Hey gang, I'm back! In one piece too! And had a great time after dealing with my rear flat issue en route to Neal's on Sat morning.
And I can't thank Q enough for all the assisance he provided, and for refusing to leave us alone, even though I tried to persuade him to go and not ruin his day, even though mine already was at that point! Tire had less than 300 miles on it, as it was replaced immediately prior to the HS trip, which the bike never made. I musta ran over something nasty, after finding not 1, not 2, or 3, but
4 holes in the tire! How the hell does that happen. And no, I wasn't running from the cops, and riding a wheelie over a spike strip they would throw out to catch me.
More on the tire experience elsewhere to follow, since I need to thank the people from the Honda dealer that helped me, after HD left me stranded!
Todays Update:
Didn't really get to catch up on 5 pages of uread threads yet, so I don't know how rampant the rumors are here regarding this build. So I'll set the record straight and update ya'll now. But I'll continue crap for the continuing breaking down of this engine, even though ya'll really know I'm doing everything humanly possible to make this POS 110 the best it can be and be totally reliable, in spite of HD's inability of doing same.
Now the latest on the engine. It's running fine. But there apparently was an issue with the attitude of the HD tech that built it again. I found out from 2 of the vendors I was dealing with, that he had major attitude issues with both of them when he found out he'd have to do more than just reassembling the engine. He wanted to treat it as "bolt-on HD parts build", as opposed to a custom engine build. Bitching about all the clearancing required, necessary adjustments, etc. There's no place for a bad attitude when assembling a custom motor. So that lack of proper attention led to a problem that surfaced by Fri, with less than 200 miles on it, and the engine never taken over 3000 RPM.
Hopefully this is the only issue he caused by his rushing to finish this before his vacation. A noise appeared and I traced it to a leaking rear cyl. head gasket. With the parts we used, this is only possible by not assembling it properly and rushing the reassembly. It is leaking alongside of the rear head, on the spark plug side. When cold, it makes a "chirping" noise, and you feel the compression leaking when placing your hand alongside the gasket area there. The rings are doing their job and holding any oil back from leaking, but the air leak is very apparent. This occurs when cold and is getting a little worse after each ride. It seals up after getting heated up, after all the metal expands to operating temp. The bike is running hotter too, and I believe that's because it's probably a little leaner due to the air leak. Oilt temp's gotten as high as 246 deg now.
When I first found this issue, I was furious when I heard about his lack of concern when assembling it, especially when he was "supposedly" taking great care in the reassembly. I only found out about this "attitude problem" after I called both vendors on Fri. He was already gone by then. I immediately made the decision to pull the motor, and have it completely rebuilt by a professional engine builder, like Wes, or replace it completely with aftermarket engine. I was leaning toward rebuilding it, including full Timkin conversion and replacement crank assembly, due to CVO originality, matching numbers, and the amount of $$ already put into the top end. Q offered to drop the motor off in Tampa next weekend, on his way to Daytona.
Well, after riding it all weekend, with the bike still running excellent, I decided right now, to first try snugging the headbolts to make the trip to MV. That is, if I cant get the gasket replaced by tomorrow, which is doubtful. If I can stop the leak by re torquing the head temporarily, I'll take my chances on the 2000 mile trip. I'll replace the rear gasket when I return. I'll probably have my friend's aftermarket shop do all the work from now on. What the hell was I thinking letting a dealer do this work. I had good comfort level after "taking care of him NYC style
", and due to the way I was being taken care of. I was confident he was doing the right thing, only to find he reverted to typical HD tech lack of caring while I wasn't there to "supervise".
After making the repair, I'll still be real nervous about how this motor was reassembled. But since it's running so well now, I see no reason to yank the engine yet. I can always do that if things take a turn for the worst. We do not want to cancel yet another trip with the bike, as it's been such a major disappointment all year. But I'm still plugging away with my usual zealousness, with my goal of making this bike the absolute perfect SERK. I'm still confident that it can be done, and will apply my same "pit bull" approach in getting it there. Hoist don't give up that easy. The thick skin might be wearing a little, but this rhinoceros can't be dissuaded that easily. I will persevere in this mission, and Cybil will rise from the ashes again, and live to ride many useful years under my ass!!!
More to follow on this continuing saga. Ya'll didn't really want it to end anyway. You'll miss all the entertainment value this thread has been providing over the past few months. And after all, this thread is only 19 pages long!!!
Hoist!
Author
Topic: Cybil, My New ‘07A FLHRSE3TQ (Read 103278 times)