Shovel rebirth

let the punch-list begin...
clutch is good and shifter lever is resolved, but now i find that i only have 3rd and 4th gear. neutral is in the right place...WTF ???
smokes a good amount, oil pressure is kinda high too...40 psi. it has popped my dipstick a few times. it is safety wired so i don't lose it for now. when i put the rings in i did not have to file any off, as they were at the max gap. was that a big mistake ? should i have gotten 30 over instead of 20, then set to minimum spec. ? i don't know if the rings will seat and that problem go away or what. kinda bummed and worried about that. i would rather pull it all out and fix it now than damage something. i may have to pull the tranny anyway, 'cause a 2 speed tranny will not cut it.
i really hate to tell all of this to ya'll...but i am not one to tell the good and hide the bad. heck, this is my first bike build anyway. believe it or not, i am ready for another build. i just want something to ride while doing one.
other than all the problems, the bike cruises very well...and sounds grrreat.

i never moved the shifter forks when tranny was done. i didn't have an alignement tool, so i thought it best to leave that alone. i have not tried adjustment of the linkage yet, that would be great if that's all it is.

i am running about 1/2 qt. low on oil. i put 4 qts. in when finished. pulled everything out of the way and checked for kinked lines, double checked for correct line connections. best case scenario for me, is that rings seat and pressure goes down.

it all boils down to me second guessing my work...

anyway, fairing and front lighting is complete. so i guess this is the finished project. minus a few bugs.

Looks FABULOUS.

What a cool looking bike and a great job of restoring it! My motor came out of a '77 Electra Glide. Hope you get your transmission issues settled.

thanks fellers...anyone find a trashed out '62 panhead, let me know.

Good luck on finding one of those. I couldn't even find a panhead motor for my build, which would have been my first choice . . . .

eio...the bike looks awesome...great job....

good luck finding a Pan....prolly easier to find an 18yr old virgin:roflmao:...there out there but not many...

I would wait till after the break in period, 60 or 70 miles I think it is for new rings. If the pistons are new it takes longer, 100 mile I think. If it still smokes, then pull it apart. My rebuilt motor was smoking b/c of a very slight head gasket leak. It ran great but leaked just enough oil into the combustion chamber to make her smoke a lil. Did you use any sealer on the head gaskets? Good luck, keep us posted.

no sealer on head gaskets...they were teflon. i also used teflon valve guide seals. i will give it another 100 miles before jumping into it again.

Wow bike looks greAt! I dought the rings gaps are the problem. Im sure you staggered the gaps. I think you should have used sealer on the head gaskets. My experience is if it smokes now it won't stop.
Give her 100 miles and then if she still smokes, pull the heads and look at the gaskets. It is frustrating. I know. Don't worry tho as it is fixable.

You can also recheck the torque on the heads after about 50 miles. Go around every other bolt. Then recheck again after a hundred or so. I suppose you know that shovels have looser tolerances than the later motors.

I have found that the copper gaskets work best for me. Use Gasgacinch with them. You can either anneal the gaskets first or (as I did) steel wool them and handle the edges when installing.

removed forward control circlip and handshifted...no 1st or 2nd. pipes are coated with oil inside. it's all comming out. gonna cost me 4-5 weeks, but i want it right. i may go ahead and upgrade my heads at the same time.

Sucks, I just went thru this exact situation. I rebuilt the top end with new heads and then the motor was smoking. I said f-it and pulled the whole bike apart. I found out oil was leaking past the head gasket on the front cyl. I think my problem was I didn't use sealer. But there's a lot of things to check for, flatness of heads and jugs, head inserts pulling out, proper torque of head bolts, etc. Your gonna have to pull the heads to see where the oil is coming from. Tranny problem sounds like shift forks not correct. You might as well pull it out when the heads are off. Clean the pipes out with brakleen before reinstalling them or they may still smoke.
I bought new STD dual plug heads, they cost me about $2500 after all was said and done. You can get a set of S&S heads cheaper. If you are setting up new heads, might as well install a better cam too.

buddy is going to get me a complete top end kit for $1500. will pull everything sunday, parts in at end of next week. hope to be back together in 3 weeks.

tranny timing is set according to sm, but its not out of the question that when i put the lid on, i missed the slot with the forks. forks were new, and i left the stops on the shaft when rebuilding. i also tagged the forks since they are not interchangable. i think its something simple that a simpleton did when reassembling.

its all good though...now i will have a totally fresh engine...

Sound good. Learn from your mistakes and always try to look on the brightside. I think you are right about the tranny especially if it worked ok before you messed with it. You'll figure it out.
You should make sure the valve spring clearance is compatible with your cam lift. The SM should explain that. I would put a hotter cam in if I was you. .514 lift works great on my 93"er.

already put new andrews ab cam in. new top end is 80". 8.5:1 compression.