cult45's 45 recovery and remobilisation

[cult45]

Well @ozcrusier i went the vinegar, salt and a few bolts.

 

[ozcrusier]

I would have used lead sinkers but the vinegar and bolts will clean it up.
I would fill it to the brim with water and leave it for 3 or 4 days but it will need to be drained keeping the flushing vinegar untill your happy with the end product. Once you give it a few days you need to empty it out and jam the garden hose in the tank flat out and blow the rusty crap off the metal. I just went through this with a Honda 90 tank and it was like new after 7 days and 3 flushes. Once your happy tip a heap of clothes washing detergent to neutrilise the mild acid in the vinegar. I like to run a little two stroke oil in my fuel for the tank and engine components with modern lead free fuel.

 

[ozcrusier]

I strongly suggest to remove the fuel tank not hard just a few 10mm bolts use plenty off WD 40 while you wait the 3 days for the vinegar to do it's magic. All the rubber fuel lines will need replacing once its out.

 

[chappohj47]

That's a lot of vinegar and salt

 

[cult45]

After a night of soaking I flushed him with the garden hose, squirting as many parts inside the tank as possible. Flushed it three more times with just water, once with baking soda, then twice more with just water. Shook all the bolts out then drained it out of every hole it had. Tilted it on its side and stuffed a series of rags in through the sender hole and sloshed it side to side to let the water pass into the rags. Pulled the rags til they were almost dry. Re installed it back in the truck, filled it half full of fuel and a litre of metho to soak up any water. Ran it. Seemed okay but not great. Timed it, found a vac hose off, reset richness to two turns out from bottom and idle to just touching and it ran a bit better but wouldn't idle without gas. Tried a few things but nothing. Took it for a short drive and it fixed itself!

Came down to it today and it cranked right over. Beautiful. Took it for a long drive (30 mins, hot day) and it ran like a champ! Filled up the tank with 98, 250mL of two stroke oil and another litre of metho. Have to leave it for a few days as I'm away for work. But so far so good. Next I'll re check points gap and plug gaps and try source a timing light and really get this thing running sweet. It's gonna be a movie star soon!

 

[ozcrusier]

I would change the fuel filter a few times to pick up any lose sludge.

 

[cult45]

Yep. Got a bunch of those ready to go

 

[cult45]

Well today I spent my Good Friday on the 45 installing a new manifold-to-exhaust-pipe gasket [seal/washer?]. Layers of metal and fibrous material sandwiched together. Torqued him down good. It no longer sounds like a plastic bag in the wind when you get on or come off the gas.

Also grabbed my spare MPH cluster and changed out the oil pressure and water temp. gauges in my original one. They'd been haywire since I've owned it. But that didn't fix it and it went from this:

..to the same but now the temp reads hot at all times.


I wired it correctly as per coolerman's website, it's got the existing oil pressure sender and a new temperature sender. Any ideas? Apparently there's a wire that links a few wires and delivers only 7v or something? My voltage regulator is on the way out too I'm told. Would this hinder?

 

[cult45]

More trouble. Was driving the F.5 donor engine yesterday. About 20 mins in when it would't idle. No dig deal, I figured something simple was amiss, maybe some sh!t was passing through the carb or something. Anyway, I pulled into a service station, adjusted the timing back a whisker and hit the road. Seemed to be good til it happened again a few minutes later. Pulled over and found this:

Ouch! The side cover was weeping [running] oil too. The water is to displace the oil from the hot manifold.

- Pulled the rocker cover and cranked the motor - oil seeped out the rocker arm spines [including arm #1 - it shot out!] so that was all good.
- Oil pressure was good [42psi at idle warm, 60psi at idle cold].
- Fuel was clean
- New points [gapped at .20 thou]; plugs; leads; coil
- Recently timed from TDC; idled; mixtured
- Rocker cover vent pipe not blocked
- Good cooling system

Any thoughts on all this? I googled for a while by the roadside and I'd say this is blow-by [landcrusher909 also suggested this]. It's at the shop ready for electrical work tomorrow so I have a window for mechanical work whilst it's there. Ideas?

 

[ozcrusier]

Breather is blocked mate no big deal don't sweat to hard as crank case pressure has to escape somewhere better in a catch can or hwy then blowing gaskets out. At least it wasn't the sump gasket.

 

[cult45]

Sh!t oz I totally forgot to call! Up to my eyeballs in bloody paperwork. So you reckon the breather is blocked? Cause I checked it once the rocker cover was off and it was clear. Unless you mean the spacer under the carb?

 

[ozcrusier]

The cork gasket was blown out or you over torqued it when you put the rocker back on. In my day I would use gasket glue to stick those cork gaskets so we didn't have your problem. Does your engine have a breather into the atmosphere maybe a breather pipe into the manifold as any compression past the rings has to go somewhere on a old engine so if the breather fails or somehow gets blocked the pressure will escape at the weakest point.

 

[ozcrusier]

Cult I still have the 2f if your keen but you need to do a compression test on the old f engine to see the engine sta

 

[Indestructible 47]

It seems like nothing goes right for ya, does it mate? keep at it

 

[cult45]

Not lately..

oz old mate I've been at it 14 hours a day of late, still no time to call. I've got the mechanic looking into it - he reckons he might be able to get a bit more life out of it by running a 60W oil [rings = cactus] so hopefully I'll be good for the 2F for now. But I get the feeling I'll be calling soon haha

 

[ozcrusier]

It's yours mate put the 60 weight oil in the old girl and come pick it up I will only hold it for so long brother.

 

[cult45]

Yeah I figured just trying to figure out a time. Heading to Cairns for work Tuesday for a week and a half. Thanks oz me old I'll make a decision by day's end.

 

[ozcrusier]

I put 13.6 volts through the 2f donk today and spun her over until the battery started to lose power. The carb was a bit sticky with sitting under a tarp for the last year or more so I gave everything a good dose off WD40. This engine is still good but time is running out on how long it will last in the Coffs Harbour coastal damp climate.

 

[cult45]

oz I rang and left a message? I am gonna go the 2F route but I'm in a 60 hour a week job and I'm about to I've house blah blah blah I've got nowhere to put it cause I'm running out of friends for storage!

 

[ozcrusier]

All good mate I will keep it a bit longer but no more warranty on this engine.