Mirage chopper renovation project

M

MirageChopper!

New member
Location
Greater Manchester
The first instalment in what will probably be a long and bumpy road.
Before doing anything else I tried to turn the engine over with a socket on the alternator nut, unsurprisingly it was seized. So my first problem was clearing all manner of detritus from the top of the engine so I could remove the spark plugs. I could have used a compressor to blow the crap out of all the nooks and crannies but I don't own one, I do however own a couple of dive cylinders, a couple of quick blasts of 3000psi air and once it had stopped raining bugs, leaves and all the other bits I was able to remove the plugs. None of them had rusty tips and a look inside with a small endoscope showed no obvious corrosion so that gave me some hope. I added a syringe full of diesel to each bore liberally sprayed penetrating oil in the inlet and exhaust manifolds and moved on to the carbs.
IMG20230813181840.jpg
As can be seen they are heavily corroded but surpriingly it is only on the external parts, apart from one of the chokes which took a lot of persuasion to leave it's tube they came apart easily and should clean up ok after a good long session in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Next I began dismantling the rest of the bike for cleaning and painting. The sump plug was proving difficult to remove so I took off the gear selector and primary covers to drain the oil. Again I was pleased to see no sign of water ingress.
After a few days of alternately dosing the bores with diesel and penetrating oil the engine turned over, I put some fresh oil down the plug holes and it is
now turning smoothly with no untoward noises. I'm hoping I can get away without removing the head due to the scarcity of gaskets etc.
 
MirageChopper! said:
The first instalment in what will probably be a long and bumpy road.
Before doing anything else I tried to turn the engine over with a socket on the alternator nut, unsurprisingly it was seized. So my first problem was clearing all manner of detritus from the top of the engine so I could remove the spark plugs. I could have used a compressor to blow the crap out of all the nooks and crannies but I don't own one, I do however own a couple of dive cylinders, a couple of quick blasts of 3000psi air and once it had stopped raining bugs, leaves and all the other bits I was able to remove the plugs. None of them had rusty tips and a look inside with a small endoscope showed no obvious corrosion so that gave me some hope. I added a syringe full of diesel to each bore liberally sprayed penetrating oil in the inlet and exhaust manifolds and moved on to the carbs.
View attachment 85031
As can be seen they are heavily corroded but surpriingly it is only on the external parts, apart from one of the chokes which took a lot of persuasion to leave it's tube they came apart easily and should clean up ok after a good long session in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Next I began dismantling the rest of the bike for cleaning and painting. The sump plug was proving difficult to remove so I took off the gear selector and primary covers to drain the oil. Again I was pleased to see no sign of water ingress.
After a few days of alternately dosing the bores with diesel and penetrating oil the engine turned over, I put some fresh oil down the plug holes and it is
now turning smoothly with no untoward noises. I'm hoping I can get away without removing the head due to the scarcity of gaskets etc.
Click to expand...
Remove the head.
Gaskets aren't a problem.
You'll need them anyway if the engine blows because you didn't look inside.
Paul
 
Talking of long and bumpy roads ...... this isn`t a hardtail is it ? ........ I remember seeing one such modified triple parked outside a pub on the Cumberland Road in Bristol back in the `eighties .........
 
It is indeed a hardtail , when in my 30's it was the only option for a truly 'badass' chopper, these days I'm worried it will be more of a 'soreass' chopper :)
Progress has been limited these past weeks due to other problems requiring my attention, mostly Land Rover shaped, I have however managed to strip the bike down to just the engine and frame and started to remove several layers of old paint and some rust. The carbs have had a couple of nice hot ultrasonic baths which, although the aluminium has been left discoloured, has cleaned them up adequately, not a problem at this stage though I might consider polishing them at a later stage.
My next task is to get the engine out of the frame and onto the bench so I can finish stripping the frame and get a coat or two of paint on there.
 
are you rebuilding it in chopper form or returning to stock (if that is even possible, raked frame, welded hard tail?) each to his own and I am never going to knock that even though they are not my "thing" a picture of the whole bike prior to dismantling would be great. any chance ?
CLEM
 
CLEMTOG said:
are you rebuilding it in chopper form or returning to stock (if that is even possible, raked frame, welded hard tail?) each to his own and I am never going to knock that even though they are not my "thing" a picture of the whole bike prior to dismantling would be great. any chance ?
CLEM
Click to expand...
Chopper form for sure, the reasons behind this decision and pics of the bike can be found here: https://laverdaforum.com/threads/new-member.104375/
 
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