2008 May 26: Acid cleaning and engine assembly and tire mounting (4.00 hours)

Updated: 

  • Cleaned all the cases with Eagle One Etching cleaner. It did a great job on the engine case. The remaining cases must be comprised of a different alloy mix. They cleaned up well, but just not as well as the engine case (and all cases were prepped identically).
  • Cleaned the sidewalls of both tires with Bleche White. It worked very well at removing the brown gunk that had settled on the sidewalls.
  • Installed the camshaft and cam followers.
  • Installed new plug into the sludge trap of the crankshaft, secured with high strength thread locking compound and peened into place.
  • Fit the front main bearing. The pivot plate for the timing chain tensioner was fitted as well.
  • Removed old outer race from the oil pump bearing.
  • Installed inner and outer races of the new bearing for the oil pump.
  • J-B WELD the cam plug.
  • Fit the crankshaft in the front main bearing.
  • Fit the rear main seal in the rear main bearing.
  • Fit the rear main bearing. A new gasket was fitted, coated with Permatex Super 300 Form-A-Gasket Sealant. The threads on the bottom two bolts were sealed with ThreeBond 1184 semidrying liquid gasket.
  • Fit the oil return line from the breather, with new crush washers. A Schnorr washer was used at the securing bracket.
  • Assembly lube was used on all applicable surfaces.
  • Converted the rim to tubeless. The powder coating took care of the internal sealing needs; a valve stem took care of the rest.
  • Mounted tire on rear wheel. Tire went on easily, but I struggled to get the bead to pop into place. Plenty of tire mounting lube, more than a bit of struggling with a ratchet strap, and I finally got it done. Took 1 hour just for this.