Have a seat!

Vacation, such a lovely word! Lot´s of time to do what you like, spend time with the family and maybe find an hour or two to go down to the garage and spend some real quality time...

OK, The engine done ( at least the major parts of it...), what next? I need to adress the chassis and especially the front fork legs. Let´s start easy. Let´s go for the seat cover! It was very dirty and rather hard in the vinyl surface. I started out with a light cleaning with luke warm water and soap. Better be careful since I´m planning on using the old cover as a model for new copies. If I can get it good enough, maybe I´ll even use the old one on the bike!

Seat cover after the first cleaning.

It is not a very complicated piece to copy. It is made basically of three parts. Seat and sides on the seat plus side on the "backrest" there are also reinforcements in plastic around the edges where the push buttons are attached. Some rips and tears are there, of course. But, all in all, I think it is salvagable! Don´t you just adore the way you can see where the drivers have sat? The fuzzy surface of the cover is torn off right where "Esso`s" and Björns butts where parked. In the sharp angle between the seat and backrest area the cover is intact with the "velvet"-like vinyl unhurt. Let´s just try and get it as good as possible...

Here you can see the nice pattern on the backrest and also the largest tear in the cover on the left front part. There were a total of four rips and tears I need to adress. Maybe one more, we´ll see...

I prefer a product called "LiquiSole" when repairing shoes and leather etc. Let´s see how it works here! You need to clean the surfaces thoroughly and find some material close enough in appearance to the fabric you´re trying to repair. Being a hoarder, I had some nice, black vinyl laying around from a seat repair I did some 20 years ago...

Cut pieces of your mending material to size ( a bit larger than the actual damage). In this way you will also, sort of, reinforce your cover with material on the inside, plus repair the rip. I choose the vinyl surface outwards on rips large enough for the new material to be seen and the fabric side on those that don´t. I believe the glue sticks better to the fabric side which makes the invisible repairs a bit stronger. So, in all four of these were made and cut and then the gluing started.

On a dry, clean, surface you put a thin layer on both sides and let it dry for 30 minutes... That´s a LOOONG time! If your work area is a bit cold (like mine) it takes even longer. The good thing is that if you put them together a bit early they don´t "hug" into each other right away. there´s plenty of time to adjust and get everything perfectly lined up before putting pressure on the repair and let it sit and harden. This process take up to 48 hours... depending on temperature. As you can see I´ll use anything that comes in handy... putty knives, steel parts, whatever fits my needs.

Here´s the patient all hooked up to life support systems... I made three repairs at once and saved the biggest rip for later. One day later I made the last repair on the biggest rip. A lot more complicated, but it worked out OK!

Here  you can see the worst damage repaird. Not 100% perfect, but good enough for me and my needs. Remember I still want this bike to look used... The backside here is totally intact and will last for ages. These marks I can live with and actually cherish as part of the bikes history.

The seat itself has been repaird and is now ready for paint. The push buttons bottom half has been removed, but the holes are still intact. I think this look great! Just the way I want it...

I think this slightly tarnished and worn cover will make the bike look great. It brings a part of it´s history to life when you think about the guys who rode it on the tracks if the seventies. I like it. I like it a lot.

The cover finished...

So, that´s it about the seat cover? No, not quite... I want to make copies of this one. Janne needs one for his bike and I want a copy for mine as well. The day I´ll ride it myself, I think I´ll use a copy seat... Now, can this material be found? It is a bit of a mystery, this fabric. I´ve been to one upholstery shop and he didn´t recognize it. So, I went to a whole sale business that deals with all kinds of car and motorcycle upholstery material. No joy! He couldn´t tell for sure what it was. His best guess is that it actually is a black vinyl material that has been "flocked" with the "velvet" type of fibers. "Flocked", now, what the F**K is that?

You learn a lot from restoring old vehicles. Flocking is something done regularly in the car sound business. There´s a machine called "Flocking tool" that puts synthetic fibers on to any surface (that you have prepared with glue in advance..) and makes them stand straight up using static electricity. This was new to me! Obviously used on car instrument panels to reduce (remove) all glare and reflections. Also used with longer fibers to dress up boxes built for car audio appliances. Well, the investigation continues...

