2Tired Hal and His Rocket88

I've now put 3 or 4 thousand miles on the 88" motor with no leaks or problems. I still had the typical Thunderstorm pinging which I tuned out in August by retarding a degree at a time until the pinging was gone. Hard to tell if it affected top end performance as it has such an abundance.

After the rains stopped, I went for a short ride. Coming up our hill there's a right hand sweeper onto a fairly steep uphill straight about 70 yards long. As I was coming upright exiting the turn, I gently rolled on the throttle and the back wheel stepped out about a foot or two. I gently rolled off the throttle and the backend got underneath me. When I was upright, I hammered it. Cool.

We've had lots of rain lately (we ended up getting 70 inches of rain this season) so I've only had 3 post break-in rides. The first couple were strange. When I was making WFO runs, I felt compelled to shift at 5K. My guess is that just as I was getting on the cams, the front end was getting light and I ended up shifting out of it. Yesterday, I tried a weight-shift forward and managed to get it to 6K. There is definitely a different riding technique with all this torque.

It rained today, so I'm in the process of checking and adjusting the pushrods. Tank and carb had to come off to reach them. Four hours and it's back together and running. Now, I'm done.

I've now done 8 of the 12 break-in rides. Yesterday morning, I rode out to the Mad River fish hatchery in Blue Lake. After checking out the fry and young steelhead, I walked back to the bike and found a lack of red at the rear of the bike ... no taillight! Harley sure knows how to subcontract out a taillight. Retraced up Hatchery Rd and on to 299. Unbelievable! But, there was the taillight in the edge of the fast lane of Highway 299 ... unbroken. 45 cents worth of hardware at Ace Hardware, some blue LocTite, and I'm back in business.

Just finished the 9th ride and have 216 miles on the motor. It just started to rain as I was coming home. Works out well as I have to re-adjust the adjustable pushrods at about 200 miles. Will do that tomorrow morning and ride if I can.

Ah, breakin is going to be 12 rides of 20+ miles each with the bike completely cooling down between rides. The first ride was a near disaster. Got all jiggy going through the muddy slime at the end of the driveway. Whew. When I got to the road, I shifted up through the gears at 3500 each. This thing pulls from way down low.

My typical route is 101, 299, turn around at Blue Lake, then cut through the back roads of Fieldbrook and home. When I was about 1/2 mile from Blue Lake I looked down and my foot was soaked in oil. Oil was streaming from the front rocker box. I pulled off and saw that the rubber of the seal was sticking out from between the rocker boxes. I limped home keeping the revs low and watching the rocker box. Made it home, but what a mess.

Man , I hate these Cometic seals. All the ones I installed were misshapen and slightly mis-sized. I had to use Hylomar on the rocker box seals and the derby cover. They were all a pain. The James and the HD's that I've used weren't like this.

Took off the seat, tank, ignition wires, coils, and took off the rocker box cover from both cylinders. There was no damage to the seals so I poked and prodded the seals back in place and buttoned the bike back up. I also noticed that when I put the mountain motor core in the E-pipe, I didn't put the core retaining screws in. Luckily it was jammed in pretty good and held until I noticed. I've been on 3 more rides since and no leaks or problems.

THE BIKE IS DONE! Lot's of details to finishing up. Had trouble adjusting the clutch with the directions in the FM. Used instructions from Julie Balassa on the XL-list and was in business. Glad I ran into some problems as I hadn't noticed that I'd reused a circlip on the clutch actuator which was warped.

Other than trying to start the bike with the right turn signal, it started up fine but with some mechanical noise. But as oil circulated, it quieted down. It's been four months since I started this so the exhaust sure sounded good. Can't ride it yet as I'm preparing for a job interview tomorrow and I'm not willing to ride up 1/3 mile of mud to get to the road. Will post a ride report in a few days.

Talked with Aaron Wilson a couple of days ago about the knack needed to install the Zippers pushrod covers. He got me over the hump with some good ideas. I tweeked them a bit and wrote them up on the assembly page.

