It's been a long time since I updated you on the desmo conversion. Oi! It's been a bit of a tussle. First there was the inability of the welder to actually weld the head up the way I would have liked. Naturally after going in a completely different direction with epoxy (both a dessert and a floor wax), I have now found a shop that can do the welding! That, however, is the least of my grief.
I wasn't happy with the cam I had as it didn't even match the lift and duration of my springer cam. No troubles there as I found an ebay auction for a desmo race cam. Double fortunately, the seller agreed to take it back and refund the purchase price when it turned out to be another stock cam! The only US supplier (Megacycle) was out of stock and not much interested in making another batch. So I had to order it out of Australia (VeeTwo). Nice cam when it arrived though ($$$).
I installed the new guides ($) and sent out the head to have the seats ground ($$). Got it back and started assembly only to discover that conversion to springer guides (for the better oil seals) had run into a snag as the guides I had ordered had been "improved" by making them longer. No problem on a springer head but the desmo's closing rocker wasn't going to clear. Out with the guides and I machined them myself and then back to the machine shop to have the seats ground again ($$).
Head back and I again started assembly. A few "oh poops" were overcome when I found that I could get oversize closer shims from Argyll Motorsports ($$). Yup everything was just tickety boo until I went to fit the opening shims and discovered I need one only 0.45 mm: way, way too small. Yup, all the seat grinding had recessed the valves too much!!
Now the head is back at the machine shop to have new seats fitted so that the intake valve is 1 mm further in and the exhaust, 3 mm ($$$).
Stay tuned but I wouldn't hold your breath!
Cheers,
John
Momma told me there would be days like these...
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