PISTONS AND CYLINDERS

Wow.. looks undamaged in there! Not really a scratch! I can't wait to check the ring gap. I would love it if there was no rebore in my future. Only having to do a light hone would be great.The motor was seized up, so I could not do a compression test... which is normally one of the first thngs I do. However, things are looking posative here, overall.

BALANCED?

Uniform milled out grooves on either side of the LHS con rod looks too deliberate to be for anything else but balance... but I am not sure at this point. I intend on balancing the crank on the rebuild... it is a vertical twin afterall, and they have a particular "thrumming" to them. We'll see. Interesting.

FROZEN SOLID

No movement. Looks like this little monkey is seized up too. I can't even get it apart yet to see if I can break it free or what the real damage is. Should be rebuildable and not such a big deal, overall... we'll see. Woulda been nice if she just turned all nice and easy like, but nnnoooooo!

BETTER NEWS

Well, whatayaknow?! The cams and followers do not look bad at all on first glance. Not any corrosion to speak of, no scoring... looks really pretty good in there so far. Bearings look new. It all looks pretty new, actually. Now, we'll just see what is what when I get the valves and the cams out. I am really, really hoping for the best. I 'needs m'e some good news on the something inthis motor.

PRETTY NASTY

Yup... I see a new top end in the 'werks.

IS THERE A DENTIST IN THE HOUSE?

Broken teeth on the primary... in 3 spots. nothing so bad that it will *require* a replacement. I am going to see if I can do any good with the existing part, or not. We'll see. Must have had a chain failure at one point, or something come loose in there. Looks like there are some light scrapes in the case that would further back that theory.

CLEANHEAD

Before the teardown, I did a little quick test to see how the metal would come around, finish-wise, by lightly blasting the head cover. Not too shabby! It was really nasty before... corroded internally on the steel and aluminum. If this is any indication of how I can get the whole motor to come around... I will be very very happy!

SH*T

I knew it was all going too easy! The top end seized lightly, everything just generally corroded from sitting for decades untouched... likely in the Minnesota cold. When I tore down the top end after finally getting the pistons un-stuck (thank you Kroil, I love you even more now) I found out that the crank needs a rebuild. The LHS conrod is super super stiff and notchy, indicating a bad bearing... likely just corrosion... but it is not really coming around, even after soaking my 'special cocktail' for a couple days now. Better safe than sorry.... I'll replace the bearings, and check the specs on the top end and go from there. I will probably end up doing the top end too. Now's the time!

SHINEY BITS

A small batch of what were very rusty parts. Metal work in house kept the cost down and gave a great end result. Usually, I start gettin' excited when I see the chrome come back, cause it typically signals that the project is getting wrapped up. Not in this case... and you will see why in the next post.

LOVELY N.O.S.

Found the body and the bracket in seperate deals over the years. Now, they are together again at last. Finding these is getting really tough lately.

WHAT TIME IS IT?

Time for new 'clocks', Man... *that's* what friggin time it is!
Finding these faces will likely be a real challenge. Internally, they are the same as some other Smiths, so parts are out there. I even have a set just for that purpose... to plant new faces on and maybe "store" these for posterity. I think I have found a source in Germany for some repop faces, which is fine with me whatever price they are. I have only seen a few sets of originals off a machine, ever.