Leftover dowel pin after engine rebuild

[Bubba1954]

Great pictures John. Lot better then any of the manual pics.
So how'd y'all wind up in Texas?

Bubba

[John]

How'd I wind up in Texas? You might say an ...airplane got me here. I work for American Airlines . I started in Chicago in 85, transferred to Louisville, Ky in 88, and then to the D/FW area in 89.
I took those pics when I did my 1179cc big bore. I had the engine stripped down to empty cases, and head. Everything was removed, cleaned, and /or sandblasted, then painted or polished. I put a lot of time in that project. About $900 too! I think it was worth it, but I don't know if I can stay with that Damned FJ1100 that SWMBO rides, though.

[John]

I looked at your pics a few days ago when you had some ride pics posted. Your bike looks nice. Isn't amazing how nice some most of these 20 something year old bikes look? I've seen lots of newer bikes that don't look as good as most of the XS's here. I restored mine back in 91, and ride all the time. It had 26k miles when I bought it in 91 and it just turned 94K a couple of days ago. The use is starting to show on it now, so I guess I'll have to do a bunch of detail work on it when I can find some time. There just isn't enough time to do everything that needs doing. Life keeps interfering.

[Bubba1954]

94k miles - Wow John! That's not bad for an air cooled bike. I used to own a GL1500 Wing and I did a high milage survey on several forums accross the net a year ago. The results of the top ten mileage bikes are listed below along with any repairs outside of maintenance:

165,902 miles - 1979 Honda GL1000 Goldwing JRSNOW 1-New Waterpump.

167,248 miles - 1982 Honda CB750/4 Dieselfixer 2-New Starters

175,000 miles - 1992 BMW R100R WIDEBMW

207,000 miles - 1988 Honda GL1500 Goldwing Larry Lanbert

230,000 miles - 1977 Honda GL1000 Goldwing Lone Winger

246,000 miles - 1994 Honda GL1500 Goldwing Roy Collins 2-Alternators

342,400 miles - 1984 Honda GL1200 Goldwing Friend of Gerold Grove Jr 5-New Stators

398,000 miles - 1987 Honda GL1200 Goldwing Lone Winger 3-Engines!

400,000 miles - 1980 Honda GL1100 Goldwing Douglas Huggins 3-pairs of shocks, Several seat covers!

958,000 miles - 1976 Harley FLH ElectraGlide POPPAGEEK Fully Documented Mileage. Unbelievable. Harley wants this bike for their Museum when he done ridding it!

[dweomer21]

OK, I've got some oil pressure ranges for you guys.
At cold start, I've got about 60 psi. After warming up, at idle (~900 psi) I've got 25 psi. What do ya think? Like I say, I'm pretty sure I put that dowel pin back in the engine, though I still can't explain where this extra one came from. Should I assume it's in there and ride it like this and just keep a very careful eye on the pressure at all times? If so, what are your opinions on the cutoff for oil pressure? For example, if I see it go beneath, say, 20psi at idle after fully warmed up, or below 40 psi warmed up and riding at 4k rpm? (these figures are totally made up).
Thanks for any hints - I want to break in this engine and ride before the season gets too cold!!
Scott

[ratbyk]

Oil Pressure

Scott, with pressures like that I would go for it. Obviously it has lots of oil pressure. On a real hot day after running hard at idle my use to drop to 5 psi. After I installed a cooler it was up to 12-15 hot/hot day/hard running/idle.
I have been fortunate to not have to open my engine up so not familiar with this dowel pin. If it was me and I had normal pressures as you indicate I would be riding it. Open it up again a something else could get snafued.
Ken/Sooke
78E Ratbyk
82 FT500 "lilRat"
92 ZX11 Temptress

[srq68]

I'm not sure about the 1100, but on my 850, there are several hollow dowels of the same size (3/8th diam. by mayby1/2 long or so) throughout the engine. Some are used a guides between the side covers and engine cases, some are used in the oil delivery system between the head and lower engine, in the oil return galleys more precisely.

I also have 2 bigger ones, maybe 1/2 inch in diameter between the external oil lines and the oil cooler...

[Shuriken]

Bubba, my Honda Civic has 250,000 miles on it. I have 2 other Honda bikes more than 20 years old - still running fine.

Not to change the subject, but does anyone else here see the trend with Honda engines?

Ben

[randy]

Hey, Scott.

I may be reaching here, but is it possible that the dowel pin came with the gasket set?

can you tell i've never purchased an entire gasket set?

Randy

[John]

Randy, you are such an optimist I have never seen a gasket set supplied with hard parts like that. I was looking at my manual the other day when this thread came up, and noticed that there is a hollow dowel that aligns the middle drive. Maybe that's what he has.

[randy]

That's right, there is. I remember it when I removed mine. But, it doesn't have an o-ring.

Randy

[randy]

I have had gasket sets supplied with hard parts like freeze plugs, dowel pins, bronze bearings, etc. Especially complete re-build sets. So I'm not that much of an optomist, more of a realist!

Randy

So here's an optomistic scenario for Scott:

He left out the Middle drive dowel.

He installed the oil galley dowel with old o-ring. Or, it never came out in the first place.

Has new o-ring from kit and leftover dowel that just happen to fit each other!

It's a helluva stretch, but Scott as long as you have the oil pressure, GO FOR IT.

[John]

Randy, I thought your were referring to mc gasket sets. You're right about automotive sets. Hell you can rebuild an entire small block Chevy for the cost of our main bearings alone. Hell, they even give you stuff you DONT need in an auto set. When I bought my complete set, I assumed it came with the crank seals...wrong! Had to order from Bike bandit, $7 each.

[randy]

That's just sooo wrong. Why do the bike mfg's screw us at every turn?

Because they can!

Randy

[pgg]

dweomer, I had a similar dilemna when I dropped a camnut into the guts of the engine on my now spare-parts bike. I thought bugger it - too bad. Rode the bike for another couple of years - no problems, no worries. Just the other day I unbolted the sump - here's a pic of what was in there. TWO bloody camnuts and a whole heap of unknown shrapnel - looks like some sort of spring or something, and a major chunk of chewed up metal - what the hell is that? The bike was still running sweet when I retired it though!

http://homepages.inspire.net.nz/~patrick/shrapnel.jpg