The whole sale guy pointed me in the direction of Alcantara as a substitute... Not cheap, but sort of the same appearance. Alcantara is also a synthetic fiber, looking a lot like suede (mocka, in Swedish) but more durable and easier to sew. But at 1800 SEK ( 200 $US) per meter I opted out...

A quick search on eBay in Germany landed me a couple of square meters at a reasonable price, so now I´ll soon be back in the upholstery business....

Yes, I´ll try to make the copies myself.

More about that later. For now, I´m happy with what I have!

A nice, stock, all original, slightly worn and completely wonderful seat cover!

Yours truly.

/Per

 

Engine completed!

The last rezinked clutch parts went down to Ebbe last Friday and he had them Monday of this week. On Tuesday he started sending pictures of the progress. I was lucky enough to be able to reuse the clutch fibres and steel plates. I have found only two new steel ones but not even one of the 10 fiber ones needed... I´m still looking for new ones!

Restored clutch parts.

We had a discussion about those "lock washers" in the picture. Ebbe is a modern race man and prefers Loctite and steel wire only where absolutely needed. I´m more of an original guy so they went on....

Clutch housing on the engine!

In this picture you can also se the treated clutch cover... I think it looks great! As I have said about ten times already, I just love the steel ball polishing process! The lock washers fits like a charm even though they are from an H2R. Obviously the same diameter on the shafts and fasteners. I would have preferred original Kawasaki screws, but those were missing, or rather replaced by allen bolts and I don´t want that at all. These will have to do until I have to dismantle the clutch next time. I will also replace the allen bolts on the clutch cover to original pan head screws.

Inner clutch hub.

The next part coming on is the inner clutch hub. The lock washer here secures the screws that hold the spring guides in place. Luckily also this part was in usable condition. Finding a used or even a NOS one is close to zero.

The clutch parts reday.

Not only is Ebbe a superb mechanic, he is also a true estethete, Look at this "still life" grouping of parts! Could be a painting from a famous artist. Note that he mattened the outer clutch plate with glass blasting. Looks a whole lot better to me! It is also possible to understand how the clutch works when you see the fiber plates and the steel ones stacked together in the clutch housing like this. The steel plates grab the inner hub and the fiber ones the outer housing. When the clutch springs press these plates together the crank (engine) is in contact with the transmission. When you pull the clutch lever you press the plates apart and the connection between the engine and the gearbox is lost and you can change gears...A bit of basic theory there, but it looks so clear in this picture.

clutch complete and on the engine.

I think the outer clutch plate became perfect. Nice matte finish. I´m not sure about the safety wire, though. I believe they used safety wiring here back in the day, but it feels kind of fishy since the clutch needs to move outwards to release. If you put the wiring in place with correct tension I believe the clutch won´t be able to move enough outwards. I´ll probably have to think about this...

This was the status of the engine when I drove down to Malmoe yesterday to pick the it up. I was so stoked during that 6-hour drive. Finally I would see the engine first-hand and get the opportunity to once again  shake Ebbe´s hand and thank him for a job well done.

When I arrived he was waiting in his shop with a quirky smile on his face...

- "I had to work on your engine today as well"
- "There was actually an oil leak from that NOS oil seal you sent"

He explained that he had thought the spring in the seal was a bit weak, but it was new! So he put it in and after filling the transmission with oil it slowly seeped out through that oils seal. If that would have happened to me I would have cried and crumbled up in fetal position... But, being who he is, of course he had a solution!

It is not uncommon that oils seals get "sloppy" over time and one way to fix it is tightening the spring a little bit and increase the pressure the spring puts on the rubber sealing "lip". The spring is not made in one piece, but put together from one long spring that is "screwed" together with a, sort of "coned" thread. The picture below shows this.

Tightening the spring of an oil seal....

