Shovelhead primary advice needed

[budbombpipe]

Hi to all,
I'm gonna start to put the complete primary, back on to me shovel(cases, clutch etc) I've read my Haynes manual and i think i know what i'm doing I was wondering if any of you had any tips to help?
Thanks

[Noddy]

Hi bub

These are a few tips that have been passed on to me over the years (25 years and still the same shovel!) and they have been more than useful on numerous occasions. I hope they are of some use to you.

One of the most difficult jobs to do on your own is to torque up the crank nut to the correct setting. All you need to do this is a square of rag... yes rag.

Get a bit 12" or so square, fold it over in half, and again etc until its about 2"wide, then role it up like a little sausage. You can insert this into the compensating sprocket teeth across the chain and also on the clutch, you need to check which side by turning the nut and seeing which is the 'feed' side. If memory serves me right it should be at the bottom! to tighten and the top to loosen, if not then its the other way round.
With the 'sausage' in place as you torque up the nut, the teeth bite into the rag and 'Lock up' the chain for you so you can tighten and undo the crank and clutch nuts without waiting for a second pair of hands or feet to hold the brakes on.
Do not forget to use 'loc-tight' on all bolts and studs... but not too much.
Make sure that the gear box oil seals are OK other wise you will have to do it all again later in the year when the leaks show up.
Where the clutch 'push rod' comes through the oil seal (approx 3/4" seal) in the middle of the main shaft, you should fit a second seal on top of the first one, ie 2 seals in the same hole, this will be the same as having a twin lip seal... hence no more leaks from the main shaft/push rod, a must for belt drives.
Don't forget to put a good sealer around the stator plug when you fit it in the crank case aperture, and lock wire the 2 bolts behind the alternator inside the primary cases.
Check the primary case support bearing is OK and the oil seal next to it, other wise its all off again later on.
Use new fittings to hold the alternator on. (spring washers or which ever type is used on yours .)
Fit a 'Hayden M6 Primary Chain Tensioner' if you can afford one. CCI part number 12-240 (all big twins 1965-present) it prolongs the chain life and keeps the tension correct.

Thats about it at the moment, if any thing else springs to mind I'll let you know. Good luck with the job.

[Kiwi]

before you tighten up the primary case, lossen off both the engine and gearbox mounts, fit the primary case then tighten up the engine and gearbox mounts

if you don't you will probably have to source a good alloy welder to weld the primary case up when it cracks because of misalignment

[hippy]

As noddy says its very hard to torque up the compensator,the rag trick is one ive heard of but have never used,i bought a locking bar ,thats designed for the job and had a few copies made ,i donated 1 to the club so it should still be available.
While i'am on the subject of club tools ,i was going to post on the club buisness page ,a challenge to all the club regions and see if we can't get all the different region to sponsor a tool to the club tool scheme[we could maybe do this through money made on the raffles at rally's or profit on the gate,just a thought ]

[panster]

Something else to check..the 0 ring that goes between the inner case
and the crank case comes in two thicknesses, thin, up to '77 (I think), and thicker after.
If you use a thick 0 ring in the wrong year case, you snap the lugs off of
the inner.
Guess how I found that out.
Check the years, not sure of exact changeover.
J.

[budbombpipe]

Thanks alot for these tips, much appreciated.

[Simon_Y]

A clutch tamer would be a good idea as well as well as a set of full length roller bearings instead of the wobbly OEM caged affair, this has made a remakable diffference to my shovel espsecially when sat at lights when it used to tend to creep forward and would occaionally snatch.

Are you also setting it up as a with an evo type lubrication system (ie instead of having the particles of chain and clutch plate shite being sucked back into the engine oil via the scavenge pump just seal it off and have tghe chain in its own lube bath this will help the longevity of the engine / oil pump) There are several postings on how to do this on the site.


BR & good luck,

Simon

[budbombpipe]

Thanks for all this advice. I've got all the parts and should be starting to build it this weekend. Wish me luck!!!!

[Noddy]

Good luck, and don't forget to keep us up dated.

[budbombpipe]

Well got started with the rebuild..... had afew problems but nothing to serious like when i fitted the gearbox the bolthole on the right didn't line up with the frame bracket, it did before i had frame powder coated!!!! so had to take box out and carefully bend bracket. Ive now got the engine, box and inner primary all together. Just waiting for the longer roller bearings to arrive, hopefully they will come before weekend. I've blocked off holes in caseing and im gonna run oil inside to lube chain. Thanks for all the tips folks, they've been really helpfull