I've accomplished very little today, but I did find something that I missed when I first looked at the bike. I found a small chunk taken out of the upper crankcase on the right side. I just don't know how that got by me, but I would have bought the bike anyway, since it was a good deal. I just would have bargained the price down a bit more.
See the pics, below. The missing piece isn't big on the top side, but there's a chip missing on the inside. The top is also dimpled down a little bit. It looks as if someone pried the right crankcase cover off. They probably hadn't taken the stator cover off. Just guessing.
I think I'll try Aluma Weld or some other aluminum brazing brand to fill that, then file it down flush. If it doesn't work, I suppose I can find another upper case fairly cheaply. My original intention was to use a different titled frame with this engine, but I had begun to think that, since this frame is just so good, I'd try to title it and sell the other titled orphan frame. That way, I could keep the bike original and the engine and frame numbers would mean something. The numbers are 42 digits off. If I can't make a repair and have to use an unmatched top cc, I'll drop that idea and just go back the "mutt" bike option. At least I have options and I get to try something to make a repair that I'd never tried before.
Ideas, comments or suggestions, anyone?
1966 CB77 Restoration ProjectHi Seadog
A good candidate for aluminum brazing but you will have to cope with teh different color of the filler rod from the crankcase material. To preserve the original number I would go ahead with the repair, sand it smooth, then paint just the top crankcase with high-temperature engine paint. That will disguise the repair and give a nice finish to the case. Just my two cents...... G '60 C77 '60 C72 '62 C72 Dream '63 CL72
'61 CB72 '64 CB77 '65 CB160 '66 Matchless 350 '67 CL77 '67 S90 '77 CB400F Thanks, G.
I finished the disassembly yesterday, having decided to strip the bike completely and remove the bare frame from the engine. It all worked very well to that point. My luck soon ended. I have a motor stand that I was able to attach and I lifted the motor with stand to a Workmate so that I could dismantle the head. Unfortunately, my short height, the height of the Workmate and the height of the motor stand worked against me. I was unable to do it and down we went. The top portion of the head took a beating and I ended up with 3 stitches in my face. Before I went on my emergency room excursion, I was finally able to get the motor, with stand, onto the Workmate and remove the top of the head to see the piston tops. the left piston was a gunky mess. Later, I cleaned it up, removed the cam chain and gave both stuck pistons a beating with a block of wood and a dead blow mallet. No luck whatsoever freeing them. They've now been soaking in BP Blaster overnight and I will give the mallet another try a bit later. The remainder of the day today will be dedicated to organizing parts - separating the paintable bits and boxing up the rest. I think I might also do some searching for another top head.... No photos because the site doesn't seem to be accepting them today and tells me that I'm trying to upload and empty file.
That's bad news you getting hurt.
Any chance you can call me?. ................lm
I can't see why aluminium brazing won't work or even take the case to a competent aluminium welder, I've had magnesium cases welded successfully after so called specialists told me it couldn't be done. Changing just the top half of the casing may be a no go as usually cases are bolted together and then line bored making them a pair. If you do end up getting it welded you should bolt the fully stripped cases together to help avoid distorting one half of the casing.
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