Rusty Bolt

Still dealing with trying to break the nut free!  I think I'll get a portable torch and apply some heat. Stay tuned.

Exhaust manifold bolt/nut

Finished with the electrical, other than the TSS switch, I'm leaving that disconnected for now.  Next step is to bolt up the exhaust.  But one of the manifold nuts is rusted to the stud,  so I removed the stud and will let it soak in oil for a few days to see if it will loosen up. I'll give the clutch a try next.

Priority project-pellet furnace

I'm tired of the high propane prices do I'm installing a pellet furnace. Back in a few days.

Yet more electrical issues, kind of...

It's been almost a month since I posted, but I have been working on this.   But with the serious lack of snow and the holidays, it has't been a priority.

Once I had the motor bolted in and torqued down, I connected the coolant hoses and the electrical.  With the electrical hooked up I decided to do a quick pull test to verify my connections.  Well, guess what?  That's right, no spark!  I double-checked the connections, made sure my tether was connected, key on and on/off button up.  So, I grabbed my voltmeter and started testing all electronics from the stator up.  All components tested fine, now what?!

Quite a long story made short,  I found more than a few references to disconnecting the yellow wire harness from the stator and testing for spark then.  Supposedly this bypasses ALL handle bar controls.  I did this, still no spark.  Then I remembered! I had a problem with the TSS (Throttle Safety Switch) and had disconnected it before the original motor went.  So, despite what I read about the yellow wire harness bypassing everything on the handle bar, I disconnected the TSS.  SPARK!!  So much for the internet forums. I am ashamed of how long I went before doing this.  That just goes to prove, don't believe everything you read.

I dub thee Frankenmotor

Oil Pump issue behind me, connected, bled and so on.  Torqued all the motor mounts.  Started to connect some of the electrical, and, well, turns out the efi cylinder head I bought off of eBay appears to be from a 2001? EFI.  There is a temp switch in the head instead of the temp sensor, why not?  I have so many different parts in to this I do not know what is what any more.  All I know is the head looks identical, so I am swapping sensor/switches and calling it good.  I had asked around on some sled forums, most said it should work, a few said to check the "squish".  Ugh.  I will check the compression before I start it, and if it is within tolerances I am going with it!

Slight delay due to oil pump.

Another bit of information, turns out that most of the EFIs use a different oil pump than the carbs.   Since my carb motor came with an oil pump on it, I assumed I could use it.  Just to be sure I decided to remove the motor (I can now do this in less than 20 minutes) to check it out.  Lucky for me I had kept my pump from my original motor. Like a dummy I removed the pump from the motor so I could check internal workings.  Not lucky for me is that the two pumps look identical, so much so when things were moved on my work bench I could not tell which was which!  If there is a next time I will tag EVERYTHING.  Anyway, since they look so much a like, external and internal, I am just putting one on, and hope for the best.

Some tips on the motor mounts when installing the engine...

1.  The AC Service manual says to install the lower coolant hose to the water pump before bolting in the motor mounts.  Do it!  The front Mag side mount is in the way.  While it is possible to slip it on afterwards, it would be easier with the mount pushed out of the way.

2. When I put the engine in, I installed the bolts in both front mounts, and the rear mag side mount. Unfortunately the PTO rear bolt hole would not line up.  I had to remove the engine bolts from the front PTO side mount and loose then rest to get it lined up.

3.  Likewise for the bottom bolt of the rear mag side mount, loosen the bolts on all the mounts, and remove the engine bolts from the from mag side mount, to allow alignment for this bolt.

Put the engine in....

After making an emergency run to replace a missing motor mount bolt, and a lot of swearing, the engine is back in the belly! Next  - tighten the bolts, connect the wires, refill the coolant, and so on................................not the best picture of my progress, but you get the idea.

I'm baaaaackkkk!

After a long hiatus from working on this machine I vow to finish it within the next few weeks.  However - when I moved it in to my heated workshop from the main part of my pole barn I noticed a peculiar smell.  Long story short, mice had taken up residence in the air silencer.  No one to blame but myself!  It sat in the same spot for 3 years and the mice lived there undisturbed.  So removed the air silencer, clean it out, and the area behind it.  Took about a week of soapy cleaning, Simple Green and Lysol wipes to get rid of the smell.  Finally I put it back in tonight.  Tomorrow I will but the computer module and related items back in.  Then I can pick up where I left off a few years ago. Stay tuned