Engine deconstructionism

So over the course of the last two nights, I've been working on disassembling the engine I pulled off Spare. It's been pretty interesting, actually. The whole thing reminds me a lot of a very small Cessna engine, in that the construction is robust and simple, and all the parts are sort of oversized.

The cool part about it- and I can say that it's cool because it's not the engine I'm interested in running- is that you can tell exactly where Spare was kept before it wound up with me. There was a big rain storm, or several, and the bike fell over onto its left side, judging from the seven metric tons of red clay I poured out of the alternator case this evening. The right side didn't suffer the same treatment, though, according to the immaculate condition of the clutch. Curious. At any rate, I think I'm getting a pretty good idea of where things go inside the engine, which should make the process of fixing the shifter on Cub a lot smoother. I think it'll still be a pain in the ass, but at least soon I can undertake it informed. Another little

With a slightly involuntary recalculation of my schedule for this project, I think that I can have it up and running for Christmas.. perhaps even street legal and on its way to being marketable. It'll really depend on what I can get and how easily. As it stands, I think that my goal for the moment is to have the engine cranking by November and riding by December first. Wednesday or Thursday I'm planning to take my camera and get some nicer pictures of my progress so far. Look forward to it...

-The Proprietor