The new lifters, adjustable pushrods and covers are now installed. Rocker boxes are all buttoned up. This afternoon I finished up the clutch actuator, rearsets, and the header pipe.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the front tire was shiny over half the tread. Looked like oil. i felt oil at the bottom of one of the fork legs. But, the oil wasn't red like in the forks. Looked a bit further and found that it was from the clutch cable. Amazing! Glad I have to ride up a gravel road for a half mile before I get to the pavement.

The lesson learned today was that when you get a bunch of parts, unpack all of them and make sure they're all OK. I didn't do that with the Zippers pushrod covers. My guess is that somebody returned these to Zippers who didn't see what the problem was and they sent them on to Nallins. There was a torn plastic parts bag in the package, a missing o-ring, and a jammed collar.

This morning, I pounded the aluminum tube from the chrome collar with the aid of a socket and rubber mallet. I managed not to bend the tube but the collar distorted a bit. The indent became an outdent in getting the collar off. Another socket and some judicious banging gave me the indent I needed for the keeper.

Used two gallons of gas to go get a $0.13 o-ring in Eureka. Lovely. Then no instructions or photo of the pushrod covers. Fixed that with a visit to the Zippers' website. For each pushrod tube, there is a chrome collar that slides on an aluminum tube. One of the chrome collars has no clearance and the tube can't be moved. Forcing the collar just gouges up aluminum and is making it harder to remove. No success yet. Certainly a lack of quality control on this piece.

Just got back from a week in the SF Bay Area so not much work done. Before I left, installed the heads. Today, I was going to get the rocker boxes and new adjustable pushrods and pushrod covers installed. But, found that I was missing an o-ring for the covers. Always something. I'll see if I can did a similar one up at an auto parts store here. Else it's a call to Nallins or Zippers to get an o-ring. My guess is that I can find one here.

Received the replacement cylinder in short order. Kvetched on the circlips for a bit. They just take some squeezing and coaxing and they pop right in. Yes, they are awkward. Filed the compression rings to .018" per Brian Nallin. Scrubbed the bores of the Millenium cylinders with hot, soapy water per Wiseco's instructions. When I wiped the bores with an oily paper towel in preparation for inserting the pistons, it came away grey. Oops, more cleaning needed. The oily paper towel seemed to be the ticket so I just kept wiping until no more grey.

At this point, the cases, rear and lower mounts, tranny, shifter, cams, cam cover, cylinders, and pistons are installed. Oh yeah, oil lines and battery box too.

Last Friday, I took both cylinders out of their packing and found that the front cylinder had been flycut on the wrong side. Talked to Susan and I should have a replacement by today. The spacer that I referenced on Feb 14 was for the main drive which was underneath a seal when I sent the cases.

Lots has happened since I started this project. I lost my IT job of 19 years with the same company. Had to turn in my computer to the company and go out and buy my own. Why make it easy. I decided to switch platforms while I was at it. Now, I'm using a Unix based IMac. What the heck.

The cases are in the frame. So far, I've managed to get the stator and transmission back in. Not much time when you're making a new computer your own as well as working with an outplacement company learning how to get a job.

When I looked more closely at the Cometic gasket set, it was for a BT, not an XL ... let alone not having the 88" head and base gaskets. Those are in the mail. Had to do the 40 mile roundtrip to Eureka to get a retaining clip for the detent plate on the shift mechanism. Picked up countershaft seals while I was there so that I could get the back end of the bike done.

Picked up the boxes of parts from Nallin's from my old address last night. Easier than dealing with the delay of UPS. Sort of unpacked. I don't have room to lay everything out. Only two pieces I didn't recognize. One was a tapered roller bearing and the other was a large spacer tie-wrapped to the starter motor hole in the case. I called Nallin. Susan said that the bearing was a mistake. That it was already installed in the case. She didn't know about the spacer. Brian and Aaron are out of town.

