Sorry about the lack of posts (as always with this blog), I've been busy with school.
Since I'm not around the house/garage/workshop, my Dad has been doing a lot of the work on the Titan. Last weekend I came home and we split the case. A couple of bolts broke off because they were rusted, and some screws were hard to get out because they had been chewed up so much by the PO. We had to put the engine back in the frame to get enough leverage to get the bolts out, but eventually the case was split and we got a good look inside.
The gears looked alright for the most part, and we think we solved the kickstart problem. Dad ordered parts for it off BikeBandit, as well as a few parts from a Suzuki collector in Boston. We couldn't do much until these parts came in, and once they did, my Dad got right to work. Here's an update he sent me last night:
"Here's an update on the Titan:
Today I swabbed out all the sludge from the case halves and cleaned up the case edges so we can rejoin them when ready.
I also received the parts from BikeBandit and replaced the pawl on the kickstarter.
Then I re-cemented in-place the 1400 cc capacity modification (that little rubber fence in the transmission).
Next I was able to re-install the lay shaft and output shaft (the two with all the gears)
At that point I could work the levers to shift gears in and out of neutral and all the way up to fifth and back down again.
(Really neat how that works - who figures this stuff out anyway?)
Then I replaced the kickstarter shaft and tensioned the kickstarter - it seems to work well with no "stripping" or slippage.
(We won't know for sure until...)
Finally I spent some time on the oil pump and found some longer screws so I could reassemble it where the screws were stripped...
The guy in Massachusetts has the missing head bolt so I am ordering one from him
I found a helicoil kit 8mm x 1.25 pitch at O-Reilly's so we can re-thread that stripped head bolt when you come home next.
So when you are here we can:
Run some oil through the injector lines to verify they are clear
Check all the parts to be sure they are in right and pre-oiled, no binding etc.
Apply silicone cement to the case halves and re-join the case
Install the new seals and torque all the case bolts
Install that Helicoil in the bad cylinder
Re-fit the pistons, cylinders and heads and torque the bolts
Install the Oil Pump
Then cover the intake and output ports and take the engine to the car wash for a thorough Gunk cleaning
Maybe clean up the frame a bit while the engine is out.
Finally put the motor back in the frame!
Then, when we have time, hook up the carbs, throttle, battery and oil tank, and see if she'll run..."
We've gotta work our butts off this weekend, because I have a small window of time and I'm dying to see if that engine will turn over! I'm sure it will, but i just can't wait to hear it. Once that engine putters to life, that's my green light to start ordering more parts and start polishing the hell out of it. I get home Friday at around 2pm, so we've got Friday night, all day Saturday and probably until dinnertime Sunday to get stuff done.
Exciting! Pics (and video, if we get the engine mounted) next week.
