THE LEARNING CURVE
In the beginning there was the cylinder head, which is fitted to the cylinder barrel, and it shall always be thus. This head will simply not come off. Evidence of brutality becomes apparent. Fitted without the hardened steel washers under the nuts, the soft aluminium has squeezed onto the studs, which are smaller diameter to the thread. I reduced the threaded top of a nut to reveal the top of the stud. This I ‘riveted’ with a sharp punch so that unscrewing brought the whole stud up and out. It meant new studs and nuts; an inexpensive solution.
Dismantling was relatively straightforward, and all the little pieces fitted nicely into the ex-Chinese takeaway boxes. But how did all this peculiar Marmite-coloured muck get inside the crankcases? The cylinder barrel, head, crank and new piston go to the engineering shop for a jolly good rebore to +40, a cosmetic clean up, valve guides fitted, valve seats re-cut, skimming the head to remove all the horrible screwdriver scratches, and polished crank journals. I will put in new +20 shells when it all comes back in a couple of weeks.
The crankcases got a good scrub in paraffin. A pharmacy supplied a plastic syringe and I used pipe-cleaners to squirt and poke around the many oilways cleverly embedded in the castings, blowing out debris with a compressed air gun. I washed the cases in warm water and mild detergent as
