (future?) tetanus shots.

Here's a shot of the 1-2 side oiling at cranking speed. The oil immediately pools up over the inner cam bearing and a second or so later shows up on the #1 cam lobes, with all 4 lobes wetted by then. The big drop of oil in the #1 cam journal hole was put there by me with an oilcan: I always do that when putting them together, before the first oil-up attempt. The oil floods over the inner (#2) cam's bearing like The Blob, then pours over the side to fill in the 'swimming pool' under the lobes. When full, this wets the tips of the lobes on each turn, but drains quickly when stopped (unlike the CB500/550 version). There are also 4 little squirter holes on the intake side of the cam bearing, pointed at the lobes under the rockers. These fill in the 'swimming pool' too, after hitting the cam lobes, Then some of the oil oozes forward toward the exhaust valve springs and drain holes.

What is obvious from this is: there is a LOT of oil, quickly, at the cam. This is cold 20w50 oil thru a 0.040" hole that is just under 1/4" long. I don't have the PSI gage on the main journal, might add that for the next test.

My .MOV files didn't show up in the camera, going to try them again. I haven't taken a movie with it since I first got this camera (5+ years ago), forgot how!

[RAFster122s]

Glad you had fun playing with petroleum and it is all looking great for proper oiling and very good pressure.

[HondaMan]

While prepping the REAL cam cover for installation, i discovered there was one last crusty part: the tach drive shaft is rusted! Boy, talk about fighting to the end...!

It turns out, the sandcast's tach gear is thicker than the later production gear by almost 2mm, too. The wear point is in the dead center of the sandcast gear and the later gear shows the wear in the same place, but with less unused gear width on the back side.

[HondaMan]

Hmm...can't upload the video, almost 50Mb.

[HondaMan]

I just discovered there's no breather cover in the box o' parts!
Gotta go find one...

[newday777]

I just discovered there's no breather cover in the box o' parts!
Gotta go find one...

Did you find one?

[HondaMan]

I just discovered there's no breather cover in the box o' parts!
Gotta go find one...

Did you find one?

So far, the only one I've found looks like it belonged to your old valve cover! Peeling chrome, and all... ;(
There's one more place to look, but I don't think that engine had one, either, it being all apart when I got it years ago.

[newday777]

I just discovered there's no breather cover in the box o' parts!
Gotta go find one...

Did you find one?

So far, the only one I've found looks like it belonged to your old valve cover! Peeling chrome, and all... ;(
There's one more place to look, but I don't think that engine had one, either, it being all apart when I got it years ago.

Do you know what the difference is in the breather cover after 1010337 as the CMSL fiche says the K0 and earlier K1 are different numbers than 1010338 and up. I think the motor I have the cover is in a bin and might be mixed with the later covers that I've vapor blasted?? I'll have to look at them Saturday to see what difference I might see.

[BenelliSEI]

I have the cover from a very early one sitting on my bench. I’ll check to see if there are differences.

Never got out there today but I will. I think I have a few to compare. Curious……

[newday777]

Well just got to the shop and see my K0 is a late one so it's got a different breather cover part number.....

[newday777]

Well my K0 is a late bloomer so it has the later breather cover.....

[MauiK3]

I wonder what the actual differences would be?

[HondaMan]

Thanks, Stu!
Yeah, I don't know what those differences might be, myself. I found one from a K3 engine and painted it last night, will see how it looks tonight after work.
It's already got a K7 cam chain tensioner, as that was missing, too. Both of these parts aren't real visible when the engine is installed, so it's becoming a sort of resto-fixup engine? The surface finish on the later parts is, of course, nice and smooth, made in regular molds. It's been about 10 years, I think, since I did the last sandcast - I don't remember, other than the surface finish, how these parts differed. I do remember they seemed crude compared to the K4 and later engines, by far, when the parts were all being hot-molded instead of cast. Heck, today they barely even heat up the molds: they just apply several tens of thousands of PSI of pressure to force the alloy into a mold, water-cool it for a few seconds, and pop it out.

[PeWe]

The later are higher I think.
Front M6 must be longer on the later breather covers if I remember correctly.

But this might be about earlier vs  even earlier, Sandcast.