| Author | Message | ||
     12mpghwy |
I have a Buell X1 that I have had for 8-10 years. The head gasket went out about 5 years ago and the bike has been sitting covered in my garage ever sense while I did more important things (grad school, kids etc). Now that my Kawasaki has had an engine failure I am without a bike and I cannot justify purchasing a new bike to the wife. I would like to get the Buell running again. I would like to get it running but also make it reliable as cheap as possible. The head gasket was the only major issue with this bike. Also the engine has been sitting with the pistons exposed. I would also like to change to the bronze oil pump drive gear as mine has thin (but not broken) teeth. Thus far I have pulled the engine from the frame and suspended it from a lift upside down and blew all the dust out of the cases. I plan to reuse all the stock components with new gaskets if possible. What should I look as far as the condition of the cyl, heads, pistons? Would machine work on these components be a good idea? Thanks, | ||
| Buelliedan |
How many miles are on it. Are the cylinders rusty inside? | ||
| 12mpghwy |
17k miles. I will look for rust when I go to inspect but I don't see how there could be any, they have been in a plastic tub for 5 years and I live in the southwest. | ||
| 12mpghwy |
the local Harley shop says the top end gasket set should include everything I need to put the top end back together. I guess that I should replace intake seals. Are those included? | ||
| Buelliedan |
the intake seals should be in the kit. you would be surprised how easily the cylinders can rust inside if not lubed before storage. If it was me I would at least ball hone the cylinders lightly and put new rings on and also new valve guide seals while it is apart. (Message edited by buelliedan on November 08, 2016) | ||
| 12mpghwy |
ball honing sure, good idea. Valve seals: If the valve stems are in good shape then the guides should be fine right? If I replace the valve guide seals should I hand lap in the valves or is that a waste of time? Rings: I looked over the rings and they look fine as do the cylinders. There is just a light coat of carbon on the piston tops. I am not really intending to do a full top end rebuild. I would like to get back on the bike first and work out the kinks then maybe do some modification like an 88" kit, head work and tuning. So I am thinking rings can wait but valve seals are a good idea certainly. I will do a | ||
| Buelliedan |
yes the guides should be okay if the valve stems are okay but yes you definately should lap the valves in. | ||
| Ducxl |
I would do rings.I doubt the cylinders have rusted to the point of no return.As a Machinist,I'd slap it back together/w new base/head gaskets,rings,top end gaskets..I believe/w only 17k miles it'd be FINE.Bronze gear if you're stuck on that.I've inspected mine periodically (but I do not dismiss it) and I've been fine on that issue | ||
| 12mpghwy |
As far as doing the rings, I have never done rings before and I am a little worried about checking and setting the ring gap. I think I can borrow a flex hone from a friend. Would you guys recommend replacing all the rings The only reason for doing the bronze gear is because I have the motor out and it seems like it will be allot easier to do on the bench. | ||
| Jim2 |
With only 17K on the ODO you should be fine with OEM stock sized rings. I doubt that you could possibly have enough wear on the cylinders to warrant oversized rings. Unless your cylinders are obviously worn uneven or scratched up by debris. Just make sure that the gaps in each ring don't line up with each other. For example if you install the bottom ring with the gap at the top of the piston (i.e. the 12 o'clock position), the next ring should have the gap at the 3 o'clock position so the two gaps don't allow a pressure blow by path. The next at 6 o'clock, and so on. I took my heads in to be honed as I didn't feel comfortable doing that but I did install the rings. Didn't even need a compressor tool just don't force anything, go slow and you can compress the rings by hand a couple at a time as you carefully slide in the piston. Just be sure you don't undo your gap positions by accident by rotating rings as you install the piston. | ||
| Pontlee77 |
If i''m not wrong there are 3 rings, so each gap should be 120 degrees from each other that would mean positions would be 12 o'clock 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock | ||
| 12mpghwy |
So I gather that you don't generally need to set the gap using stock sized rings with stock sized cylinders in decent condition. The cylinders are clean with no rust, only a tiny bit of glaze/carbon where the squish band is and lots of cross hatch still visible. I did manage to borrow the flex hone from a friend. I am hoping to finish this weekend. | ||
| Ducxl |
NO hone...Or very little.SCARES me.Be careful.I'd do rings ANY time I pull an engine apart.Doing them now.Check out the NEBO forum in Storm Fronts for pics.I always check ring gap just in case.Stock rings almost NEVER require grinding.Ring grinders are cheap enough tho and I have used custom fitting rings too.You should be FINE if you buy STOCK rings | ||
| 12mpghwy |
hey Ducxl, are you saying I shouldn't do any honing? Thanks allot guys for the advice. Is there any reason I can't align the cams with the cylinders off? It sure is easy to see where top dead center is with no jugs. | ||
| Ducxl |
I WOULD NOT..Especially/w only 17k miles.It's NOT WRONG,but i'd only trust an engine machine shop to do that.I've also re-ringed a few w/o hone. Here's the engine I am going to re-ring now. NO HONE IT has 10k miles on it   NO hone,just new rings since I pulled it apart for inspection | ||
| 12mpghwy |
hey duc, that makes sense, do you do anything to break the glaze? The friend who let me borrow the hone actually suggested using a scotch bright pad to clean the cylinders. | ||
| Ducxl |
The glaze? You mean the area at the squish band? Perhaps.I'm not worried about it.If you hone just be careful.Hone to rough the cylinder to better allow the rings to wear into? Maybe,but a few good runs/w new rings should seat/wear THEM to the cylinder | ||
| 12mpghwy |
stupid question here... Are the standard piston rings for an x1 identical to sportster parts? Can anyone help me out with a part number? | ||
| 12mpghwy |
So the only rings I can get local are moly faced rings: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hastings-Moly-Ring-Set-Sta ndard-Bore-2M6164-/272391545359?vxp=mtr&hash=item3 f6bcd220f any reason not to get these? | ||
| Buelliedan |
Moly rings are fine but you MUST do a light hone on the cylinders so they break in properly. I recommend a ball hone as they are much easier to use. | ||
| Ducxl |
^^^^You're right about Moly rings.Honing just scares ME. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
What is the reason that honing the cylinders scares you? | ||
| Buelliedan |
Honing with a ball hone is pretty much foolproof. Now the old 3 arm style with flat stones is something I would not recommend for an amateur. You want something like this: http://www.usatoolwarehouse.com/resize/800x800/Mer chant2/graphics/00000001/otc-7011-12.gif | ||
| Ducxl |
I once installed a set of pistons and induced wild piston SLAP to the point a skirt broke away | ||
| Ducxl |
It sounded like a diesel engine.I guess I should've checked the initial bore clearance too.Perhaps a secondary issue | ||
| 12mpghwy |
The hone my friend let me borrow turned out to be 120 grit, hastings recommends 240 grit for the moly rings so I ordered one on amazon. I lapped the valves down using the hot melt glue had drill method, which is to hot melt glue a bolt to the face of each valve use a hand drill to spin the valve with valve grinding compound. Didn't take much off the valves but mostly polished the contact area of the seat. I soaked the heads in solvent and checked them for flatness with a ground parallel and used a brass wire brush to remove some of the carbon build up. All told this is turning out to be a pretty cheap and easy rebuild. The harley specialist machine shop called me back and quoted me 500 dollars for a basic valve job. I feel pretty good about getting this whole thing done for not much more than the cost of gaskets. |