It is possible to cut a piece off the "unconed" end of the spring and thus make it shorter. I had no idea about this until Ebbe explained it. Works like a charm! He cut mine by 5mm and that did the trick. A little more pressure on the rubber lip towards the sealing surface and the engine is tight. Phuii...!!

Close.up of the spring.

The picture above shows a close-up of what I´m talking about. You just have to find the end of the spring and "unscrew" the coned part, cut off a part of the other side and then "screw" the spring back together. This is a technique I´ll be using more in the future.

Ignition and chain side of the engine.

And here it is in all its glory! The engine completely restored... Ready for the frame and chassis to be finished. Now, I do need to start doing my part of the job. The basement room and the other bathroom are both finished, or at least close to, and I have a Christmas vacation coming up. I sincerely hope I´ll be able to find some time to spend in the garage with the rest of the bike.

Front side.

Not a very sharp picture, but it shows the oil pump and the clutch side. The restored exhaust holders and the nice surface.

Clutch side. And oil pump.

Here´s the carb side. Ebbe managed to find intake rubbers that were possible to modify to fit the carbs AND the engine. I may have to change the studs to longer ones, but I´ll deal with that later. Or I might just find me some NOS intake rubbers and they are probably thinner.

The master and his work....

The man and his bench... He was very happy to deliver the engine and have it out of his shop. It´s nervous having the responsibility for such an iconic engine. I fully understand that! Note the H2 engine to the left... A customer engine awaiting attention. I like that dry clutch set-up!

I couldn´t be happier with Ebbe Parneståls work!

So, for now, its goodbye EBOS/Eptune. I´ll be back later with other projects and bikes. That´s for sure!

Now that this hard part of the restoration is complete I feel inspired to move on. The next difficult task is restoring the inner fork legs. I have contacted two firms in Britain that both claim they can rebuild them to original specifications with new hard chrome and precision grinding to exact measurement. I will start  dismantling the rest of the bike the coming days.

Just another trip to the US and then vacation....

Stay tuned!

Engine progress being made in Malmoe, Part II.

This must be a new record... Another post within 24 hours!

The story about the engine at EBOS/Eptune needs to be continued. I have more material I need to publish soon so let´s get on with it.

Yesterday I ended Part I with a picture of the engine assembled on the bench in Malmoe. Ebbe and I had a discussion regarding zink on the head bolts. He could see no sign of them being zinked originally so we left them in raw steel, glass blasted. If that was a correct decision or not remains to be seen. Easily fixed if not!

Heads mounted on the H1R engine.

Now that the cases are together and the cylinders and pistons are taken care of, time to focus on the dry clutch. Ebbe sent me some parts for rezinking, remember? In the mean time he kept working on rusted and lost parts in the clutch area.

                                                                                   Fabricated bushing for the clutch housing/basket.

He had to manufacture one of these bushings. One was damaged by rust and the other one missing totally. I can tell you it feels good having a master mechanic working on such a are item as this engine. The O-ring seals between the bushing and the axle and the bottom of the needle bearing outside the bushings.

And here´s the other one he managed to salvage together with a new O-ring:

Bushing number 2 saved by Ebbe.

One of the parts I have been looking for all over the world for the last 6 months is the needle bearing inside the clutch inner hub. Absolutely no joy.... Solution? Guess who fixed one? Yeah. Ebbe got it!
He says I´m good at getting NOS parts, but he is a magician sourcing new, aftermarket, parts for these engines. If you ever trust him with one of your engines, don´t worry about bearings, gaskets and stuff like that. Either he has what´s needed in stock or he´ll find it somewhere.

New needle bearing found by the man, Ebbe!

In the picture above you can see the two bushings, O-rings and the brand new needle bearing carrying the inner clutch housing/primary drive gear once it gets on the shaft. You can also see why the surface of the axle actually isn´t that critical. The bushings take care of that!

The next picture shows the needle bearing inside the inner clutch hub/primary drive. The O-ring outside one of the bushings will seal together with the edge of the bearing you can see at the bottom there. Quite skilled engineering for the late sixties, early seventies.

Clutch needle bearing.

