Magneto & Starter Clutch

Cool word- MAGNETO.  Below is the magneto stator I believe. Its a bunch of coiled up copper wires, and it bolts onto the inside engine cover. The wiring is frayed and held together with some old electrical tape.

 

 

Bolted in place.

 

 

The rotor is really two things in one. The rotor itself which contains permanent magnets which creates the magnetic field so the stator coils can produce alternating current. And then the starter clutch. Below is the clutch on the backside of the rotor. Those three shiny rollers (effectively) "lock" onto the crankshaft when the electric starter is engaged. When the engine starts, the crankshaft spins faster than the electric starter and those rollers spin the other way and disengage from the crankshaft. Nifty.

 

Here you can see all the marks where those rollers grab onto. The sprocket is for the starter chain.

 

Not sure why, but I disassembled the starter clutch.

You can see where the rollers roll back and forth in the oil tracks.

When I put it back together, I was missing a pin that pushes against the one of the rollers via a spring. F*ck. I looked high and low for 15 minutes. Nothing. Low and behold, it was under my nose (or rather the rotor) the whole time! Thanks to the magnets, it didn't get very far!

 

Now since I'm eliminating the starter and going kick only, I thought I could also eliminate the starter sprocket. And I did just that until I noticed this little oil passage hole. The sprocket covers this and without it, the oil pressure/flow might be altered too much. Heck if I know one way or the other so I had to remove the rotor again and put the sprocket back in place.

 

 

Tightening the rotor on with my make shift holding tool. I let the wrench press against the bench top so I don't have to fight against my own arms.

 

Cover on. Making Progress. Hell yeah.

The Voodoo Vintage KZ750 Twin Hardtail

I scored big time with the hardtail. I had my eye on Voodoo Vintage for a long time. Dave is doing a lot of great work for vintage metric bikes, but nothing for the KZ750 twin (until now). I sent him an email about making a hardtail for my bike, and he offered to do it on the cheap as a prototype for larger production runs. I sent my frame in the very next day.

 

I think it turned out perfect. Thanks Dave!

http://www.voodoovintage.com/

https://www.facebook.com/voodoovintage

Taking a Breather

Nothing like putting something on your bike that's simple as can be like this breather cover. It gives me a little confidence boost knowing I made progress & nothing is screwed up (and if even if it was, correcting it doesn't mean splitting the case or something crazy like that).

 

 

 

I should add these before pics more often as a reminder how far I've come. Its easy to get discourage knowing how much more there is to do. I love how the twigs in the picture give it the "left outside basket case" vibe.

 

 

Valve lapping

Pulled the old valve oil seals off with a pliers. These wear out so might as well replace them when ever the valves are out.

 

 

New Vitan synthetic rubber seals.

 

 

 

 

Just a few pics of carbon build up.

 

 

These dremel pads are awesome.

 

 

Used two Permatex grinding compounds (course & fine) on the valves and seats.

 

 

 

After a few minutes on each seat, this was the result. Those look like pits, but I think they are just carbon spots. I ran my finger nail along the seats and it felt very smooth. I really didn't feel like paying for a valve job if they didn't need it

 

 

 

So I kept at it with the lapping tool for a little bit more and most of it came off. I didn't do any fancy measurements. They look good to me!

 

 
Homemade valve compressor with a big C clamp and socket. Pretty tight spot to get the keepers in there by the purple arrow. First one took forever, but I got the hang of it after that.

 

 

 

 

This was my test to see if the valves formed a nice seal with the seats. I stood the head on its side and filled the ports with break cleaner. Its not a full proof method, but its better than nothing. All the valves held the break cleaner.

 

 No leaks!!!