First post and soon-to-be owner of '65 CL77
Hey guys, just wanted to give yall an update!
Came up on some parts today...I swapped my CA engine for two CL engines. Theyre in pretty rough shape from sitting for a while but appears to be exterior dirt and grime that will wipe off (still looks discouraging though haha). I also got a nice tank, seat, headlight, heat shields, and a couple other miscellaneous parts for a small amount of money compared to what I would normally pay. So now the hard stuff begins...have any of you guys done a rebuild on one of these engines before? If so, what was the most difficult part of the rebuild and what advice could you offer to a total beginner such as myself? Thanks!
Several experts on this site.................FIRST.....before you take anything apart......GET A SHOP MANUAL..........I recommend the CD from Bill Silver for complete tear-down and rebuild instructions.
SECOND......get a set of JIS Philips-style screwdrivers / tips for your impact wrench. Assuming you have the proper metric tools..........LABEL everything and keep each motor separate. Especially keep cam & crank bearing journal caps and races as matched sets. Peen-mark or color-code matched sets.........and be careful to keep the dowels between case-covers and cases in good shape and ID each to return them to the proper place. These motors are NOT painted.........just the covers. Do not think about sand-blasting anything. You will get a lot of opinions about plastic-bead blasting vs soda-blasting vs vapor-blasting. De-greasing is a must and finish with brake cleaner (non-silicone) I recommend a complete tear-down with the goal of making sure all of the oil journals in the crank-shaft are clean. As you verify each part for spec with the recommended tolerances in the shop manual.......you will begin to ask advice on replacement sources when needed. We will be here..........Be careful and try to save every nut and bolt. Do NOT pry anything apart in such a way that a mating-surface will be scored or a fin gets broken. Sometimes a rubber hammer or a block of wood will help. Good Luck and take pics...........we like to see others having fun.
New CL77Tips; Here's one,
When your ready to start disassembling the cases, and you think you're gonna use that impact wrench to make your job easier...think again. Soak the screws with your favorite Liquid Wrench or WD40 over night. THEN ping the screw heads with the proper head bit (as OldScrambler recommended) and a medium hammer. Then try the impact. Shocking them first to break them away from their 44 year old mate is the intended outcome. Otherwise, you'll just mangle the heads of the screws, crack a case and cuss yourself to death. And yes, a manual is great. Pictures with reference notes are great. Hope it's been going well. Don't loose the guide pins for the cases. Here's another, When you get flustered...stop. Eat a bag of Doritos, then approach your task again. If that fails, get in touch with LM. Re: New CL77Haha! Thanks for the tip! Actually a step ahead of ya and one of the first things I did was spray wd-40 around the screw heads. Unfortunately, between school and work havent had enough time to open up the engine yet but am hoping to get to it soon but dont want to be pressed for time when I decide to open it up. I also purchased Bill Silver's resto guide as recommended by OldScrambler, which has tons of great information, been flipping through the guide dreaming of the finished product which I'm hoping to get on the road this summer... Thanks again for the replies fellas! Just out of curiosity could somebody give me a rough estimate of the time/money involved? Only reason I ask is because my goal is to have it done this summer and being a college student, my budget is fairly tight. Again, since it is not a numbers matching bike my main concern is just to get her running and on the road, not trying to do full restore...
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
