Topic: Another project-1976 Honda CB550K

[grcamna2]

Alternator cover installed ....

Painted the oil filter housing...

Cleaned valve cover, installed new seal and o ring on tach shaft, applied assembly lube to rocker arm pins and have valve cover ready for install.

Den,what condition do the rocker pins into the cam cover holes look like ?

[denward17]

Alternator cover installed ....

Painted the oil filter housing...

Cleaned valve cover, installed new seal and o ring on tach shaft, applied assembly lube to rocker arm pins and have valve cover ready for install.

Den,what condition do the rocker pins into the cam cover holes look like ?

They look good, no pitting, I didn't measure them but they all fit tight with no wiggle.

[grcamna2]

Alternator cover installed ....

Painted the oil filter housing...

Cleaned valve cover, installed new seal and o ring on tach shaft, applied assembly lube to rocker arm pins and have valve cover ready for install.

Den,what condition do the rocker pins into the cam cover holes look like ?

They look good, no pitting, I didn't measure them but they all fit tight with no wiggle.

 

[Ozzybud]

Engine is looking great.. good job

[newday777]

Den
The alternator cover looks good installed. 👍

[willbird]

Looks good. At a past job we would deep clean the machines and the shop for tours, I would just clean the dirtiest thing first, then that made something else the dirtiest thing, and I would clean THAT, so on and so forth. Pretty quickly things started to look nice :-).

[denward17]

Machine shop called earlier today indicating parts were ready for pickup.

Head resurfaced, cylinders resurfaced, bored for each piston.  Best I can tell with my archaic measuring methods, he hit my targets of .0006" per cylinder, maybe just a touch tighter.

All pistons slide in each hole, but requires some push.

Now to start cleaning up and painting both head/cylinder, install valves, check valves for leaks, install valves with new KW springs/viton seals.

[Mark1976]

   Looks great!!!

[BenelliSEI]

Nice to have everything back “date and sound”.

[calj737]

It’s odd, your head does not look like the underside was fully surfaced. There are areas that appear to be “unmachined”. If it was surfaced by 0.006, the entire surface should look equally milled. At least I’ve never seen a surface milled flat that wasn’t fully machined…

[denward17]

It’s odd, your head does not look like the underside was fully surfaced. There are areas that appear to be “unmachined”. If it was surfaced by 0.006, the entire surface should look equally milled. At least I’ve never seen a surface milled flat that wasn’t fully machined…

Maybe it's the angle of the picture, but it was fully milled.

[Stev-o]

It’s odd, your head does not look like the underside was fully surfaced. There are areas that appear to be “unmachined”. If it was surfaced by 0.006, the entire surface should look equally milled.

"he hit my targets of .0006" per cylinder"

Hey Cal...Denward was referring to the boring, but I get what you're saying, in the pic, the right side of the head does not appear to be fully milled.

[calj737]

It’s odd, your head does not look like the underside was fully surfaced. There are areas that appear to be “unmachined”. If it was surfaced by 0.006, the entire surface should look equally milled.

"he hit my targets of .0006" per cylinder"

Hey Cal...Denward was referring to the boring, but I get what you're saying, in the pic, the right side of the head does not appear to be fully milled.

Stev-o if you look at the picture of the head, you can see where the machinist wrote how much he milled off the surface in the lower left center (0.006). That is necessary to know for squish, gasket thickness and dowel height trimming 

[denward17]

I did have a shop light hanging just over the pieces, that may skew what it actually looks like.

Here's another pic without the shop light.

[denward17]

Cylinder cleaned up and painted.......


Working on some rubber plugs to see if I can setup some type of vacuum device with my Mityvac to test valve seat leakage.

[BenelliSEI]

Dennis….. No need for that. The “tried and true” method is easiest. Assemble the valves and springs. Screw in a set of spark plugs. Turn the head upside down and fill each combustion chamber with gasoline or varsol until the valve heads are totally covered. Wait five minutes and check each port. Nothing leaking through? You’re good to go. If any seep, take a bit of fine lapping compound and lightly seat the valves by hand.

[denward17]

Dennis….. No need for that. The “tried and true” method is easiest. Assemble the valves and springs. Screw in a set of spark plugs. Turn the head upside down and fill each combustion chamber with gasoline or varsol until the valve heads are totally covered. Wait five minutes and check each port. Nothing leaking through? You’re good to go. If any seep, take a bit of fine lapping compound and lightly seat the valves by hand.

Thanks John, but I might as well try it while I am at this stage.  I keep reading where people mention the vacuum test, and I want to prove to myself that either is fine.  I did a quick test this afternoon on a couple of valves (already lapped), but I didn't have the springs on.  They both slowly leaked down with the vacuum test.  I will try tomorrow with the springs on just to see, and then fluid.

[BenelliSEI]

I’ve always installed the springs. Never done it any other way.

[Mark1976]

   With the vacuum test there's always a degree of leak down (valve guide and seal). Doing it the way john mentioned with the springs installed will let you know if there's a good seal at the valve face and valve seat interfaces.

[denward17]

^Good point about the valve guide seal, I have not installed those yet.

[denward17]

Got the head together today, new KW springs, Viton seals.

Valves were lapped in and did not leak with fluid.  I tried to use a MityVac to check with vacuum afterwards, and most valves held about 20HG, but slowly leaked.  I am pretty sure it was the apparatus I was using to insert in the ports.

Will paint next week.


Put it aside to work on a dang aggravating EGO battery powered mower, blades will not start.  Project for tomorrow.

[Mark1976]

   Looks great...

[BenelliSEI]

Nice work.

[denward17]

Head cleaned/painted ready for install.

Next job is checking ring end gap and filing rings, starts tomorrow.

[denward17]

Checked ring end gap today, had to file a few.

Top and 2nd ring end gaps are set to .007-.008",  left 3 piece oil rings as they were ~.009".

Rings installed on pistons, pistons installed on rods with assembly lube on wrist pins.  Rings staggered and oiled.

Plan to install cylinder block and head tomorrow.  Cylinders have been wiped with acetone at least 5-6 times with paper towels remaining white.

Will wipe one more time with a cloth before install.