Harley Davidson V-Rod Forum banner

VRXSE-2012 Engine Refresh Project-TMH Racing

22K views 124 replies 20 participants last post by  Jan-Dirk 
#1 ·
The fun began today.

I pulled all the stuff so the my Budd's Bill & Pete could assist me in removing the engine from the frame, mounting the stand bracket and hoisting the 240 some pounds into the engine stand.

The oil came out nice & clean, no scary bearing materials, a tiny bit of steel frags on the plug magnet, probably gear material from the Tranny.

Intake valve as seen through the intake ports look OK.

Some of the things going into the project, new second gear, shifter fork, hardened shaft, etc.....

Next weekend, or possibly the following the full disassembly starts on the engine.

Still waiting on Chicago HD to ship my part orders, one is 3+ months old the other about 6 weeks. Come guy's let's get on the STICK :soapbox: you've had my money all this time and I've done paid the credit card bills, yet NO PARTS.:spank:
 

Attachments

See less See more
9
#4 · (Edited)
:stilpoke: Finally got some action from Chicago HD, they CAN NOT fill my orders from last August (this was The wiring kit for the DYNA-DRL-400), nor can they fill the engine refresh project parts order.

They apologized & issued credits to my card.

NOw I'm off to the local dealer to place an in person order, maybe it will come in a timely fashion! Actually the local dealer has been very good about timeliness when I have ordered stuff!

but .. :soapbox:

I resent HD CORP putting the pinch on dealers who have up to this point had fantastic Internet sales departments, this is NOT for everyone, plenty of good reasons to walk into a store to get in person customer service when appropriate and on the flip side it's very convenient to order over the net.
 
#9 ·
Parts Order.

Thanks to a tip off from Bryan on an upcoming sale, I went down to Russ' Ocean State HD in Warwick RI on Saturday morning with the MRS.

Ordered over a ~$970.00 worth of stuff for the rebuild project,

Launch box wiring kit, O-ring, Fuel hose, Fuel hose pump to filter, Fuel module seal, Destroyer Injector kit, Gray Sealant, Assembly Lube, Valve seals, Engine gasket kit, Rear head gasket, Front head gasket, Trans bearing left input shaft, Trans bearing left output shaft, Exhaust gaskets, Destroyer air box bracket kit, Head bolts, Breather tube hose (backup for when the current one rots & leaks, Map sensor kit w O-ring, Surface gap spark plugs
I got 25% off the list prices net ~$727.00, add RI 7% sales tax =$51.00 and no shipping fees!!!!

I saved more than the deal with Chicago HD, where I was only getting a 10% discount but had to pay about $40 for shipping!

In the grands scheme, I'm saving by going to the local guy, stimulating the local economy, where RI has been in the shite-bin for quite some time. :broke::broke:

Assuming Russ' comes through I'll be all set, but if they have trouble coming up with obscure Destroyer parts, I will be hitting a few of our forum Racers for supply help, (several of you have offered to help in PM's) I greatly appreciate the racer support :notworth:

I'll need to put in a supplemental order once the case is split and I know which main & rod bearing codes to order, also need to get a fresh oil pan to spacer gasket/baffle, O-ring for the clutch hat, piston ring set if the original rings show unusual wear and a new flange nut for the output sprocket.
 
#10 ·
Covers off & Cam & Tensioner Lash Checks.

I reported the details of the lash checks over in Mechanical for ongoing commentary by other Destroyer owners instead of here or within this sub forum for general interest, NOTE the tolerances on Destroyer heads are a bit looser than street heads.

Here is that thread:
http://www.1130cc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2207691#post2207691

The rest of the project involved stripping the engine of all covers & accessories, sensors, etc so that we will be ready for case splitting tomorrow afternoon.

Before I jump into that, My Buddie Bill wants to do a cam timing check to see if I'm in spec according to the book, intake is 107+/- 1 degree
exhaust is 116 +/- 1 degree., I'm not sure if it's a VRD violation to tinker with the timing, since I probably have little chance of ever reaching their competitive level, it's probably a moot issue.:deal:

Bill likes to tailer timing to get what he believes is better flow, we'll talk more about that later.

I dropped the oil pan, no gross amounts of nasty crap, couple flecks of bearing material (non-ferrous), as well as a few gear fragments (ferrous/magnetic).

I'll post some photos of the tear-down, my cannons battery SHT-THE-BED, partway so I only have a few pictures.

Tomorrows report will have the engine apart and a better idea of the shim ranges I'll need for tweaking, main & rod bearing codes, condition of rings, etc.
 

Attachments

#11 ·
She's Naked (The engine that is)

We spent about eight hours work, starting with additional diagnostics, my lash measures were fine. The Cam timing was in spec.

Went onto pulling the rest of the engine apart, this getting easy, NOW that it's my third time.

Neatly organized all the parts as they were coming off.

The Pistons & rings look good, very little carbon build on them, a bit on the cylinder walls at the squish. The rings appear to be fine, but new ones are going in just because. The cyl look like new, still all the original cross hatch, no thrust gouging. The case blow by we got during th eleak down testing a few weeks ago, was attributed to mal-aligned compression rings, they were with 30 degrees of each other, might have contributed to a bit of end gap leaking.

