Lost locating dowel!!

[vtr..al]

Well went into the garage yesterday and decided to get the head i had off Tony ready for fitting.All the surfaces are ready for the new headgasket to go back on but when i went to take the locating dowels from the old head and fit them to the block there was only one there .....oh no wheres the other one??....searched the garage floor for a while then looked at the cam chain tunnel...please please don't tell me its fell down there,got a torch and shone it down but could not see anything.

After looking at some pics i took of the head to show the bent valves i deduced it was the dowel opposite the cam tunnel that was missing...another look around the floor on that side of the bike and its nowhere to be seen.Then i looked at the open end of the exhaust downpipe and thought surely it aint fell down there...i tapped the bottom of the pipe and i could hear something rattling around...oh well exhaust off then and tip it out,only the rear connecter which goes up to the rear cylinder was seized solid and a 10mm socket would not go on and a 11mm just slipped round and round...damn what now?

I have a big magnet so i put that on the downpipe and thought it might slide up to the top of the pipe with the dowel sliding inside...no chance,so i got a small magnet and attatched it to a peice of wire then wrapped insulation tape round it to make it less likely to just stick to the inside of the header pipe and then lowered it down inside the header pipe...it still stuck to the sides ! so i used the big magnet to pull the smaller one down and it worked...down went the smaller magnet on the end of the wire.I took it right to the bottom of the header pipe then removed the big magnet and pulled up the wire and there the little bugger was stuck to the small magnet .....aint it satisfying when a plan works.

Just got my parts from David silvers literally minutes ago so i can now get on with the rebuild...can't wait!!

Al

[sirch345]

Al, Brilliant news that you found the dowel. It's amazing how sometimes a part will fall off like your dowel and end up in the most unexpected place. Well done on you for thinking about the header pipe, I like the way you managed to get it out, nice one

I can see you're excited about getting it all back together which I can understand, I would suggest though to take your time so you don't miss anything.

Good luck with it, I hope it all goes well, keep us posted,

Chris.

[bazza696]

I had a similar problem when I was checking my valve clearances, all the washers in the rocker cover fell out on the work bench with the exception of one. as I was putting the cover in place the bloody thing leaped out and without bouncing went straight down the chain chain tunnel, so like you search around the floor and check some more to no avail,.

So drop the coolant and oil finding something to put the oil in as I had only changed it 300 miles previous, clutch cover off and a new gasket. Was relieved to find it sitting on the casting above the clutch... Let me tell you rags go in every hole now what have gone ape if it had gone in the carb intake.

[tony.mon]

Well done for finding it- top bodge!

The ones I worry about most are the one holding the top camchain guide on which go in sideways, just at the top of the camchain tunnel.
One slip and they're gone for sure. Only done it once, and the magnetic probe found it after an anxious 1/2 hour.

My particular bugbear is the two screws at the front of the airbox cover- you have to stick them to a magnetic screwdriver and if you tap the surroundings on the way in, the screws fall straight down onto the top of the engine cover. But at least they're not inside the engine!

But my best fix ever was when I had a little 250 G5 which I'd played with a bit, revved to the second "N" in "Nippon Seiki" on the rev counter. I'd fitted 32mm Amal carbs (well, they were laying about in the shed and I figured anything was better than those big heavy CV carbs.

It wouldn't tick over, and so over the first few weeks I played with different main jets, pilot jets and needles hoping to find a combination that worked.

One evening I was at a roadside cafe near Walthamstow in Londonshire. About 20 miles from home, the other side of the Thames.

Seemed a good idea to raise the needles a notch, so out with the screwdriver and off with the carb top, prised off the tiny circlip and PING! off it went into the mud and gravel car park in the dark.

Got thoroughly laughed at, but then started thinking......

First, bike on the centre stand and off with the rear wheel. Then off with the LH crankcase alternator cover.

(getting quizzical looks from bystanders at this point).

As it happens, the rear wheel spindle terminated in just the right size thread to act as an extractor for the alternator rotor. Screw the spindle in, and the rotor's off and screwed to the end of the spindle.
See where I'm going yet?

Yep, the rotor's magnetic, and the spindle makes a neat little handle to sweep the car park for magnetic bits.

Took about five minutes to find the clip, reassemble and off we go again.

Could have opened a car and bike breakers with all the other bits I found, though!

[Beamish]

Unbelievable Nice work.

[vtr..al]

Al, Brilliant news that you found the dowel. It's amazing how sometimes a part will fall off like your dowel and end up in the most unexpected place. Well done on you for thinking about the header pipe, I like the way you managed to get it out, nice one

I can see you're excited about getting it all back together which I can understand, I would suggest though to take your time so you don't miss anything.

Good luck with it, I hope it all goes well, keep us posted,

Chris.

Cheers Chris....i won't be rushing to get it back together....will maybe do it tommorrow as i have been at works do today so a little tipsy for doing it now ....i know what you mean about rushing things though,last time i was putting one together i got everything back in place but forgot to connect the throttle cables :mad2 :mad2

Al

[vtr..al]

Nice story there Tony...its amazing what you can do in some circumstances!!...glad your'e happy with the link pipes and that your's is back together

Al

[vtr..al]

I would have lost my temper, smashed the bike and shed to bits and thrown the bike on the tip

Well done and top marks for persistency mate, you must be very pleased with yourself now, but i bet the air was blue at the time

Just a bit mate...and when i found it i ran in the house shouting "i got it...i got it".

The wife thinks i'm strange

Al

[sirch345]

Cheers Chris....i won't be rushing to get it back together....will maybe do it tommorrow as i have been at works do today so a little tipsy for doing it now ....i know what you mean about rushing things though,last time i was putting one together i got everything back in place but forgot to connect the throttle cables :mad2 :mad2

Al

Al, It seems like you're pretty much on top of this job, so I hope it all goes well.
I like the throttle cables story, another one is forgetting to re-fit the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) connector.

Chris.

PS. Tony very ingenious that

[vtr..al]

Well its all back together except for the fact that i don't have any exhaust header nuts!!....turned it over a couple of times and she fired into life and sounded..........too loud to tell if anything was wrong ....will try and get some exhaust nuts asap so i can try it out.

Al

[tony.mon]

Result!

Any M8 nuts will do, until the right ones are in stock.
Stainless ones will resist corrosion a little better than the standard ones anyway, and plenty of Coppaslip or similar to prevent rust on the studs.

Don't let a couple of nuts keep you off the road (cue obvious jokes; form an orderly queue, please.)