Hey Bruce, your response is valued but, it's not your responsibility to be the answerer of all problems. Thank you. Yes, my hope is to not just get through this but post it so others can find it in the future.
Yes, I already have Atlantic's stud kit. That picture with the threads pulled out is from me test-threading the holes and checking depth. That was the second one and the threads just came out on the stud when I removed it.
It's been disappointing to hear how many clueless people have commented to me in real life about what a POS my bike must be. I guess they never worked on any other sand cast engines. This is insanely common on BMW Airheads, old VWs, etc, etc. I even stumbled onto a specific Harley Time-sert kit that includes all the right length inserts and other tools to do the job for their cases. Spark plug replacement kits, cylinder head kits...so many people who obviously don't work on their own stuff and don't know about the failures. Sad, really. Onward and upward as somebody wrote...
Engine installation / Removal:I can imagine the valve covers would provide extra clearance but, that can't be the way they went in at the factory. That's what I'm looking for: can it be done complete, and if so, how? Now that it's out, it would make sense to bench assemble it and close it out.
I'm going to make some hoisting plates to bolt to the intake ports--ala Chevy engine hoist adapter plate. From that, I can hang the weight of the engine from a cherry picker and just tilt and guide it into the frame with the weight suspended. The frame is already padded with pipe insulation (if you didn't notice) and the engine will get wrapped with a moving blanket as it's bumping into the opening.
Electrical Box:It wasn't the ECU I was questioning. The entire electronics area is bolted to a couple of plates. It honestly looks to me like if that gets all the bolts taken loose and pushed out of the way or completely removed, the whole engine bay opens up. My guess is that got built after engine installation on the assembly line. I'm not sure if it needs to come out for engine removal or if it's just more convenient that way.
Hole Depths:I already have an email in to Jamie but, he's a busy guy. If he's not able to respond, it would be nice to know if somebody else has the information.
My main question to him was on hole depths (exactly as you mentioned). I seem to remember reading this somewhere else. The hole you see in the picture? That and one other were over half an inch shallower than the remaining six holes. Based on what you just posted, I wonder if the bolt bottomed out at the factory and ripped those threads loose long ago?
Sitting on top of the bike, the back-right hole on the front jug and the front-left hole on the rear jug are the two shallow ones. Think about where those are: right in the center of the V, my concern and question to Jamie was: is there a reason for them being shallow? Is there no material behind them? An oil galley? I don't want to just go punching a drill into them if there is a good reason they were manufactured that way.
Knowing that the engines were CNC machined, it's hard to imagine a manufacturing process where they'd end up with a couple of random, inconsistent hole depths for no reason at all. I am not getting super precision measurements with a digital caliper just shoved down a hole, yet all the others were consistent: right around 1.64" deep. The two shallow ones were 1.113 and 1.033!
Being manufactured on a CNC, if a drill broke or slipped, creating shallow holes, the following tap would never know and would snap instantly as it hit the bottom. That would scrap the part and it would never make it out that way. That's why I believe those holes were not accidental. Maybe it was unnecessary for the engineer to design it that way, or the CNC programmer to program it that way but, it wasn't an accident. Heck, I've met and talked to the vendor that manufactured our cases and they seemed like a first-rate outfit. That's another story...
Sooo...
- Is there a reason the holes can't be drilled all the way to 1.64" deep?
- If not, how deep CAN I go?
The Time-sert website says that you need to select an insert that is 1/4" shorter than the hole depth. That allows some room for the partial threads at the nose of the tap, and a seating area for the locking feature on the insert. 1.64" deep, minus 0.25 = 1.39". The next shorter insert is 1.2" so that's what I selected. I have enough coming to do all eight holes the same but, I also bought two of the 0.870s for the shallow holes (just in case).
The 1.2" inserts need 1.45-1.50 of hole. If it's safe to take the hole that deep, that's what I'll do and all eight will get matching inserts. I'd just like to not experiment on this engine. Somebody out there has to know the answer after all these years.
