A gentleman by the name of Bill Beveridge, well know in the trials world, agreed to rebuild my engine. He collected it on his way to Wales for the weekend, with the promise that by Monday evening I would have a full breakdown of what he had found, and what was likely to be the outcome. He had asked for the engine complete, so he could investigate for himself the problem. When he collected it, he asked what I had filled the distributor hole with. I told him I had made it into the breather, with a metre length of tube with a swan-neck in it. "But did you know that it can suck when you are engine braking?"
"Erm, no", says I somewhat sheepishly. This explains the grit and such that I have been finding in the oil. Bugger.
True to his word, Bill rang me at 9.00 on Monday to tell me that the head, barrel and pistons were off, but he was currently struggling with the timing gear which was stuck on the crankshaft. The rings were worn again, the little ends were loose (in fairness, they weren't that tight when I put them back last time, I didnt realise they were a press fit.
) The timing gear bush, and the big end on that side were all worn. So far, so expected.
At 1.00 he rang to say he had got the gear off, and that I was very fortunate, as the crank was good. A new gear was needed, as the threads inside were stripped, but the crank threads only needed dressing.
At 6.00 he rang to say everything was apart. I had a crack in the clutch case, and it was also the wrong one. This explains why it was so difficult to seal. he is going to fix that. There were also two old cracks in the bottom of the crankcase, which he is also going to repair. He has a couple of options that he is exploring regarding which pistons to use in the reconditioned lump, and is seeing someone on Tuesday to finalise that. A different breather, the same as the other three twins that he has worked on, will be added. He expects to have it all back together for me in a week to ten days, depending on parts.
Not expecting the final cost to be cheap, but I will at least know the engine will be as good as it gets.
Mark