Ms Elly just gained several hundred pounds but she looks terrific!I received the missing parts from Harper Guzzi, including the brand new half bearings. All squared off, the pistons are exactly the same weight, the connecting rods are within 1g from one another, off they go back into the crankcase.
Then I finally put the transmission on and sure enough I forgot the clutch rod plunger so I had to do it again. Sigh. All well what ends well. I dry fit the top end and realized that it makes the engine assembly too heavy for the upcoming "marriage" back to the frame so I took them off. This is after I was actually contempt to wait another week with the engine sitting on the workbench since since it was the end of a long day and the workweek was looming. Thanks to my wife however, aka my very own tool girl, we did put the engine back on the frame. It was her idea, she knew it meant a lot to me to make progress. What a gal! My wife. The bike too I guess.
But I digress, I then put the new lower cylinder gaskets on, the o-rings on the short studs and dry fit the cylinders again (see photo). This is mostly so I can keep dust from going into the crankcase and on the pistons that I carefully coated with assembly oil.
I then fill up the engine oil and gave it some hand cranks to make sure we start priming the pump and we keep the crankshaft covered in oil. She is in good shape to sit and wait for more progress this weekend. Next, carb rebuild and custom lower throttle cables. Stay tuned.
