Wiring Harness Autopsy

For comparison, here's a NOS CA200 harness I got off ebay for cheap because it was mis-listed. Year on the tag is 1965.

 

Now here's an S90 harness that, instead of sitting on a shelf, has been subjected to every indignity that can be thrown at it: Sun fading, bare spots from abrasion, cuts, electrical tape,etc.

Thank the gods there was no speaker wire involved.

The main thing I wanted to study is here. Namely, how does the silver tape interface with the tube. Here you can see some of the original color underneath.

 A close-up:

 Here's a close-up of the other end. Ugly.

Here you can see where the tape doubles back on itself.

Finally some sort of black tape is exposed. This is what actually holds the tube on.

The black wire is split then split again.Ground?

Pretty small pieces of the silver tape.Notice the angle of the cut.

Pulling off the black tape. Not as wide as regular electrical tape.

Here you see how the tube is creased and folded over on itself.

The black tape ends just inside the crease.

 You can see the end of the tape.

 More cut wires. Dammit.

What ISN'T wrong with this harness?

WTF Parts, part the last.

 Gaskets at last. Part numbers for future reference.

Ball Honing

I just can't bring myself to say 'dingleberry hone,' but if that's what they call it on their website, that's their business. I wouldn't want one of these spinning near any tender bits regardless.

I found a hone from Flex-Hone which came to 73mm (bore is 72mm and instructions say to get a hone the same size or the next size up) and got to work. Shout out to the trusty conversion chart here.

Here you see where I filled the plastic hootis it came in with straight 30-weight and gave it a bit of a soak & spin to get her oiled up. I also oiled up the cylinder. You can find good instructions anywhere on the internets, so I'm not going into them here.

 

I knew this would be a messy bit of work, so I did it in a dirty tote.

 Here you see the gray mess left in the cylinder when done. This is basically oil and hone dust, with a little bit of metal. As you can see, I tried to get it to a 45-degree angle. It doesn't take long. The purpose of the cross-hatch is to hold just a tiny bit of oil in the cylinder walls. Too narrow of an angle and the oil doesn't stay, causing premature wear. Too wide and it grabs too much oil. Or something. I stopped paying attention.

Note: You're not removing a lot of metal as in a bore-out. All this does is knock the glaze off the wall so the new rings will seat. It's called 'deglazing'.

Here are some pictures of me cleaning it in the kitchen sink with soap and nylon brushes. My woman is very understanding - so long as she doesn't know I'm using the kitchen for these kinds of things, she doesn't mind.

 It's probably best to blow it dry with compressed air, but I didn't have any, so I just had to keep using paper towels.

.

Shit. Here's a little nick I didn't see before. Had I known it was there, I might've gone with a first-over piston and rings, then taken it to a shop for an over-bore. At this stage, I've already ordered the damned piston & rings. Hope it doesn't hurt things.

Here's the piston and rings soaking in the 30-weight I didn't use.

Here's the cylinder with a nice coat of oil on it. Just waiting on that new set of gaskets...

Garage Insulation

Just started putting up this stuff. So far, it looks like it'll make a difference. I think the bigger issue is the man-door to the side, but every little bit counts where insulation is concerned. Right now, the second I turn off my deadly heater, there's a cold cold breeze.

Hopefully it won't be sealed up so tight I can't run my deadly propane heater without monoxide poisoning.

Now to cover the parts of the door blocked by all the shit. Gods help me if I have to get to the circuit breaker.

WTF Parts, Part 2

Of course the gasket kit from BFE, China was wrong. Best guess is that it was for a 1990 and up. After an irritating chat with Partzilla support, I ordered the correct ones for head and cylinder base. Also, some other stuff that Burnout probably lost. Of course, I forgot to get the damned muffler nuts. I emailed them to see if I can tack them onto this order without paying another $6 in shipping. Argh.

On the plus side, the cylinder ball-honing (ouch) went well. Pics coming soon.

EDIT: Partzilla.com emailed to say they had added the exhaust nuts to the order. I may have this bitch running by christmas.