In a PERFECT world, I would drop a 4 1/2 inch aluminum rod in my lathe and drill a 1/8 hole all the way through. I would then cut a slot in the bandsaw one inch long through one end. Then I would pinch the slot I cut, closed, and tig it to stabilize it. It would then be cut down to the inside diameter of the oil relief piston, after which the tig weld would be removed. I would take a 1/8 welding rod, stripped of flux, and taper 1/2 inch of one end. The slotted end of the aluminum rod would be inserted into the piston, then the tapered welding rod would be tapped gently into the aluminum rod bore, expanding the end and locking it into the piston, which could then be twisted and pulled till it came out.....
In MY WORLD I spent an hour trying to figure out where I lost the JB Weld...
Quicker to just buy a cam plate and remove all chance of future issues.
Yeah Spanners, if I had any $ I'd do just that. I would totally prefer to go with the gear drive setup.
Here's the plan going forward. I ordered a new oil relief piston and a pan gasket today. I got plenty of honey-do's to occupy me till they arrive, but during that time I should be able to drain the engine oil. If I find ANYTHING remotely metal on the magnet, I'll be pulling the pan for a cleaning.
Last edited by Vickersguy; 06-04-2024 at 09:46 AM.
Reason: word errors
Yeah Spanners, if I had any $ I'd do just that. I would totally prefer to go with the gear drive setup.
Here's the plan going forward. I ordered a new oil relief piston and a pan gasket today. I got plenty of honey-do's to occupy me till they arrive, but during that time I should be able to drain the engine oil. If I find ANYTHING remotely metal on the magnet, I'll be pulling the pan for a cleaning.
First attempt didn't work. I used too little JB Weld. Second time it came out. It was really tight !
I found some heat shrink tubing just the right size to line the piston bore. You can see the piston in the first photo. I heated the plastic to shrink it just a bit so it would go into the piston a fraction of an inch. This prevented the JB weld from sticking to the bore and totally screwing up the project.
Second pic is the bolt and some electrical tape to stabilize it in the bore while the epoxy set overnight.
Third pic, Success ! I put the bolt in a vise and tapped the cam plate to remove the piston.
Fourth Pic. You can see the metal particles and shredded chain tensioner plastic.
Hey Max, I think the first guy treated the bike well. The second owner, I think, did his own maintenance. He was a hack. Third owner traded an older pickup truck for the bike. The third owner quit riding and sold it to me. I don't think the third owner rode it much at all. He had another bike and was into hotrods, not bikes. There may well have been another owner I know nothing about. All I have is the seller's word. I think he probably knew how screwed up the bike was and didn't want to spend any money or time on it. He knew how to clean a bike, though. I've never seen a used bike as clean as that one in my life. It really threw me off.
I may be stuck getting a new cam plate. The relief piston is sticking and the feeling is rough, sliding through the range I expect it to move. It must be free and smooth for about 3/8 to 7/16 inch of motion from the bottoming out position. I'm not getting it right now. I will try to polish it better tomorrow. If I can't get free motion, I'll have to scrap the plate. Funny thing is I can't see any imperfections in the bore. I think I better check to be sure the piston is out-of-round.
Last edited by Vickersguy; 06-06-2024 at 06:39 PM.
Reason: screwed up sentence
Baisley makes a "polished" piston, so if the bore is clean it would be way cheaper than a replacement cam plate. I think I have an early cam plate, chains and sprockets that you can have for the cost of shipping but IIRC, you want to convert to the '07 up setup. https://www.zippersperformance.com/b...ypass-plunger/
Thank You for the offer of the cam plate. Right now, I will keep what I have. I think I've got it worked out. The link to Zippers I will keep on hand. They seem to have some good stuff !
06-03-2024, 03:18 AM
