New use for a Kibblewhite Performance valve spring (2013)

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Jim, sorry for your engine issue. Seems we should always bring some octane additive for long trips or buy a new Beemer for peace of mind :lol:
 
mikie3117 wrote:

Jim, sorry for your engine issue. Seems we should always bring some octane additive for long trips or buy a new Beemer for peace of mind

I was going to say that that's cruel, but doesn't L.A.B. have a Beemer.

FWIW I'd lean towards a Guzzi.
 
I actually took a new BMW 800 for a test drive yesterday. Neat bike but it vibrated enough to put my hands to sleep in 35 miles. Jim :D
 
Yeah I'm put off too by the elite modern cruisers i've tried or just as a pillion on and holding bars to sense what they have to endure all the time, ugh. I can take the blunted low freq. vibes of basic engine like the isolastic rubber mounted Harly's but not the valve train buzz of the rest of the world's cycles. K/w springs have race cam level tension rate so I'd throw in with others to snag a set to spread the cost. In Peel though would need a screw or shim adjuster to make up for going about with and w/o the Drouin mounted. Spring makes more sense as rubber would compress to resist and tend to transmit vibes, just like factory found by cutting iso's thickness in half 3x's till decent isolation before 2000 rpm good isolation above that.

Peel was a bit delicate to get links set loose and iso gaps set right, if iso's beyond factory gap she got as sloppy as w/o links, if set much below .01" she'd transmit vibes-buzz. Peels links are mounted away from iso's not close in line with them so can't use to keep the gaps from clashing like Jim's front under iso link. Btw Jim's Cdo sure sounds a whole whole lot bigger presence than expected.
 
Alrighty Jim, best wishes and luck on the endurance grind the rest of the way. Spoke to others about piston slap noises and they all said theirs didn't come apart on long trips either.
 
I guess I feel a little guilty for already looking forward to a build thread!
 
rvich said:
I guess I feel a little guilty for already looking forward to a build thread!



Well, I don't.

I am very interested in this. I am wondering if it could be made without welding, just a hanger between the two frame rails. Maybe a bolt tension adjuster.

I intend to kick this thread from time to time, to keep it current.

Say, is there anyone with a trailer near to Comnoz who could go out and bring him home? I'd kick in for some of the gas.
 
As I am down to the frame and having some mods done to the frame anyway I am REALLY interested in some drawings or a kit.

Vince
 
Unclviny said:
As I am down to the frame and having some mods done to the frame anyway I am REALLY interested in some drawings or a kit.

Vince


How about this. We give Comnoz 90 days to come up with a kit, or at least a set of working drawings, or we threaten to get MADASS to do it.
 
rvich said:
I guess I feel a little guilty for already looking forward to a build thread!

Actually I was talking about his motor, not the mount!
 
Oh, that's different.................................................................................nevermind.*






* in loving memory of Miss Emily Litella.
 
Don't hold ya breath for Jim's kit as he's got more pressing engine things to concentrate on his return. He told ya how he did it, find a strong enough spring and put a jack under it till it centers the iso bolt then make a perch for it at that length.
 
Well -it didn't make it home.

I rode 650 miles yesterday at 70 to 75 mph with no changes in the rapping noise at low speeds.

At roughly 3000 miles since the seizure and 180 miles from home it gave up. Obviously the piston had enough of the hammering and collapsed. Pieces of piston must have traveled though the intake and damaged the RH side also as there was zero compression on either cylinder.

Of course I was in the middle of nowhere in SE Colorado, no cell phone service, no houses or traffic and it was starting to get dark. The temp was just above freezing and snow was in the forecast. I was looking for a place to set up a tent to stay out of the wind and decided to push the kickstarter through with my hand and after a few times I felt the return of a small amount of compression. So I turned the key on and kicked it and it started on one cylinder. It had just enough power to get the bike up to 30 mph and I kept it running for 35 miles back into the tiny town of Springfield where there was cell service and a warm convenience store to wait for my daughter to drive from Pueblo with the trailer.
It gave the last gasp right in front of the store. I am thinking maybe Mr. Norton was watching.

That makes the second time the bike came home on a trailer. The first time was 30 years ago when the layshaft bearing failed.

Oh -and the spring worked great. It is definitely a keeper. Jim
 
Sorry for the failure, but at least it got you to town.

Dave
 
DogT said:
Sorry for the failure, but at least it got you to town.

Dave

That motor had over 85,000 miles on it and it didn't owe me a thing. Now if had been the new motor I would be unhappy. Jim
 
Well at only 85K miles you ain't got the engine endurance record but your nerve wracking road adventures is as good as it gets! I don't enjoy the meditative state of road side discomfort and last resort of riding a flat or half a knocking engine further, so get in state of mind - how is this time going to work out. Your yearly experiences are not helping my faith to ride it alone. Cell phones generally out of range where I break down too.

I have my suspicion you will find something that's common faulty to both sides as find it very hard to believe one jug could send crap out the intake back into other side, though rough running might of done in the 2nd jug piston endurance. Going by my blow ups I'd suspect the slappy piston came apart so piece got under the others cam lobe for valve crown clash.

On a spring support kit I'd think an adjustable perch needed to fit the various engine masses 750-850 and various sets up with and w/o chain primary and what not.
 
An engine will definitely send shrapnel through the intake from side to side.

I had an Olds V8 with an open plenum manifold one time that ate a screw from the carb. I figured out which side was tapping and pulled the head and found screw marks in all four pistons but no screw so I put the head back on. I started it and found the tapping was now on the other side so I pulled that head. Again -no screw, just screw marks in the pistons. So I put that head back on and guess what- the screw was back on the first side. Jim
 
Oh my I've blown up 3 Olds V8's in a Vista Cruiser wagon, but still don't think that can happen in Nortons though the Y manifold does allow a path to cross. I don't know of course so we all await your findings after catching up for being gone so long. The real message i get is we are all living on faith and fate no matter how well built or careful listening and checking in. One out of the blue Trixie Combat failure just about coating at 50's was the day after a fast night time ride out of state and back. Turned out a rod bolt had corrosion through metal grains fracture. I've no driver license so would of been legal hassle as well as risk of bike impounded. I am so freaked out by deer I go 80's most the time after dark as never ever want a deer or other big animal to strike from the side again. Dead on impacts on youtube and one of my own show mostly the deer come apart and rider pulls over in amazement intact. Motorcycling is expensive unpredictable hobby I can barely rationalize most the time.
 
comnoz said:
It gave the last gasp right in front of the store. I am thinking maybe Mr. Norton was watching.

That makes the second time the bike came home on a trailer. The first time was 30 years ago when the layshaft bearing failed.

Oh -and the spring worked great. It is definitely a keeper. Jim

Only three hours from home, I think that almost counts as all the way!

Glad you made it home, sorry the bike didn't make it all the way. Great meeting you in person!
 
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