Your starter has two red wires on it one from the battery and one goes to power the bike then a small wire pushes on the spade connector.I would put a test light on that wire and try starting it if it lights the starters bad if not maybe a safety switch or even a bad start relay even know it clicks it might not send out power.

 

Good catch. Fortunately, the service manual and Cometic instructions are within 1 ft/lb of each other on the first two steps. The two following intermediate steps were missed when I torqued 90 degrees. I went and checked and my final torque value appears to be 42-45 ft/lbs. Not perfect, but certainly not enough to worry about. I will make a note in my write-up regarding the Cometic gasket instructions.

 

You can check your starter on the bike. Take a short section of wire and it doesn't have to be large Gage as I have used 18ga on the road. Touch one end to the large red wire on the starter and the other end to the spade that the thinner wire with the connector on it connect to. Just pull the connector off to access the spade. What you are doing is by passing the starter switch and relay. If the starter engages then trace backward. If not then your down to battery or starter.

 

Subscribed.

 

I do not want to come off as an "arm chair general" or rain on the parade but for the benefit of many that will do this work for the first time there are a few steps I see not mentioned that in my opinion are critical. In this case you may have done these steps, as applicable, I do not know.

1. Center the rocker boxes, center the supports, this assures proper valve operation / geometry assuming the protrusions are set properly. Tappet block centering screws can be used in the center breather screw holes before the outer fasteners are installed.
2. Check the piston to deck height, this will assure you have proper squish distances, many times these motors have in excess of .010 deck height plus some have very uneven heights which translates into compression imbalance. Not correcting this is going to hinder performance and the resistance to ping if not corrected. Heads need to be CCd and corrected as part of the drill to assure even and desired compression on both cylinders. These are just a few of the "details" that make these builds hit the mark and run smoother and cooler.
3. Mock up the top end and clay the piston tops, running it through the cycles to assure that during overlap there is adequate piston to valve clearance.
4. Follow the tightening method and values for the head gasket type prescribed by the manufacturer
5. When not using beehive springs check retainer to box clearance
6. If using roller rockers relieve the webbing in the rocker box tops

 

Don, please write some stuff up and add some photos. PM me and I will give you my email address. I will add yours and anyone elses contribution to the write up.

I always try to make it painfully clear that I am not a mechanic and don't play one on TV either. The projects I post are to illustrate that successful DIY projects are possible for anyone with a moderate amount of mechanical ability.

 

Nice write-up Atrain. Great pictures. Everyone appreciates your efforts.

What level of "head job" is that? Looks like more than just a street port with the polished chambers? Stock valves? Also, what was the chamber volume set to? Or was it?

Sorry about the click no start issue. I'd be focusing on wiring and connections. Going with your assumption that the battery is good, it's unlikely the starter died just sitting there.

 

A quick update. The forum has always done me right and after a couple of posts and PM's I realized I made a mistake that needs to be made right.

I did not do a good enough job explaining that I am not a technician, not a technical expert, and that I do not have any magical wisdom. I edited my posts to show a disclaimer to that effect. My articles are to share my experiences in doing these projects, but not to be any kind of authoritative "how to".

If I confused anyone, I sincerely and humbly apologize.

 

I'm not sure why you would apologize for providing an excellent DIY article for other DIYer's.

I think the write ups you have done on this big bore project and Cam install are some of the best and easiest I've seen. I'm no master mechanic either but it's nice to see confirmation that what I've done is the same as what others have done.

 

Yep don't really get why you added that "disclaimer", your Doing a great job! And really the comments left IMO are constructive in nature not slams to your abilitys, this write up has been fantastic! So with that said hows it going???? Did ya get the starter issue resolved? Have ya fired up the beast?