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Custom Vehicle Discussions => Screamin' Eagle® Road King® => Topic started by: Twolanerider on February 16, 2022, 07:39:52 PM
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Not sure how it's Gary's fault. That's a detail to be worked out later. The Road King had a tiny issue on Valentine's day.
The weather was GORGEOUS that day. All three bikes got serviced (FXR needed a new battery). All was right with the world (excepting of course Putin, Ukraine, Chinese mercantilism, the charade of American politics, and the ever declining size of the McDonald's breakfast burrito).
Road King has run flawlessly since it was built. Engine has been everything I ever asked it to be. 28,000-ish so far. Until Valentine's Day. Then instead of giving me a Valentine it gave a huge plume of blue smoke; and the finger.
I was about 25 miles from home and on the way home. Had been out for an hour or so. Glanced back in my mirrors to see the trail of smoke. Lots of smoke. No loss of power and no noise. But lots of smoke. Like when Gary was younger and sat in the park with he special green leaves in the baggy. Lots of smoke.
When the bike got home it demanded I try to discern the issue. I told it to go blow itself. So it did, with a leak down test. Pretty tight up top. Front cylinder, however, sounded like the Super Bowl halftime show (extra nachos and all) dancing in the oil tank.
Ooops.
It's got Revolution Performance cylinders with their nikasil coating. Ring broke, coating gave up, who knows? Fortunately it is Gary's fault so I don't have to feel bad about it though. That's a plus. And now I've got an excuse to work on the bike!
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Well damn... sorry to hear/read about the RK's issue(s). However your story telling had me cracking up... it must have been the "Chronic" that got to your bike... maybe it watched the SB halftime show in the garage. :nixweiss::huepfenlol2: :huepfenlol2:
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
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Well damn... sorry to hear/read about the RK's issue(s). However your story telling had me cracking up... it must have been the "Chronic" that got to your bike... maybe it watched the SB halftime show in the garage. :nixweiss::huepfenlol2: :huepfenlol2:
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
Who knows (yet) and it's all good. Just want you to know that I appreciate the support Brother :drink: .
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Did you pull the plugs and run a compression test?
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Did you pull the plugs and run a compression test?
The leak down test was the real tell-tale Mark. Normally sealed up through the valves but way more than normal pressure going past the bottom end. Also significantly different between the two cylinders. Whatever Gary did in there he did it pretty good. Certainly got to give Dood credit for that kind of determination. Well done. :drink:
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The leak down test was the real tell-tale Mark. Normally sealed up through the valves but way more than normal pressure going past the bottom end. Also significantly different between the two cylinders.
I had an engine rebuild at 83K. At 106,000 I just had a top end job. Might be time for you too.
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I had an engine rebuild at 83K. At 106,000 I just had a top end job. Might be time for you too.
When I tear it down I won't replace the bottom end without at least touching up the heads. It seems Gary did all his mischief in the bottom end but it'd be silly to not refresh a little while there no matter what.
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Did you pull the plugs and run a compression test?
Why would you run a compression test if you own, and know how to use, a Leak Down Test Kit?
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Why would you run a compression test if you own, and know how to use, a Leak Down Test Kit?
And......... I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night!
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Don,
You should be a comedy writer! I too am pissed with the downsizing of the burrito!
Mikey
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Burritos and foul weather and Mikey's pissed-offed-ness and Gary's "special relationship" with baggies have all conjoined to (hopefully) do me a solid. Oh yeah, and if UPS does their thing.
Chose not to mess with (or re-mess with) the nikasil coated cylinders. Whatever Gary did in there puckered things up in ways I did not want to contemplate. The mind boggles when it comes to FireDood Induced Puckering (FIP). So a nice (hopefully) S&S kit with cylinders, pistons, rings, o-ringy bits and special mushrooms was ordered. Shipping notice received last night that package had shipped (stupid Covid bullsh*t makes everything take longer). Nominal arrival date to me on Friday. But the weather sucks. So maybe not.
But the weather sucks! So work is closed today and probably tomorrow and probably Friday. All the rest of the required bits are already here. Will pull the bitch apart while playing tunes-o-music while bored-off-my-ass home from school these days.
Had planned to do the work over the academic spring break in a few weeks. Instead will break it down now and hope the box arrives on Friday. Have it all done over the weekend? Woo-freaking-hoo and that would be awesome! But, you know, the weather (and FIP). So who knows......
Even if the box gets Dood'd in delivery the bike will be ready for parts arrival next week. Maybe put it back together next weekend and, tally ho (hoe?), it's all done way before spring break.
The new up and down thingies and their cylindrical encompassers will raise compression by just a tiny bit (.2-ish). Not enough to need compression releases but enough to, I'm sure, make me sure every acceleration will now feel it is supported by JATO. This will be good.
I want to once again thank Gary and the members of the Academy for allowing me the opportunity to work on the bike. It can be hard on a guy when his bike is SO WELL LAID OUT there just isn't any reason to do anything to it. Because of the support shared with me here I'll now get to enjoy farting around in the garage working on the motorcycle while ice, sleet, kiwi fruit, and snow land on the ground outside.
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So Donald
Inquiring minds want to know...
What exactly did Dood Do internally?
Did the Box ever arrive?
Is the "Road" back in Road King?
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So Donald
Inquiring minds want to know...
What exactly did Dood Do internally?
Did the Box ever arrive?
Is the "Road" back in Road King?
Yes boxes did arrive and the bike has been fine for awhile now. It was an odd tear down though.
First thing was something I've never experienced before. The exhaust flanges did not want to come off. Both of them. On the bike I could not get them off using everything up to and including a small slide hammer. Ended up taking off both heads and the pipe (S&S 2-1-2) all in one piece and then still had to cut the flanges to get everything apart.
From there it stayed odd; or at least unexpected. Valve stem seal on exhaust valve on rear head was gone. It had not broken a ring but the coating on both cylinders looked other than what I expected. And of even greater concern they did not look at all close to the same. Not enough experience with the nikasil coating to know what normal looking is. The distinct difference between the two wasn't something one would want to see though.
I broke the heads down and looked everything over very closely. Wasn't happy with stem to guide on three. Heads had been done by a well recognized shop when I put this engine together and I'd not broken them down for a review before assembly. There was enough in the work in front of me that was a question I did not choose to reuse them right now though.
Fortunately had a very clean new take-off set of heads from a 2007 96" motor sitting in my attic. Also silver. So took the newly delivered S&S cylinder kit and my other good set of heads and reassembled it that way. Oh yeah, and some new exhaust flanges.
I'm sure a dyno would tell me I lost a little somewhere with the cylinder head swap. The change from the old 88" worked heads to the 2007 96" heads I used is a difference I can't feel it in the seat of my pants though. It's all good and has been running fine since reassembly. Break-in and first quick oil change were completely uneventful.
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Thank You for the update
I had somehow missed seeing this post originally, until today.
I thought it was decidedly unlike you not to have closed this tale up so to speak, I thought perhaps there was a 67 page thread on the restoration of the engine that I had missed somewhere as well.
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Thank You for the update
I had somehow missed seeing this post originally, until today.
I thought it was decidedly unlike you not to have closed this tale up so to speak, I thought perhaps there was a 67 page thread on the restoration of the engine that I had missed somewhere as well.
I forgot... :huepfenlol2: