Lucky Phil

So today I looked at the cams and lifters again. I have a couple of used r/h cams, one I believe any normal person would use again without a second thought and one that any decent engineer would not. Which isnt to say I'm thrilled to use the acceptable one but thats the life of the pedantic. I checked the new lifters for correct finish and found them all good. The V10 engine has a reputation for being hard on lifters and valve guides so I'm paying particular attention to this area hence the preoccupation with such matters as lifter and cam profile.It doesnt help that I dont know the actual mileage of the engine originally and I also have parts from another engine of unknown mileage. No one has a definitive answer to this issue so everything needs to be examined. The cam lobes on this engine are lubricated via a small 1mm dia hole in the camshaft between the lobes. The cam itself is housed in what could be best described as a bathtub arrangement. Oil is fed from a main head gallery into the center of the camshaft and it then squirts out of the lube hole and keeps the bathtub filled which the lobes dip into on each rotation and it also squirts a bit of oil into the general head area. Its not a system I'm totally in love with as I'd much prefer to have the oil distributed directly to the opening ramps of each lobe, but it is what it is. Interestingly on my unusable r/h cam I found the small 1mm oil feed hole almost totally blocked so that explains the wear I guess. Whats really important with this engine is to make sure you have plenty of cam lube on the lobes before its first start AND the bathtub the cams sit in is filled with oil. I'm wondering if a lot of the cam and lifter issues stem from poor attention to these areas at the factory as you can toast a lifter and lobe in the first 30 seconds of operation if you haven't prepared. Lifter faces all good. radias is something like 76 feet but they all measured up at 0.06mm across the face ctr to edge. Here's the cam lube hole that was almost totally blocked. Here's what was blocking it. One of the 2 pieces on the left is what I found. They were some form of organic material and I had no idea from where but in one of those crazy moments where the universe provides you with an answer from, well somewhere, I found the source. If only the universe stepped up for something really meaningful. Not more than 5 minutes after finding the partially blocked oil feed hole ( partially blocked as in a 1mm drill needed to be pushed with force to clear it although a bright torch shined in the hole still showed a little light in the main cam gallery) I was looking at the main head gallery where the blanking plug is fitted and at the inside end of the threads I found stuck there the piece of the material shown on the right of the pieces that blocked the hole. its the thread sealant the factory used on the oil gallery blanking plug. It looks a little less translucent in the photo because it thicker in section but its the same stuff. My wife often wonders why I'm awake thinking at 3am. Ciao

I experimented with a wheel guard attached with clamps by that method 5 years ago or so but for me it looked a little too busy and inelegant. When I can summon up the motivation I'll weld some tabs to the swing arm for the guard I think. Ciao

I suspect the bubbles are water that leaches all the way through the tank material but I honestly dont know definitively. Why dont you prick a bubble and see if any fluid comes out. If the paint bubbles and you wrap over the paint then obviously you will have the wrap bubbling as well. You cant wrap over an unpainted tank because the only way to get the paint off a plastic tank in reality is to media blast them and thats what I've had to do in the past. Then the tank surface is too rough to wrap. My main question with the wrap and I've seen a bit of it done on youtube and its amazing stuff and the guys are skilled is, is it fuel proof from the point of view of spillage during refueling and the inevitable constant exposure to slight fuel vapors around the filler cap fitting etc. Ciao

Way too much fuss over this bike for mine. Personally I like it but, at the end of the day its just a V11 with different body work. Does it look better than the std V11? for mine no. It looks different and it looks good to my eye BUT before I'd consider it on a serious level I have 2 major concerns. A...its a solo bike now and needs to stay that way to maintain the style . B... I suspect that it probably doesn't hold much fuel after the under tank mods required to fit the V11 spine frame. If it holds any less than the current V11 then its just another in the long line of interesting but ultimately impractical bodywork customs. Ciao

Moved on to the heads today while I wait for a new OP relief spring. I have 2 brand new l/h camshafts so I'm good for that head but I wanted to check the cam lobe taper to be sure I'll get the lifter rotation I need when the engine is running. I had heard a long while back that the factory cams can be ground without any taper due to poor quality. So I chucked up a new L/H can and dialed it up. The manual says it should have and 8' angle on the lobe so a 20mm wide lobe by may calculation should have a .046mm taper across the face. The std new cam came up at .040 so close enough. The R/H lobes are another matter. The exhaust isnt too bad, its got the taper but some wear in the center of the lobe. The inlet however isnt quite so good. No taper and center wear. I'll have a more comprehensive look at these and see where on the lobe the wear and lack of taper begins and ends and decide what action to take. Hopefully I'll be able to use a diamond lap and correct them by hand. Ciao

Images added....thanks Jaap. Ciao

Cant add images at present. I've uploaded some but like the currently stored images they dont appear in my albums. Probably the switchover to the new system. Ciao