The labor of love (& nostalgia) begins!! 1963 CA77 DreamThanks for the info guys. I contacted the PO and found out that the Kreem in the fuel cap was from a previous tank he had used it on. He also hadn't liked the results. Happily he used the POR15 on the current tank. I have some other parts I want to derust before painting. I have a Tractor Supply nearby and I actually want to remove the paint on some of them, someone painted over rust, so I'll try the milk stone remover on them. I'll probably use the Evaporust on some other parts where I want only the rust removed.
Took the bike to the Calif Highway Patrol yesterday to get the VIN's verified. Everything checked out good, but they wouldn't sign off on it because it wasn't in running condition. I'd taken the tank off of it. Their reasoning is that I might switch engines. If I did that it wouldn't match the title anyway, but that's their rules. I could just throw the tank on it and take it back and start it, but I think I'll just wait until it's ready for the road. They're holding their form, but I have all the other paperwork stamped off and it's been run through their system. I don't really need the title until I register it for the road anyway. The officer told me that in the future (if I were to buy another bike) I could just call him and he could run the numbers for me to make sure the title would clear, then go through the paperwork when it was ready for the road. On another positive note, I just went through the box of parts I got with the bike and found a new gas cap and a couple other parts I though I was missing. Also found a few parts that are an improvement over what's on the bike. The biggest problem now is finding the time to work on it. I found a little time to start my teardown. Aside from copius amounts of oil/dirt buildup on the bottom side of everything, here a few problems I'll have to address;
1. A crack in the right side of the lower case. Not in a critical area, but I don't want it to spread. It appears to have been caused by an impact on a fin on the bottom. 2. Apparently someone decided to take the steering lock out without using a key. I'm not sure what the boss normally looks like, but I don't think this is close. Is it worth the effort of repairing? The other choice is to cut it off and weld a plate in the hole to keep contamination out. Any thoughts on the best approach? Obviously any action will wait until a complete teardown. 3. Missing insulation on the stator. I saw on another thread where silicone was used. How has that held up? I'm a little concerned about adhesion as here was a lot of oil in the side case. I don't want to use any strong chemicals, such as carb cleaner, to clean it off for fear of stripping the coating on the wires. 4. I found one screw broken off flush with the case ( no surpise here). The suprise was the boss broken for the rear center screw (sits in the middle of the chain, sorry, no picture right now.) How critical is this? It appears to have broken at the bottom of the threads. I would imagine this is not an uncommon occurance on a bike that's been sitting for many years. Has anyone come up with a viable repair? 5. As I stated before, the case was full of oil. That one of the major problems. I pulled the clutch shaft out and the seal was hard as a rock. The other seals are probably just as bad. I'm don't doubt they're all originals. From what I understand it was sitting in a shed for 30 or so years prior to the PO acquiring it. 6. When I pulled the mufflers off (originals) I found that although the tops look reasonably good (only one major dent) the bottoms are beat up pretty bad. At least there aren't any holes. As this is not going to be a show bike it's not a huge problem. The baffles are missing, but I have a feeling this is pretty common, it has a nice sound (although rather loud) without them. On the plus side (I think), I cleaned up the bottom of the case reasonably good and it doesn't appear to be leaking any oil just sitting there. I've got a lot going on in the next couple of months, so my progress will be slow. I'll sneak in a little work when I can.
I also read about the silicone on this outer wrap material so I tried it. I didn't do a lot of cleaning in fear of breaking off any more of this wrap. It seems to hold well the last time I had the cover off. I don't think it will hurt anything to leave it like it is, but the silicone will hold it together so it dosn't get any worse. Gunner I managed to find a little time to check things out. Always manage to find more damage/problems.
1. Chain damage in main case. I don't think it's a real problem. I'll find out for sure when I pull the alternator windings off. 2. broken bolt boss. I'd mentioned this before, now have a picture. 3. Okay, this is the important one (at least in this bunch.) I think this may be related to the major oil leak I had. The clutch actuator housing is cracked. There was no seal on it, which I'm sure would have helped prevent the crack. What really caught my attention is that the inner mechanism is extremely loose in the housing and would cock some when actuated. I'm thinking it was moving enough to put side pressure on the clutch rod and make the seal leak (seal was hard too.) Is it possible that the inner mechanism is from another application? The looseness in the fit is definitely not from wear. Is there something missing, like a sleeve? All the parts breakdowns I've seen don't show anything. I've progressed to the point that the engine is sitting on my bench. Hopefully this weekend I'll get some time to pull the head and barrels and see what I've got to deal with there.
63 CA78
I managed to find the time to pull the head and cylinders. One oil leak was apparently from the left cam cover, all 4 screws were barely snug.
The cam chain looks real good. It has two master links. One clip was on right, the other on backwards. The large idler looks good, just one line across it, looks like maybe a mold mark. The tensioner wheel is another story, probably unusable. The center ridge has chunks missing and there are a couple of flat spots and chips out of it. When the head came off there were no o-rings. There was one dowel between the head and cylinder and one between the cylinder and block, I think there should be two on each? The pistons are .25 over CB77 pistons. It was cast right into the pistons. I found a thread where LM describes the difference between them and the CA pistons. If everything is reusable I may just put them back in, but I haven't checked the bore size or measured the pistons for wear yet. From a quick inspection I don't see any signs of major damage (i.e. seizure). I'll get things cleaned up and checked before I decide where to go from here on the top end. Next is pulling off the rotor. Is the retaining bolt a standard right hand thread? I'm assuming so as I couldn't find any references to it being left hand thread. I just question it because I've seen some applications where this has been the case due to the engine rotation tending to loosen a right hand thread bolt/nut. Then the next question is, does it make more sense to split the cases to replace the seals, or is it feasible to replace them without? Anyone have experience with the NOS seal kits on Ebay? I'm a little leary of the combination of "old" and seal. 63 CA78
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