Finished!

Finally, the completed bike! After completing the rebuild, I added a set of Chase Harper saddlebags and some other extra bits. This is a nice studio shot a friend of mine did of the completed project.

Engine Back In the Frame

Mounting the front tire back on finally gave the bike more stability again. And since I had done a preliminary cleaning of the engine block, I decided to put the engine back onto the bike at this point. Unless you're really going to tear into the engine, it's just as easy if not easier to get at any necessary parts with the engine in the frame. For now, I just lifted it back into position (sounds easy, huh?) and slipped the two engine mount bolts through the frame.

Cleaning the Engine

I finally lifted the engine out of the frame. Looks even better off of the bike!

There are many discussion online about how best to clean engine and other parts. Here's my condensed version. I used an engine degreaser sparingly, and only toward the bottom of the engine case where I saw grease or oil. I tried Simple Green Max a bit because some people highly recommend it. It's supposed to stain metal easily, so unless it's summer and you have a way to easily rinse the parts off (and your careful not to get water where it shouldn't go), I'd probably avoid it. To clean between the cylinder fins, I used Luster Lace. It's a great product that comes in long strips, useful for cleaning hard to reach areas and especially for twisting around spokes and such. For broader areas of the engine block and other metal parts, I tend to use Nevr-Dull, a wadding available at many auto parts stores. And for the final polish on most any metal, you can't do better than German Monidur metal polish (available from Hucky's and elsewhere).

Of course, you don't have to use all of these products together or in this order, or at all, just whatever works best for you.

Front Stud and Pushrod Seals

Like the rear engine stud, the front stud on my bike also has a dual function. It is the mounting point for two of the crash bar clamps, as you can see in the lower left of the photo.

As I was disassembling the bike, I also noticed another problem...the two leaking pushrod tube seals above. An inspection showed the same problem on the other side. That's what happens with seals that are almost 40 years old!