intermittant noise in front cylinder . . .

Reads like a Stephen King novel. Sorry to hear of your levels of troubles.

Well, you know how it is with our cantankerous, infernal machines. And the older they are, the more aggavating they can be. Mac the Wife loses patience with me, too, the older I get LOL. The worst part of it for me is not having the $$$ when I need them and waiting for parts to arrive when I finally do get the scratch together.

Today, I'm sending a M.O. to California Phil in Kansas and hopefully my parts will be here soon. They say Sifton on the box, but they are, unfortunately, made in the Orient. Advertising is misleading as Sifton used to be an American company, but they were bought out by V-Twin, I think. But they are affordable, and as much as I hate buying motor parts made overseas, I couldn't find anything close to my budget that was made here. It would mean I'd have to wait another month.

Actually, I am still wondering how you couldn't and why you didn't bust your buddy up with something when he put your cop bike on the rag?????

"cause he was my buddy....It was an accident...believe me, I was pissed at him,but we go back a long way,it wasn't intentional and he saved my azz a couple times over the years ....different scenario with Josh...they willfully shipped him some hacks fcked up core engine as a rebuild or slapped together worn out shiet that was laying around and wouldn't make it right,that's the way I see it anyway....

HRK is right,he should have sued small claims court and made the guy buy him a new shovel,not build it...I'm sure he has enough receipts to build a case(and a top end too)lol...

Yup, and push rods, too.

Is there anything left off this rebuild that you haven't rebuilt??

Yes, the bottom end (crank & rods). Let's hope they stays intact.

Let's hope is right!!

.

+1

My parts came today. I don't have any assembly lube - could I drench the new parts in SAE 50 racing oil instead? And what about break in? Just ride normally, or break them in like a rebuilt motor with heat cycles and short rides?

I'm replacing tappet blocks, solid lifters & pushrods.

When I took the old push rods out I measured them and came up with three different lengths!

The Sifton kit I got has 3 of them at 9 1/4" and 1 at 9 1/2". Does the long one go in the front exhaust?

Long one would be to front exhaust..adjustable eh??Hydro...solids?
No instructions with it?? Is this the kit??

http://www.vtwinmfg.com/Instructions/11/11-0028.pdf

No. It's the solid lifter kit (V-Twin #11-0599). The tappets were made in Taiwan, the blocks in Japan, and the rods in the USA (Bender Cycle). Everything fits very well. It says on the bag with the tappets that they are intended for a panhead from '48 to '52. Everyone tells me they will work fine in my shovel. No instructions, which is typical nowadays.

So, last night I installed the tappets & blocks (tappets slathered in 50 weight oil). This a.m. will put the new push rods in, adjust the lifters and see what happens. Push rods are aluminum, like my old ones.

Only have one long rod and it goes to the front exhaust. So I put it all together and Rode about 30 miles this morning and the ol' girl seems to have a little more get up and go. It still rattled occasionally, and I found what was causing it: the back tab on my gas tank had broken off and the back of the tank was rattling against the frame. Wasn't even motor related LOL. But I'm glad I replaced the tappets, blocks & rods. Two of the tappets were trash and the other two were on their way out. The valve train doesn't sound quite as loud as before.

I've been considering getting another gas tank anyway - something a little more chopper oriented. Thinking about the "alien" style tank which has bungs on both sides at the rear of the tank. Only holds a bit over 2 gallons, I think (same as the old Sporty tanks), but it sure looks cool. Also, it would eliminate the vapor lock problem as I would not have to run the gas line between the cylinders.

Update on the new gas tank. Have decided to go with the Paughco narrow tunnel custom Mustang tank. It will give my baby a new look. Gas capacity is 2.4 gal., which is nearly half a gal. more than the Alien tank and should give me about a 90+ mile range between fill ups. Not too bad for most rides around here. Tank is $215 with shipping and I may have to get a new petcock as well - not sure yet.

I have temporarily electrical taped a couple of rubber washers under the broken stub and then wrapped tape around the stub and frame. Should hold indefinitely.

I used Creem tank sealer to seal my present tank, but I don't like the stuff. Some people have used it and ended up with a bladder on the inside of their tanks. I wonder if there's a better way . . . ?