Just got off the phone with Brian Nallin. Susan is packing up my heads, cylinders, pistons, cases, lifters, pushrods, etcetera. If UPS Ground is as fast as it is coming as it was going, the parts should get it to me by the end of next week.

Talked with Susan Wilson again today. They still haven't received barrels from Millenium. Last week, Susan was told that the barrels were "in the mail." She's going to check and get the tracking ID from them. Bottom line ... still waiting.

Nallin is done with all the machine work on my parts. They don't have the Millenium barrels to ship because of a foundry problem. They expect to get them next week; fit them to the cases; then ship to me.

Had a thought about how I chose my compressor and tools. If you do decide to go this route, make sure you match up the CFM requirements of the needs of the tools to the output of the compressor. Some tools are real air-hogs. Talked to Susan Wilson at Nallin yesterday. Brian's going to start on my motor in about two weeks. That should get the parts to me in late January or early February.

Nallin received the cases on Friday. Hopefully not too much more waiting. I did figure out what the unknown spring was that I found on the floor after I pulled the transmission. There was nothing that I could find in the FM. That's where the parts book came in handy. Nothing showed on the transmission diagram. But, on the shifting forks there were two springs one of which I knew about. Mystery solved.

Finally, the cases are out and in the mail to Nallin!!! I asked my friend Chuck to come over and help me get the cases out of the bike as I guessed they would weigh about 80 pounds. Turns out they were 62. After we were done, Chuck thought they were only 20 and I guessed 30 or 40. Between the two of us, our combined ages are 127. We're getting stonger in our old age!

I asked Chuck to get here at noon. I started work on the bike at 10 knowing all I had to do was the starter, stator, and oil pump. Chuck arrived right at noon as I was just starting on the front engine mounts. I thought I could leave the battery box and some of the oil lines on. Nope, they had to go to get at the rear engine mounts. By 1:30, the motor was out of the frame. I also discovered that after the oil is drained, there is still a fair bit in the sump. That was deposited on the garage floor as I was taking a final oil line off with the cases on their side.

Everything's cleaned up. Cases have been shipped off to Nallin. Now, I just wait for the UPS guy to deliver all my bits back from Nallin. Sometime in mid January, I hope.

Needless to say, not too much done today. Unplugged oil lines and electrical connections. Loosened up starter motor bolts. Took off the stator bolts. What a funky rubber plug that the stator wiring goes through. Looks like a little WD40 on the cam-side part of the plug and it'll push right through. Tomorrow is my goal to get the unsplit cases out of the bike. Should be fun doing it by myself.

The truck and auto parts stores didn't have the 1 3/16" socket so I ended up back at Snapon. This time he was closer at a transmission shop in the Arcata bottoms. Since the impact wrench is new, I was getting it set up and playing with one of the small cheapo impact sockets that I got from the local hardware store. The problem was that I couldn't get it off the wrench! I had to put it in a vise and whack the wrench out from underneath it. The other sockets worked fine and went on and off with ease.

The engine sprocket was nasty to get off. The nut was easy. But, overcoming the magnetism I thought it was going to get the better of me. I had almost given up when I wasn't even trying to get it off, just playing around with it, and off it popped. Must have been an alignment problem.

Transmission and shifting forks came out per the manual. I did find a very small spring on the floor afterwards. I'll figure that out tomorrow.

I've phoned all over the county for the 1 7/8" inpact socket and the Snapon guy isn't coming thorugh town this week. Looks like I'm going to have to try a regular socket and make sure it seats really well. The inlaws are here and we'll be taking them out of town for several days so there will be some time gaps here. I've called and visited most of the auto parts, hardware, truck supply, and compressed gas dealers to find the socket. There is another Snapon guy that covers Arcata and Eureka. My guy covers Crescent City south to McKinleyville. The Eureka guy had a deep socket and adapter. I made the 40 mile round trip and paid more for that socket than I did for my impact wrench.

