OK, latest update on this guys.
1) the loan bike has yet to materialise - no biggie, I have been busy this weekend (see below!), it's been rainy today, and I have the Sporty if the urge gets too strong!
2) the HD rep promised he'd write to me last week confirming that if there were future problems attributable to the rebuild, I'd get a new engine, no questions asked - he hasn't so far, so I'll be chasing him shortly
3) I've done my temporary repair this weekend - and I'm hoping it will be permanent! Close inspection - I'll upload photos soon - revealed that the "crack" was on the bottom side of the hole (the material is very thin there!) and followed the seam on the casting back for about an inch. The "slice" that fell out had parallel sides, which meant so did the crack. I'm guessing that the slice was weld material, which came out so cleanly that it must have never been good. What I did was to clean the space it came out of very, very thoroughly. Then I got some "JB-Weld" epoxy, and worked it in from underneath, spreading it a little either side of the split on the top side once it came through - this includes the first three or so threads, whice the slice encompassed, I taped it underneath to avoid slump, let it go off for a few hours, then screwed the plug in (it now goes easily about 1/8" below the flush) and out again, to clean the threads, without ripping the JB-Weld out. Then I re-cleaned the plug, waited another few hours so the epoxy was set, but soft, coated the plug threads with Loctite 577 thread sealant (from what I could find on the Loctite site, I thought this was best) and screwed it in, again 1/8" or so beyond the flush (this would take it to the end of the split, I think). Then it sat overnight - the epoxy cures fully in 24 hours, the Loctite in 6. Today I put it all back together (Voltage regulator, Oil cooler, Oil Cooler adapter...) The manual says that you should fit the cooler adapter with "one drop of Loctite 246". It's not very helpful to discover that Loctite 246 is not available in the UK!!!!
The difference between it and 243 seems to be that 246 is high temperature. All I could do was use a couple of drops of 243, and I hope it'll be fine. (Local dealership only uses one grade of thread locker, and it's NOT even Loctite!). Today the repair looks good, just need to get some black wrinkle paint to touch up the little bit under the casing, though only running the engine will tell, I guess. And I can't do that, because......
4) What was I doing in the spare 24 hours waiting for the epoxy to cure? Well, I thought it would be the ideal time to install my RYO air cleaner, my V&H True Dual headers, and my SE Pro Mufflers, and...... the long awaited T-Max and AT.
All went well; the headers (henceforth to be known as "Troodles") went on without any fuss - I didn't even have to remove any floorboards, even though the instructions say you have to. WHAT a difference to the pantomime involved in installing Rineharts!!!!! I have around 1/4" clearance for the brake pedal, so that's one worry out of the way. The rear O
2 sensor is firmly against the breather plug on the transmission top cover though; I'm not delighted by that, though I'll live with it - I don't see it coming to any harm like that, but it goes against the grain to have it that way, but nothing to be <easily> done, I guess.
And so it came to loading the base map for the TMax; first problem - the thunder-max.com site was down! It came back up later, though a bit too late for me, though that became immaterial, when I discovered that my laptop has no serial port, and I have no USB to serial port adapter!!! (Yes, I know, computers are my business
) so I can't fire the beast up to see if my repair is successful till I get an adapter!
..... to be, as they say, continued.
Jim
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Topic: Oil Leak! (Read 6001 times)