The Tranny overall looked good except second gear, there was quite a bit of wear in the gear pockets, the dog's showed a bit of wear too, this is where I was getting fragments. The new VH straight cut will be replacing these helical gears, the gears themselves do not appear to have any issues, but that's just a matter of time, off with these and on with the new ones!!

The cam's were not as bad as the photo's make them out to be, Bill thinks this was a crude machining process on the cam grinds, it was uniform on all the cams on the leading & trailing ramps as well as the heal, only the nose of the cam was mirror smooth with no unusual wear, all the buckets tops were fine too.

The heads were in pretty good shape though we still need to pull the individual valves and start the reconditioning process, that will be over the next few weeks at his shop.
 

Attachments

#13 ·
Russ' Ocean State Harley-Davidson, Inc. kicks azz!

They filled my Destroyer engine rebuild part list in 12 day, including the elusive launch box wire adapter kit for use with the DRL400! I'm using that to resurrect the stock Launch Box

THANK YOU Ocean State HD!!
 
#15 ·
#17 ·
I really wished I lived closed...
 
  • Like
Reactions: TaxmanHog
#18 ·
I hear ya, it would be good to have you, Lou, Lonnie, Scott or any of the other notable VROD engine builders in the ~HOOD~, we're doing well, as some of you know my projects move a glacial speed compared to the 24 48 or 72 hour projects I've seen & read about here. :notworth:
 
#19 ·
Cam Cleanup & Start of Head Reconditioning

The heads came apart today at Bills shop, the faces of all the valves were in pretty good shape, very little carbon inclusions on them or the seats. Though plenty of build up just before and after the exhaust seats. Bright yellow burnt fuel residue on the exhausts, uniform on all four. The port work inside the heads were not bad for the machine cut, but we're going to clean them up taking some of the texture away, leaving a satin surface, not a mirror surface!

The Cam's were all uniform as far as the initial machining, a few minutes on the polishing wheel with white compound made them look much better, they all cleaned up nice. I will give them a good douching with cleaner to make sure no polishing compound remains. :spank:

The Valve's have been cleaned up with a blasting glass/soda compound in the BLAST CABINET, then a final wiping with red scotch-brite, they will be final lapped after the heads are done. New Valve seals too.

The new Springs are on standby.

I mic'd all the shims to figure out what I have and what I might need for final setup.

Next round of work will be the 26th or 2nd, final cleanup and head reassembly. We noticed the feared casting erosion between the intake seats, not going to do anything this cycle except measure where I am at, next year we will compare what has transpired in race season 2012, if the gap grows, then the next service procedure will be sent to Shortblock Charlie for keyed seat installation

Then we will move to the tranny gear set's to install the V&H 2nd gear's and new bearings on the left side.

Hopefully we will have all final assembly supplies by then and engine rebuild sometime by the end of January.:angelwin:
 

Attachments

#20 ·
More Photos
 

Attachments

#21 ·
more
 

Attachments

#24 ·
Not much activity on the engine to date, my head work and tranny gear swap is in the que and up next for completion, hope to be putting it all back together before the end of March so that I am ready for 4/1 opening day at NED.
 
#28 ·
Jerry, I would like nothing better than to do just that!!

Complications that I have no control over slowed the project, my buddy Bill has been experiencing some medical issues for the last 8 month's it's been getting more difficult for him to work in the shop, which is a part time (2 day a week) service shop on his off days from driving a big rig hauling the US mail the other five days of the week.

This guy has been working 14/7 for 30+ years, the manic pace is catching up on him. Recently he got the medical attention to diagnose his issues and medicinal treatments started last Saturday evening, first level Parkinson's. His is early stage and the doctor is encouraging him to continue the treatment, $600 month drug that his wifes health insurance was able to get filled for $75 co-pay. This MED will reduce the tremors he's experiencing in his right arm and hand. :angelwin:

My concern is much greater for his ongoing health than getting to the races on-time, made it very clear to him his health is first, when he's up to working on the items I have subbed to him he has been chipping at it slowly.

Last week this past Sunday/Monday he finished the porting, he lapped all the valves, the compound indicated they were still spot on where face & seat meet, no need to cut them.

Today is the first day of my vacation, did a lot of errands for the Kawasaki, needed chain lube and another oil filter, with over 3100 miles, I will need to change the oil soon), needed to adjust & lubed it's chain. This bike has been keeping me sane while the Destroyer is laid up.

After doing the PM's on the Kawi, I got SERIOUS about preparing the DESTROYER engine case for assembly, cleaned all the mating surfaces of old sealant.

Hand rubbing the piston crowns with brakleen and scotch-brite to remove the fuel deposits all came off pretty easily. Need to end-gap the new ring set's.

Tomorrow, I'll look over all the accessory parts to make sure they are clean and ready to hang in/on the engine when I begin assembly.

Double checked my parts supplies, I have everything needed to put her back to running condition.

Next Sunday/Monday we will assemble the heads with the new beehive springs, do a shim check & tweaking. Then we need to complete the second gear swap on the tranny and install new bearings. New fork shaft and fork.

Tuesday 4/24 I'm back to work, but my evenings will be filled with putting the engine back together, having done this twice before with Bill's help I'm confident I can do this on my own, will have some assistance from a few other buddies when it's time to frame the engine.

If everything falls into place, I could be racing Friday & Saturday, Test & Tune 4/27, 4/28, then first round of ET at New England Dragway on 4/29. :angelwin:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top