Shadow Build

[John H]

Hope to get the rods honed this week. The bearing cage has 21 rollers so I can't measure the diameter of the pin across the roller diameter. I finally forced a roller out of the cage to get an accurate diameter which is .1572.

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Now with the pin diameter, roller diameter and the bearing clearance, I know exactly what the finished bore will be. If the honed bore is a true parallel, and the clearance is .0005, the little end of the rod should rock sideways about 1/32". I may shoot for a bit less.

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[John H]

The rods are now honed to size, what a job! The new bearing races required removal of more material than normal. I questioned the supplier but didn't get a sufficient answer other than the extra material was to make up for egg shaped bores of the old rods Next will be checking the wrist pin alignment with the big end bore.

[John H]

Cleaned up the rod alignment checker but couldn't find inserts for a 2" rod bore so had to make a set. Turns out the rods are straight but the wrist pin bore is off. Not sure what has happened but I will replace the wrist pin bushings and check my reaming fixture again to see where it's out of alignment. I've also ordered a new spiral cut wrist pin reamer.

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[Lotus54]

Good thing you had the rod truing tester.

It would be pretty silly to go to all that work and have something out of true and wear very quickly.

[John H]

I made new bushings, bored and reamed them to within .001" of the finish size, then lapped them to size. The new rod holding fixture worked great. I took them to a shop that has a modern Sunnen rod alignment checker and they are right on. Finally it's time to assemble all the pieces.

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[John H]

Been slacking off the past few days. Birthdays, anniversary and bike show takes time.
I did score a flow bench at the show/swap. It's been on my list for some time, and the time was right as it was exactly what I wanted to rework the heads on the LSR motor. I will get back on that project after the Shadow is finished...and the grandsons Yamaha TY175's.
It's always fun to play with head ports to see how small changes can increase flow and velocity. I've ruined more than on head thinking bigger was better. That's acceptable with nitro but not gas.

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[John H]

Getting ready to assemble the flywheels and noticed different size oil holes in the pin where oil enters the rod bearing. Having never seen this before, I contacted Alpha Bearing Ltd in the Uk and learned this is something new. Would be great if they would include instructions with the kit noting that the small holes go to the timing side flywheel and holes should be aligned at 4º BTDC which is different than in the past. This change is to get more oil to the rod farthest from the feed and also with the holes located as such, it gives an extra amount just before the high pressure of the rollers is forced on the pin.
Still learn ing.

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[ATinkerer]

Interesting that they are still working on improving the design to deal with potential failure points.
Not all folks working on classic machines have that depth of interest.
Gordon

[John H]

Yes we're lucky to have an old company that will still make parts for us and modernize them too.
The crank went together just fine until the last few thou and then it got tight. I knew i had measured the clearance correctly so back to the bench. Turns out the new drive side main shaft shoulder was interfering with the rod. Using a small diamond file I was able to get the clearance needed so all is good. Next it will go on the truing stand for any final adjustment.

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The tungsten rod helped to keep the flywheels lined up as it went together.

[Vincent]

Excellent write up on your Shadow rebuild John. I finally got caught up on all the posts. I really enjoyed the video of arcing the clutch shoes. After reading the prior posts on the process of the clutch rebuild, the video did a good job of showing how it all worked together.