Blood, sweat, tears & beers . . .

I went up inside it (the bolt hole) with a couple of q-tips to clean it out. I borrowed a swivel style 9/16" socket to put on my torque wrench and was able to torque the bolt to specs.

'Course, this is all guess work. One guy thinks that if I don't have oil going in the cylinder, then there must be a crack between the oil return journal and the bolt hole somewhere in the head below the gasket. He says that he has seen this several times in the past 40 years and that he considers it a design flaw inherent in pan & shovel cylinder heads. I feel this is the most likely scenerio.

The best fix is to replace the head. It's cheaper than having all the welding and machine work done to the bad one. I have heard one can get a remanufactured head for around $200, though I don't know where. Just hoping it doesn't come to that . . . .

My friends, next good weather day we have, I'm gettin' in the wind!

On having second thoughts, I thought it better to just go ahead and take off the head, as the bolt was still leaking oil. Only took 2 hours. Here are some pics right after it came off. I didn't clean anything - wanted pics of exactly how it looked when the head came off.

Well, boys, it hardly looks like a rebuilt motor to me. I mean, would it be this dirty after only 144 miles? The gasket looks old. It's supposed to be a James fire ring gasket - I don't think so. There's oil in the piston recesses, carbon everywhere. In the pictures where I'm pointing, that's where the offending bolt was.

I see no evidence of a crack anywhere and the inserts seem to be okay - none of them are sticking out. I'm not sure what a blown head gasket looks like, but I can say that I had this oil leak almost from the start. Anyway, here are some pics. Tomorrow I'm taking the head to Tattoo's to see what he has to say.

BTW, I had to adjust the pushrods as they were too tight. When I get the head back on, I'm going to check the ones on the rear cylinder.

For materials, I figure I'm going to need a new head gasket, bolts & washers. As I do not know yet what the problem is, there may be more. Also going to get some new intake band clamps and a new carb gasket at least. I'm hoping it's just a blown head gasket . . .

What does "not seated right" mean? I thought you just set the gasket on the cylinder, put the head on and tighten.

Since there's oil in the piston recesses, does that mean there's oil getting in from above the piston? Do I need to take the rocker boxes off too?

I'm not a harley mechanic but to me It's obvious that something was amiss with the head gasket just by the stain around the bolt hole.

I'd guess that head needs to be planed down a bit. Make mating surfface flat again.

Just got back from Tattoo's shop and he gave me this copper gasket to try out. I have to get all mating surfaces & gasket super clean. He thinks it will do the trick. His opinion was that it was a blown head gasket. He says to put some oil on the threads of the head bolts & underneath the washer and bolt heads before installing. Gonna try it this afternoon . . . .

Josh, I gotta tell ya bro, something is wrong with the mating surfaces of the head and/or jug. Either the head or the jug is not flat. That is a very safe assumption (better than the second assumption which is assuming the head gasket was defective and failed on its own). I wouldn't re-assemble the engine and based on the second assumption only to blow out another head gasket. Did Tattoo straightedge the head and jug surfaces??? A copper gasket may make-up for a slightly uneven surface but for how long? No one can answer that. I am basing my opinions on auto engines and Japanese bike 4 cylinder engines I have experience on.

Joshbob, did he(Tattoo) say anything about using sealer or annealing the copper gasket??

Yes, he gave me some sealing stuff to put on the gasket (both sides). I polished the gasket with steel wool and cleaned it with acetone, making sure I didn't touch anything but the edges of it. It took an hour to get the surfaces of the head & barrel perfectly clean and I ran a straight edge over them and they appeared to be okay. So, I spent the next five hours or so reassembling the motor,carb, upper motor mount, exhaust pipe and readjusting all pushrods. All 4 pushrods were too tight.
As to why the gasket blew, we thought the gasket was very old for one thing, (so much for the top end rebuild?), and may have already been blown, or, I did it early on in the "break in". I think the oil leak was always there, but I'm not sure.
Another interesting thing I found was that it was impossible to tighten that oily bolt enough because the fins on one side of the bolt wouldn't let me get a wrench squarely on the bolt head. I ground off some material on the fins until I was able to get a wrench end solidly on the bolt. I had to once again do the "armstrong torque" technique using what I call the 5-point star method for the bolt tightning sequence. I borrowed a large S shaped wrench from Tattoo made by Snap-On. This wrench is perfect for Harley head bolts and you can get a lot of torque with it. Some of the bolts on the rear cylinder needed some cinching up, too. Goes without saying, but I wire wheeled all the bolts and washers, and put some oil on the threads and underneath the washers before installation. Put in a new set of "shaved" plugs as well. These are all home garage remedies and I hope all will be well - I did the best I could. All in all, I had a knuckle bustin' good time!


Just wanted to update what I wrote this morning. I know I probably should have completely disassembled the head internals, but I would not have known what to look for anyway. There was some oil - maybe a drop or three - in the top of the piston recesses. But I went ahead and put it together anyway hoping I can get some milage on it before I need to really tear into it again. I'm not going to have any money for awhile to pour into it because of other pressing obligations. I just want to ride now that the good weather is here and it's only going to get nicer outside. I can't bear the thought of another riding season sliding by without riding. I know you guys can dig that.
Today I checked the motor and tranny bolts and they were tight. I painted the area of the fins I ground yesterday and so I must wait at least until tomorrow to try starting it up. I have high hopes . . . .

I'm burnin' the midnite oil again; can't sleep. Just checking a few things on the sickle for tomorrow's start up. It's a mild night and tomorrow will hit 70. It'll be in the 70's all week with a chance for rain Tuesday and maybe Friday - that leaves a lot of dry days!

Like I've said before, the world is falling apart all around us, but here in little Hobgood all is quiet. Hope all of you are doing well . . . .

I started the beast up today after school in a couple of kicks and went for a short ride. NO LEAKS ANYWHERE! Had it up to 55 at one point. Felt like 75.
It was harder to kick I suppose because I now have more compression. As Jed Clampett would say: Wheeeee Doggies!!

Ha! Happy fer yee!

:chopper: Right on!!! Ride on!!!!

Shazaam !! :rocket_bike:

Hot Dang, Joshbob is riding, love it! .

Wheels Through Time is waiting on you!!