Great build, subscribed! It’s wonderful that you have such machining skills. I’m a decent welder, but definitely don’t have machining skills or tools. They certainly seem to come in handy for these custom builds.

I can't stand the idea of putting an engine back together with the old sealer between the case halves - nothing worse than an engine that is all freshened up and leaky!

The engine had been drug around on the floor.....and battery acid had taken paint off the backside that sits under the battery, and the pulley area was dirty.

So I gave the case halves a thorough cleaning, sanding and more cleaning....then taped them up.

Then the same for the other side.  I wired the transmission cluster into place so the gears/shafts don't fall out......the crankshaft and counter balance shaft are out.

I may end up painting the side covers with the same paint.

The cylinder and head I am still not sure if I want them silver or black.

Maybe a black cylinder and a silver head would look more vintage......I just don't know yet.

My engine was in the same shape, except the oil was dirtier, not clean at all.   Looks like you are doing a top notch job!

The first thing I did was to use full strength Simple Green to clean up the engine as best I could before I took the side cases off.  I scrubbed, then rinsed it off with water and then dried things off with my hand held leaf blower.

Then I stripped the engine down to the crankcase.  I worked on the left side with the cases still assembled and I put the right side clutch cover back on to support the engine so it wasn't wiggling around on the clutch and crank shafts....and I stuffed rags down the cylinder to keep the connecting rod from flopping around.  I wiped the engine case down with a rag soaked in Paint Prep.....as cleaner used to remove wax and oils.  I used 320 grit sandpaper and I had a little pan of the Paint Prep to keep the sandpaper wetted.  I would use paper towels to clean things up and I just kept moving around on the left side until I had everything sanded.  I wanted all the paint scuffed up - in some places the aluminum showed through but that is OK too.  I used lots of really small pieces and I wore medium weight rubber gloves to keep the solvent off my skin.  For the really tight places I use a screwdriver and a bit of Scotchbright pad.  When I got the left side done - I removed the clutch cover and split the cases.  I removed the cranks and counterbalance shaft, then wire the transmission pieces into the case to they stayed put.

I then removed the oil pump from the right side center case and worked on sanding it.....it was much easier to get done without all the weight of the other parts.  It was the same scenario of wiping with pain prep, sanding withe the wetted #320, and wiping it down.

Then I taped off the pieces I didn't want painted and used an X-Acto knife to trim the tape even with the gasket surfaces.  Then a final wipe with Paint Prep, a little bit of time for it to dry, then a few light coats followed by a medium coat of paint.

After drying overnight I baked the halves at 200 degrees in my garage oven.



 

Garage oven??!!  Where can I put one of those in my shop?  I need more room!  (super jelly on that one!)

Today while I hid in the garage and listened to the freezing rain on the roof - I worked on the cylinder head.

I cleaned up the intake ports - here is the intake side.