| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
...when you have a spare (used) front cylinder head that's been in the shop forever and you can't remember where you got it....check it out real good before you install it on your Defender. They don't run real good when the exhaust valve is bent and won't close. No compression and all.... The good news? I'm REAL good at pulling the front head off an S3 now! The previous owner of the bike did too many wheelies and broke the front head at the mount, so I got this replacement...somewhere. I might have been told it had a bad valve...I can't remember. That was years ago. So I installed it, started the bike (kinda), and it flat refused to run on both cylinders. Front was dead...but still warming the header. Odd. Pulled the plugs, cranked it...excellent compression on the rear, and SOME compression on the front but nowhere near the rear. I don't think I saw piston or ring damage....odd.... Pulled the head (less than an hour), flipped it over and poured water into the chamber...and I couldn't fill it, because it was running out past the exhaust valve as fast as I could pour it in. Pulled the valve, was going to clean the seat and lap it in. Chucked it into a drill...that looks odd. Ran the drill a bit....wobblewobblewobble. Bent stem. Pulled the valve out of the original head (bike ran fine, just the mount bosses were broken), lapped it into the head, installed it, and have the head torqued back to the engine. Then I had to go to work. I still have to install the rockers and rockerbox, and the manifolds...but it'll run this weekend (have a gig on the road tomorrow, probably won't have time to mess with it till Sunday). Then, another Defender will be alive! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well...it's alive! Finally got the intake to seal, and the bike is running great. Put the tank and seat on it and blazed up and down the driveway (nearly 1/4 mile) yesterday, and DAMN this thing is quick!!! Pressure washed everything while the bodywork was off, so all the mechanicals are nice and clean (and the frame is white again). Now for the fun stuff - swap the dash and speedometer for one that's not broken. Replace the speedo drive unit. Replace the front rotor. Replace the leaking fork seals. Replace the blown rear shock. But, the hard part is done. It's alive, and moving under its own power again, for the first time in about a decade. | ||
| Cal |
Congrats!!!!! | ||
| Ratbuell |
I was thinking on it today. It'll be wearing some 95 S2 and 96 S2T parts when it's all said and done. For now, until I put it back to original. Speedo drive - have one from my 95 that was totalled 5 years ago (damn deer). New rotor - I have a replacement 6 button OEM on the shelf...but I also have a marchesini wheel with an EBC rotor, from the same 95. And that has a newer tire on it, too (PR4). I also have the matching rear wheel and PR4, but I'll have to count sprocket teeth and maybe swap those over so the S3 sprocket stays with thw bike. Shock - I have the 7100 mile S2T shock (the T has the Works shock from my 95 on it). I have a new dash. I have multiple speedos - higher mileage though. Bike shows 14k and change, one speedo is over 20k, the other I think around 36k. And the one off my 95 (original pegasus though, so "incorrect") shows a little over 50k. So all I need to source is fork seals...and a rear hugger. I have the greenie hugger from my 95. I could put it on the 96 S2T and use the vylon one from the 96 on the defender, but the greenie would be "incorrect" on the 96. And I need to order a windshield from Gustafson. I assume deep tint... It'll be on the road this season. | ||
| Falloutnl |
Do you have any pictures for us? | ||
| Blks1l |
Nice to see this much action on the Old School forum! I got my S1 back on the road this past weekend after a few years of sitting, I only had to clean a pilot jet though. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
Was this the defender that was pictured in a field full of thrash? | ||
| Ratbuell |
No, I got this off Craigslist out of PA, picked it up from a guy with a garage full of BMW bikes. Buell was a foreign language to him, he had no use for it. I rode it up the ramp into my truck bed - it ran fine, but had that broken head mount boss and the engine was flopping around pretty good in there. I'll have to resize some photos - I've been spoiled by my car forums being on vbulletin, with EASY uploads....I'll either have to load paint.net onto this laptop, or figure out how to resize on my phone....hold, please... | ||
| Ratbuell |
Here it is all pressure washed  Post driveway test ride (1/4 mile driveway)  And with all bodywork  | ||
| Kmbuell |
Very nice! Now we need Brankin to get his going. Be safe, Kevin | ||
| Ratbuell |
Got my S2 front wheel (with EBC rotor) mounted today, with the S2 speedo drive. And I found a vylon hugger on the shelf - no idea where I got it, but it's on too. Tomorrow is dash and speedo. Might crack one open to see if I can match the mileage to the bike....then rear shock. Might even title and tag it tomorrow. I can put historic tags on it so no inspection needed....then it'll be a real motorcycle, and not just a shop ornament! |