This is what it´ll look like being mounted onto the shaft. O-rings on both sides of the bushings and an oil seal between the smaller, outer bushing and the outside of the inner clutch hub. Complicated? sure, very much so!

Here´s what the deal looks like assembled.

No rust here any more...!!

We can all appreciate the complications with a dry clutch.... You need to seal out the oil inside the clutch cover and still get a big shaft through, also sealed. I believe this will work fine!

As you can see here it is soon time to assemble the clutch and put the cover on. The cover actually goes on first, since this is a dry clutch sitting on the outside... The need for another highly sought after parts became urgent...

The large oil seal that seals between the inner clutch housing and the clutch cover. Part number 92050-038. I have been looking for that one as well, since I bought the bike, back in May. A while ago I tried to set up a watch for the part number via eBay. It worked!

Just a few weeks ago I was notified someone had listed that exact part. I got the message on my cellphone, entered the eBay app and got it within 1 minute! Lord and behold! I got it!! and at a reasonable price. I love eBay at those moments. What´s even better is the guy had 4 of them, so I bought them all. These are good parts to have in stock, for sure!

92050-038.

SC64769 or 92050-038. Quite big oil seal.

These oil seals ent down to Ebbe last Friday together with the clutch parts, now rezinked:

Rezinked and ready to go to Malmoe.

You can see the engine case nuts ( I want the original ones...), the clutch outer housing, the lock washers (bought from Canada...!), the clutch spring holders and drilled screws and also the engine case oil plug. Also drilled for secure wiring!

Ebbe will get these parts tomorrow, Monday, and will probably have the engine ready by the end of the coming week. I can´t wait to go pick it up!

Next post when the engine is back home... If I don´t do something interesting to the bike before that!

Thanks for reading and as always, comments, questions are more than welcome!

Engine progress being made in Malmoe.

It´s been way too long since my last post here on the blog. I´m so sorry about that! I´ve been very busy at work and also getting the house projects done. The basement room is coming to an end now as Wilma (our daughter) has actually moved in there and is getting the room ready in her own style. The other bathroom, further up in the house, is also getting close to being ready. Just a few more things left to do. I firmly believe it will all be done before Christmas. leaving me with 3 weeks of vacation from the 19th of December to the 13th of January with nothing else to do than being in the garage working on bikes.... And celebrating Christmas, of course!

Last time I mentioned progress being made in Malmoe and EBOS/Eptune on the engine. Well, it is soon finished! I´ve asked Ebbe for some pictures and a description of what he´s done so far and here´s the story.

I did mention earlier that I went the complete restoration route with the engine. The cases went from EBOS/Eptune to Proswede in Hoerby to be glass media blasted and then "steel ball polished" in a vibrating machine, "tumbler". This treatment is superb when you want to create that "nucast" finish on aluminium parts. The blasting removes all the oxide and dirt from the cases and the polishing process in the vibrator seals the surface and creates this wonderful semi-gloss surface with just the right shine. I absolutely adore this treatment and use it on all engines I restore.

Shiny, steel ball polished surface on the engine interior.

The cases were both in very good condition with only minor damage from the chain slapping the bottom case and one dowel pin being pushed into the case. One of the engine mounts were also damaged and a chip of the top case was missing.The chain damage was left as is (actually a sign of life I like to preserve) and the dowel pin was extracted by Ebbe and secured in place. The top case was welded by Ebbe with an absolutely stunning result:

Now, let´s see.... Was it here it was damaged?

Or was it here.....?? Who can tell?!

As you can see on the two pictures above, he is a master aluminium welder! The damage was on the left engine mount.

- " Well, I kind of like getting things back to the way they looked" , he explained to me. Yeah you did!

He also checked the crank and found the con rods to be OK, as was the big end bearings. The crank was seriously bent though, and needed straightening. An easy task for Ebbe! One of the main bearings was also shot and had to be replaced. Ebbe asked me if I had found any bearings.... I hadn´t.

- "Don´t worry, I´ll check and see what I can find" I started searching frantically myself, but came up short!

Two days later he e-mailed me the good news.