I have to grind down my snap ring pliers as they're too big to fit the holes on the snap ring on the clutch. One more extraneous but necessary thing to do. Turns out I really didn't need to get that little snap ring off. There's a big one that's a little hard to see. Now I find that after careful measurement even though I can't fit my calipers in there, that there's a 1 3/16" nut holding things down. One more socket to buy. I'll do that tomorrow and hopefully get more stuff off the motor.

I talked with Nallin today. He received my heads and they aren't toast. This was a little unnerving as the local shop said they were in sad shape. I couldn't tell the difference.

Hadn't heard from Sears about the rain check on the impact wrench. I called them and it was in. Drove 20 miles down to Eureka and picked it up. I've phoned all over about a 1 7/8" impact socket for the countershaft nut. Not sure if it needs one. But, it's rusty and left handed so it'll probably need all the help it can get. Got everything off the cam cover and it will come loose only enough to poop oil on the floor. Since I had done cams before and I studied the FM, I just whacked it harder and it came loose. What's that old phrase, "If in doubt, use a bigger hammer."

The UPS guy braved his way down our dirt road and delivered my mini die grinder last night close to 9pm. What a trooper! This morning, I got the bike off the lift and drained the oil. But, forgot the Sportrans ... D-O-O-H! Back up on the lift. Right rearset is off. There's so much stuff coming off the bike that baggies alone aren't going to cut it for me. I'm now taping/safety wiring parts together that came off as a group.

Last night, I decided the garage was clean enough to get started. Up went the bike on the Costco lift. Off came the seat, tank, carb, plug wires, coil, carb, intake manifold, exhaust. So far, so good. This morning, went to the dump with two garbage cans of junk. Uh, that was the stuff I cleaned up in the garage not the parts off the bike.

Talked with Brian Nallin again today. He's going to supply the 88" kit and is going to refresh my heads as well as put the aforementioned Timeserts in. This time around I'm replacing the lifters with Jims Hydrosolids which require adjustable pushrods. Since Brian is going to bore the cases for me, I'm having him install a windage tray.

I just took the heads off the bike and packaged them up. Ground shipped them to Nallin. Should be there on Monday.

The garage cleaning is done to the point where I can get started with the disassembly today. The cleaning took so long because I had lots of boxes that hadn't been opened since we moved up here over three years ago. I've now been through them. Tossed a bunch of stuff; readied things for the dump; readied hazardous materials to take into Eureka; and shelved the remainder. This weekend Sears had a sale which I took advantage of. I now have a compressor and an impact wrench on order. I also ordered a mini die grinder on the net. Our local Ace has bits and cutting disks.

The last time that I got a set of Millenium cylinders, I ended up using two Dremel tools to cut fins and grind bottom edges. A suggestion I received was to use a die grinder. I just ordered an air compressor and a mini die grinder. When I last tore the topend apart, I went through two cans of compressed air. This is more expensive but will be quicker and more thorough. The garage cleaning is going slowly. Trying to toss out as much as I can.

A number of things have made me want to go an 88 inch motor. I've always been impressed with Axtell mountain motors. A "square" motor also appeals to me (same bore as stroke). I find that I need to pull the heads again to correct something relatively minor. As long as I've gotten the top-end off, I might well go all the way.

I've chosen Nallin Racing as my supplier for a number of reasons: my prior experiences with Brian and his products, he now supplies 88" Nikasil barrels and 3 13/16 pistons, and he's good to work with.

I had an unfortunate set of dynoruns which resulted in me having to mill the heads to correct a warp. Also, the second center sparkplug hole on each head appears to be crossthreaded. As well as sending my cases to Nallin, I'll be sending the heads. Brian is going to put Timeserts into the center plug holes and I'm going to have him cc the heads as well to make sure that the facing didn't cut down on the optimum volume.

When I start taking the motor apart, I will be documenting the project as I go. Stay tuned.