Engine Cosmetics Just About Done!

I'm meeting up with my engine builder on Sunday to drop off all the parts. It's my last push to paint, polish and shine all the exterior engine parts, before handing everything over.

For the past 3 months, I've been trying to buy everything needed to get this motor done right. I've bought almost all Yamaha OEM engine parts, with the exception of the connecting rods, some gaskets and miscellaneous parts that were sourced by Yamaha at the time i.e. Sudco seals, etc.

Here's some before and after pictures of the head.

The first thing I did was strip down and polish the Daytona head. I actually started the stripping process 10 years ago, but then just stopped. I've had to buy a used right side engine cover, since one of the allen bolt tabs was broken off. I probably bought the bike like that. All the covers were cleaned, degreased, paint stripped, then painted with PJ1 satin black. I media blasted both cylinders and the inside fins of the head with walnut shell, then painted those with PJ1 high temp flat black paint. Afterwards I took a Dremel flap wheel to the edges. Everything came out fantastic!

Originally I thought I was going to media blast the engine case too, but in the end, I just took some aluminum polish to it and polished it up by hand. I bought some stainless steel allen bolts for the covers on eBay. The finished product should look fabulous!

The build process should take about 3-4 weeks, depending on what Paul has got going on in his private life and how many parts might need to be ordered. I'm pretty confident that he will have all he needs to get complete the job. After the initial build, I'll install the motor, finish the build, and hopefully the bike will start up. I may just bring the bike back to Paul on a trailer, before the inaugural start up, just in case I missed something critical in the build process.

Here's a quick mock-up of the motor- just a glimpse of the what the motor might look like when it's done.

OW31 vs TD3

Over the past few days, I have been tossing and turning over the overall design of the bike. About a year ago, I was resigned to just throw the bike back together the quickest and easiest way possible, just to get it on the road again. But now, after combing over my inventory of parts I've been collecting, I'm having second thoughts...

The real kicker was when I (again) realized how heavy those OEM cast wheels are compared to the wire RD350 wheels I bought a while back. I bought those wire wheels for a good reason and it would be a cryin' shame not to use them.

Okay, well, as long as those wire wheels are back in the scheme of things, now I have to think about rear drum brakes! Dammit! I had already started shopping for pads and brake master cylinder rebuild kits. Now I have to figure out a new setup of rearsets that work with the drum brakes.

I was already shopping for fiberglass parts to do the OW31. I might as well switch back to the TD3 concept again. I found this stunning TD3 replica that uses Mead Speed fiberglass parts. I do believe I found my new inspiration for design.

Other news is that I did get in contact with my local engine builder. I was just happy that he was alive and agreed to take the job. He quoted me $1100 just for labor, which includes rebuilding the crank and honing/boring the cylinders. I would have to buy parts out of my pocket and this doesn't include blasting/repainting anything. I emailed back giving him an idea of my configurations, including mating the Daytona head to the jugs, which could need some decking. Still waiting for his reply. There's still the engine building in SF that I need to get a hold of- I guess his old cell phone number is defunct, as the SMS messages are bouncing back.

So moving forward, I've suddenly run into a small rash of extra cash- I've been unexpectedly working a shit ton of overtime recently (I've worked 23 hours over the past 2 days), plus I get an unexpected bonus from work coming in early March! I might start working on the forks and perhaps buy some build kits for the front brake system. That seems to be a good reasonable start. I'll keep you posted on how things go....

Eureka! I Got You, Sucka!!

What an excellent way to start the new year! It only took about fifteen minutes and the motor was on the floor. I had to do a little wiggling and shimmying to get it out (it probably would've been easier if I had taken off the exhaust flanges first), but with a little effort, it was quite willing to come right out.

I've still got the weekend ahead of me, before heading back into work. I'm thinking of just stripping the rest of the bike now, since I'm kind of ahead of schedule...

Motor's Almost Out

Today, I made huge gains in getting that motor on my bench. I was still having trouble figuring out how to detach the wires from the generator. So I decided to empty out more of the frame, pulling out the oil reservoir, battery box and lower half of the air box. That left most of the electrical harness and components exposed and easy to see.

A long time ago, I was having some weird electrical issues, so I took my bike to this shop, where the owner went by the name Grumpy Bear. He told me that he had to do some creative wiring, but that old bike fired right up and I never had electrical problems again, so he must've know what he was doing. But now that I'm in there really examining things, I noticed that he by-passed the customary plastic connectors and just hard-wired the motor to the electrical harness. Umm...okay...so it worked, but that's not really the way to do things, and it's really not cool. So after cleaning the wires, so I could actually see what colors they were, I labeled them and then cut them. I might need to know this stuff for later reference. But if I end up going with a new ignition that eliminates the battery, it will have it's own wiring. And I do happen to have a electrical harness in very good shape I just recently purchased, so the labeling might not even matter.

I was then able to remove the generator. In order to take the generator out, I had to remove the engine clutch cover, so I could stop the center bolt from spinning, during the removal process. Surprisingly, the clutch was in very good shape- all nice and clean. Matter of fact, when I drained the oil from the engine, there was still about two quarts of oil in the case! I just thought that after leaking all over my parent's garage floor, there would be no motor oil left in there. I finished the night but locating and loosening all the motor mount bolts, readying them for the next day.