I couldn’t tell you about the transmission rebuilt and not talk about the engine overhaul, right away, after that! It’s kind of the elephant in the room, or on the motorcycle at least! So here it is…
So much happened in last month or so. We were stuck because of a couple things and tadaaaa, it’s like all the hurdles almost magically disappeared! It’s not magic but it does feel like it, quite frankly.
A little recap of where we were
Early last summer, we took most of the engine apart. In the engine overhaul part 1, I had explained that we were going to change the head gaskets and I first I had hoped to also change the seat gaskets although my dad didn’t seem to be up for it.
Three weeks later, when I came back to see him, we actually remove the cylinder bodies. For some reasons, my dad then seemed ready to do it.
That’s when my brother noticed the valves needed to be changed, which meant changing the valves’ guides and redoing the valves’ seats. And that was the first big issue. It may not seems big, but it was for us.
With regards to the piston rings, my dad and brother didn’t think they needed to be changed. That didn’t seem right, but the battle was lost 2 to 1.
The wiggling of the connecting rods was troubling to me as well, but not to them. Battle lost 2 to 1, again…
Still, I was just completely fascinated by the inside of the beast! I had never seen a valve, a piston, or any other such parts, in my life, so that was all exiting. I was also scared because I was starting to realize that I would never learn enough.
My summer update didn’t bring much hope to, how the whole thing was going to get sorted. I still didn’t have the new valves anyway and no way to get the valve guides installed. My brother was supposed to find someone but never did.
And then the magic happened!
I found someone! Not just anyone, a professional who happened to be specialized in Indian Motorcycles and who lives about 1 hour away from my dad. I couldn’t believe my luck. (I’m not yet giving you his name, because I want to ask his permission first and still haven’t done so)
I was ecstatic! I just couldn’t believe my luck and that it was all going to get sorted… and then I freaked out!
Hummm… I should admit now that I kind of overreacted! You know by now, that this whole project is an emotional roller coaster for me. I’ve said it before and haven’t found a better way to put it. So the fact that I freaked out isn’t even surprising at this stage!
Anyway, you may have read that he came and left with most of the engine. Then he took the crankcase apart and at that stage, I was planning on being my most annoying self, until he agreed to let me participate to the rebuilt…
Well I didn’t even have to be annoying & painful! At least, I don’t think I was annoying & painful?! He somehow agreed right away.
The repair and rebuilt of the engine
My dad & I spent 2 days with a pro to assist to the rebirth of the engine!
It was so intense that my brain fried and I can’t tell you all the things that happened, all the things that were done.
Instead you’ll find below a few pictures of the process.
A lot of preparation work was done before we came. The crankcase, the flywheel and oil pump were all cleaned up, all the bearing rollers were ready to be installed which, alone, must have taken quite some time. The drive shaft had to be replaced so the new one was waiting to be installed.
The new valve guides were installed and yes, new piston rings were also waiting patiently to be installed because, indeed, those had to be changed!
The flywheel
The first thing handled was the flywheel. As I had previously mentioned, my dad didn’t want to touch this part of the engine and I didn’t insist because the Indian manual shows that it requires a special tool to be aligned. But the wiggling of the connecting rods was indeed not a good thing, so it all needed to get sorted.
Before mounting all the parts of the flywheels, we tested the oil system on the crankpin which is the central piece between the flywheels.
All the little pegs are held in their cage by lost of grease. Those little buggers only want to escape!
The alignment of the flywheel was done, not with the tool shown in the Indian manual but instead with 2 dial indicators. Cleaver!! I would also add this: the tapping required here, is more than I can handle.
Almost there…
The cams, push rods and lifts
Next, the central pinion shaft was installed. One more thing that is out of my league as it had to be heated up to be put in. Me don’t like heat and blowtorches! 🤷
However, installing the cams, lifts and push roads was fun!
The below picture was actually taken later but I wanted to show it now, as the timing marks on the cams were highlighted in green, to be clearly visible and are here properly aligned. Those ensure the proper timing of valves.
Put the cam case cover on top of the gasket and then handle the oil pump next!
The oil pump
By the time we handled the oil pump, my brain was definitively fried. I recall some sanding, testing of the different parts but that’s pretty much it.
Nothing was changed apart from the gaskets and a disk.
The oil return sump valve
The oil return sump valve just needed to be cleaned and the gasket replaced. I unfortunately don’t have a picture of the little screen inside. I thought I had but can’t find it.
The funny thing is that here we found the little metal piece of the crankcase that had been torn from the case, by the roller bearing that was damaged.
Not a great situation but it does show the system works!
The pistons & piston rings
Yes! I got new piston rings!!
My dad and brother had won the previous battle, but I won the war!! This specific war at least!
The end gap on the old ones was like 3mm when it should have been like 0.22 mm. Ok, not sure I put the dot at the right place but hopefully, you get the idea of the gigantic difference.
The piston had been changed in the 1950’s before my dad had bought the bike. So I couldn’t buy new original rings but had no clue where to get new ones that would work. This wasn’t a problem for a professional though!
I got to remove the old piston rings 😀 but considering the price of the new ones, I didn’t even try to put the new ones on. These little things are very fragile. So maybe next time 😉
The valves
The pistons were installed on the connecting rods but we had to install the valves before being able to mount the cylinder bodies.
The valves seats had already been grinded and looked good!
The valves seats were all ready as well, so next we just had to put the valves, the spring and the cover and … I got to put the valve spring keys! yeah 😭
Mounting of the cylinders
The mounting of the cylinder bodies requires a certain dexterity as you have to slide them in, while holding the pistons and not damaging the rings.
Then the manifold had to be installed which wasn’t bad.
The gaskets were put on and the cylinder heads mounted. I brought my brand new torque wrench because it had to be used!
Last, I tried to handle the 3 wrenches required to set the valves’ clearance and gave up. This is one time, where being left handed was my curse…
Anyway…. ta da!!!
The timing of the distributor
OK, almost tada! because the distributor had to be installed and timed properly.
There are marks on the flywheel to time the distributor and that I knew but the timing? Hum that lost me… I will study and get back to you on that.
The fully restored engine in picture!
and mounted on the frame!
Do note this isn’t the color of the bike! I changed it in Lightroom because I’ll show it only when the bike will be fully restored!
Plus I should have cleaned all the greasy finger prints before taking those pictures!
I’m happy but…
I’ so happy, I could cry! OK I did cry!
Considering the difficulties, it’s nothing short of a miracle that all of this was handled before the year ended and seing the engine mounted on the frame, before Christmas, was the best gift ever!
Yeah, I put a ‘but‘ above…. because…
Well, these 2 days we spent with a professional Indian mechanic were mind-blowing. It was amazing to spend that time with him, in his garage and to do what we did.
But…
…I’ve rarely felt as useless as I did those 2 days. Useless & hopelessly incompetent.
That was a big slap in the face!
OK, I didn’t really know we were going to rebuild the engine. I had not study that part, as much I had studied the transmission for example. That’s really unfortunate because I could have made more of those 2 days, if only I had studied. At least, I think so, I want to believe so.
What is done is done and I’m not about to dismantle the engine again, just to rebuild it.
I will study the timing of the distributor thing, though!!
Pin this for later
