The workshop manual says to remove the spark plug, insert a depth gauge, put the bike in 2nd gear and rotate the rear wheel until the dial gauge shows the piston has reached the top of it's stroke. I've done this before with a length of coat hanger wire through the spark plug hole and watch for it to move up then start to move down and that's your TDC. If this is done with the cam chain off you will have to line up the markings on the cams per the workshop manual. Saying all that, I don't know how you'd tell which TDC you are on (compression or exhaust phase).
So I set TDC and timing (i believe) correctly; used calipers to find the top of the stroke, positioned the cam so the dots were aligned with the mark on the casing, and then aligned the intake and exhaust cam dots with the corresponding left and right dots on the timing cam. Everything turned smoothly, no binding, and seemed pretty ace, so I put the top end all back together nice and neatly. Then I moved to the stator cover, and quickly proceeded to slightly screw everything up. As always, it was due to thinking I knew what I was doing, being tired and rushing. Thought knew where all the bushings went on the various drive gears, and tightened things down. Seemed a little stiff as I was putting it together, but nothing too bad. Then, I try turning everything and it's bound up. Leave it for the night, and check it today, and low and behold, I put the starter bushing on the drive gear, and mashed the needle bearing into oblivion... item 19 in the parts fiche document, on the stator cover, if you're following along. Guess I'm waiting on a new one to ship in from the local shop...
The one thing I have learnt after years of fiddling with bikes is to never rush. Try not to have a deadline and just cruise along. It is much more enjoyable and less things tend to go wrong! Good luck with the build!
Well, after a long arduous journey, that stupid bearing finally showed up. Local shop didn't get an estimated delivery time from Husky so he gave me the part number (SKF HK1050, if anyone is wondering). Such a pain to wait a few months, then to learn it's an off-shelf part. Anyway, reassembled everything smoothly, and am just on the verge of firing it up, when I discover my clutch is no longer working. It's like it's half-engaging the plates, even after careful bleed by syringe from the slave cylinder. Anyone have any thoughts?
Alright, finally an update. Managed to get the bike back up and running, have been fighting with the fuel map on the PowerCommander. Now, it appears after all that pulling everything apart nonsense, I'm still left with a bad coolant/oil seal. Pulled the radiator cap off, and saw no coolant again, and fired the monstrosity up. I now have puffs of exhaust coming up through the rad, out the rad cap. I'm thinking that's a blown head gasket; anyone have alternate suggestions?
IMO, the instances of blown head gaskets and hammered rod bearings are due to extreme leanness at high throttle opening/high rpm. If you get it back together and running, make sure it's got some fuel added. .
So after a long hiatus, and an extremely painful search for gasket parts, I've completed the full head gasket swap. Getting pretty good at taking this thing apart, apparently. It only took me 13hrs to go from fully assembled, to bare piston, and back again. Now for the troubling part. I carefully checked the old upper and lower head gaskets for any damage, cracks, burns, or anything, but found no sign of a failure path for the coolant into the engine. I also checked the cylinder components (coolant paths, etc) for any cracks, fluid paths, or features on the gasket mating surfaces, and found nothing there either. Reassembled everything smoothly, using fresh Husky gaskets (upper and lower cylinder, clutch side and stator side, and even a new valve cover gasket), wheeled it out of the apartment, down the elevator and into the parking garage, and fired it up. Came alive on the first crank, which was amazing. Unfortunately, on the test ride, it was blowing clouds of white smoke again; I'm going to drain the oil again and check for contamination, but I'm worried there may be another failure that I've missed. Anyone have any thoughts?
Maybe have humidity or oil inside your exhaust can,that evaporate?Did you let the thing work for quite a while so it might clean up?
Shouldn't be the water pump, as that was the original set of parts I replaced last year. I think there's still some coolant contamination in the oil, which i need to flush out, but i'm still concerned by the amount of smoke that's coming out when it's running. Pretty big clouds of white/blue.
Looks like it was just residual build up in the cans! Everything seems clear and running smoothly! Finally, I can get some kms into this thing! Thanks for the help everyone