- "Found it, everything is OK"  He is not known to be talkative, Ebbe. That mail made my day, for sure!

Brand new roller bearing for an H1R crank, found in Malmoe.

He had managed to find a perfect matching roller bearing to the H1R. That was really good news!

The work could continue. I sent him the gaskets I had sourced plus new piston rings, clutch plates ( a few of them anyway...) and some other bits and pieces needed for the motor. The gearbox was in good condition and only needed slight adjustments with shims to be perfect. New bearings and rollers, of course. Those are all standard parts and stock pieces at EBOS/Eptune.

As the cases were getting ready to assemble he also had to tend to the axles, primary drive gears and the clutch. The axles were fine with a good media glass blast and will work fine as they are. No need to add material and grind to measurement. That was a relief. The clutch parts arrived to me via secure, insured mail....

- "You need to get these rezinked, and please clean out the pitting on the outer clutch plate"

Ok, finally I could do something myself!

A package arrived with some goodies.....

Here´s what the parts looked like. Bear in mind, all that´s been done here is glass blasting. My job was to get the parts straightened and sent off to the zink shop. The biggest problem was the clutch basket. The bike has been in quite a few crashes and I believe the clutch may have been replaced a few times. This one also bears marks after a close encounter with asphalt.

Slight road rash on the clutch basket....

I tried to straighten it using a file and fine paper. Worked OK. I could get most of the damaged surface smooth enough to be acceptable. I did notice when looking closely that the basket was somewhat bent at the damaged spot. It had a "flat spot" that I needed to remove for the clutch plates to move freely.

Straightening the clutch basket.

It looks like a brutal method but it works fine. Many small, light blows with a small hammer/mallet does the trick. Give it a few beats, feel for result and keep at it until its round and smooth again. I can tell you it feels odd standing there beating on a clutch basket from an H1R like that... JEEZZ!

Almost done. Just some filing to do

I got the basket ready for zink and started on the clutch plate. Thank god I have my Dremel....

Dremel is a wonderful machine!

It took me about an hour to grind and sand the plate enough to an acceptable the surface. I could have spent 3 more hours and got it just perfectly smooth, but I don´t want that. Enough is enough! I polished the surface on my bench grinder using a buffing wheel and polishing wax. I think it got too shiny so I´ll ask Ebbe to glass blast it again when he gets it back. Or, what do you guys think?

Bit too shiny, or?

Anyway... Here´s what the parts looked like about two weeks ago when they left for rezink.

Parts going to be rezinked (not the clutch plate...)

In the meantime, Ebbe had been hard at work with the engine. He had measured the pistons, piston rings (groove fitment and end gaps) and cylinders plus heads. Everything was within tolerance except the piston play in the cylinder with the new piston. Way to tight there! And a little bit on the large side on the other two. The solution? Hone the first cylinder to a correct play, glass blast the other two pistons ( makes them 1 hundredth of a millimeter larger). Piston rings were fine in all measurements.
Perfect! Everything ready to be assembled!

Pornographic picture....?

NOS cylinder base gaskets and on goes the barrels..... With that "nucast" steel ball polished surface I just love!

Getting there....

I bought two sets of reproduced copper head gaskets from France and they were also sent to Malmoe. These are 1mm thick and makes the engine slightly weaker due to the  lower compression ratio. During racing you could choose from a variety of thicknesses from 0,2 mm up to 1 mm in order to tune you engine perfectly for every race course. Well, I won´t be needing top performance when I´ll be driving it. I have never even been on a race track at all with a bike.... Interesting?!

Starting to look like an engine again!

In the last picture you can see what it looks like now... I think it´s superb! I´m more than happy with the work done by Ebbe so far. He even cleaned and painted the exhaust holders for me. I supplied NOS exhaust holder gaskets bought from Switzerland.... Parts are scarce for these bikes so I have to try all over the world. Sometimes I get lucky and sometimes I don´t! That´s all part of the hobby, right?

I think I´ll leave the story here and come back another day for the rest of it. More progress have been made on the engine and also on other parts....

Stay tuned for more, hopefully faster than last time!