Topic: Actually on the road!!!

[Cvillechopper]

Despite the laughs, taunts, and general dismissal of my friends when they saw what I was hoping to build into my first chopper, I took her to work today for the inaugural ride.  The 78 750K motor has much more power than I am used to.  My last bike was a 2000 Honda A.C.E. 750 and it had nothing on this wonderful machine.  I do have several mechanical issues that I need to address, but at least I'm on the road.  I'm gonna start looking up some of the issues now but figure I'd list them here in case someone can point me to the right threads.  Can't wait to meet up with some folks and hit the back roads....

James


1.  Clunky clutch... read tons of threads, just need to pull the pack and make sure everything went together right.
2.  Smoke from the valve cover breather at idle.  Not sure what that's all about, maybe normal to some degree with no re-breather?
3.  Fairly loud rattle, slap, something up front on the right side (I think).  I figure it could be the cam chain, a loose valve, or something I don't know about yet.  I tightened the cam chain several times prior to the ride, but I've heard they can stretch a bit if it's been a long time since they were used last. 
4.  So much custom stuff that I don't know where to start looking for abnormalities but I'm sure they'll show up eventually.
 
Other than that, not so bad for my first build.  I'll post pics as soon as they get developed

[liquidplumber]

That is a great feeling taking something you built out on the road for the first time.  Looking foward to the pics. 

[Sam Green Racing]

Hi James,

Pleased to see you got it on the road.
The clutch clunkiness, I take it you mean when you put it into gear, may just be down to adjustment.
The smoke from breather and the engine noise could be related.
If the bores or pistons are badly worn, you will get piston slap (the noise). This allows compression to get past the rings and as the presure builds up it's only escape route is the breathers.
Also check the breather on the back of the gearbox.
Is there any smoke from the exhaust ?

Sam.

[Cvillechopper]

Only smoke from exhaust is at start-up.  I've read that the primary chain can make a similar noise?  It seems to be coming from the right side, mostly near the front I think but it's only when the clutch is engaged.  When idling and revving in neutral, sounds great.  When in gear, different story.  If it's the clutch basket making all that noise, I'd think there'd be slipping, chattering, etc. but I really don't know exactly where it's coming from cause it's only when moving.  The position on the pegs and bars makes leaning down to take a listen a bad idea.  I'll be pulling the clutch basket this weekend to take a look.  Is there anything I should look for while I've got it out that might cause this horrible noise?  I'm really hoping it's not the rings, etc.  If it's that I'll just have to wait until the winter (if it makes it that far) to pull her down for a rebuild.

[Brookesy]

C'mon man,
where's the pics???

I can't wait...

[Cvillechopper]

My girl is out of town so I have to wait till this weekend to get her to snap a few with me on the bike.  Maybe in motion...  As for the piston slap, I rode in to work again today and paid more attention to the sound now that I have a general understanding of what to expect from her.  It really doesn't sound as "deep" as I am used to piston slap sounding.  It's also not as consistent.  It sounds similar to the time I had an alternator mount bolt break and the mount was kinda bouncing off the block from time to time.  Kind of like a rattle, but a little more pronounced.  I also can't feel the valvle cover transferring the slap (again, just what I am used to) but don't know if you'd notice that on this motor. 

James

[dusterdude]

way to go james!!!!!

[Cvillechopper]

So I took the girl out for the first longer distance trip today.  I've been holding to less than 5 miles from home in case something went wrong and I had to push her back.  Luckily I work close.  Today held about 50 miles for us and it was marvelous, except for the motor seizing due to the crack that developed in the tubing connecting the oil cooler spigots up front.  I didn't notice the oil that had sprayed the underside of the bike as well as the rear tire until I felt her start to sputter, then just quit on me completely.  Luckily there was no one behind me and I had just come up on a store in the middle of nowhere.  Couldn't even kick her over at first.  Took a deep breath, went inside and picked up a few quarts of sae 30 and a coke and went outside to deal with the mess.  As this is my first build, I go NOWHERE without 2 tool bags strapped to the forks so I yanked the tubing and cut the cracked area off then filled her up.  By now she was able to turn over and I got her running for about 30 secs to lube everything up.  After about 20 min of breeze and me drinking my coke, we hit the road for home.  About 2 miles from home a motorist pulled up and yelled, "you got something dripping like crazy, dude!".  The other end of the hose had played copy-cat. 
Anyway, I got her home, have a new hose to install in the morning and fresh oil.  Anyone that doubts the bulletproof nature of the 750 SOHC had not been on one.  The good news:  at about 55mph I decided to crack her open a bit and see how she feels.  Pulled like a maniac at about 3/4 throttle.  I'm still not ready to go full tilt, but that did make me feel good. 
On another note, I pulled the clutch this morning and noticed what seems to be significant wear in the outter basket.  The outside 10 - 14 mm is about 3 mm wider than the rest of each opening.  There also seems to be some metal deflection (as if you were to hit the end of a piece of sheet metal lightly, but repeatedly.  funny thing is, I was still not able to get neutral while running until I dumped that cheap sae 30 in this afternoon.  About 10 miles later at a stop, I hit neutral with no problem and have only had minor difficulty with it since.  Maybe this girl likes the cheap stuff......

[Brookesy]

You're a lucky man... for more than one reason.
Glad you made it home ok and i hope the Chop is ok too.

My Chopper is in my head at present and i've made a start with some sketches
I'll wait and see how it develops

Enjoy your ride

[Terry in Australia]

You're a lucky man James, take care. Cheers, Terry.

[pmpski_1]

Can't wait for the pics!

[Cvillechopper]

I posted a pic in another thread but though I'd put one here of her new parking place.

[scottgarland]

Choppers and bobbers are an artform few attempt and even fewer get right. Yourr first project is topflight. I've been doing this since 68 and the one I am building is always the keeper, till the paint is dry and by then I've got another idea. You will have loads of fun with this lifestyle.

[Brookesy]

Scottgarland...
I agree Choppers and Bobbers are art

Go the Chop!
Good work

[cub]

Hehe at least you learn everything about the engine the hard way.  Sure feels great having a problem and actually fixing it on the road.