thorny path?

this is not how i wanted to finish 2010...

i thought i got everything. surely i got every part i needed but it didnt quite go well as i expected. somehow a couple of tappet clearances were out of range. how? that's the mystery. it looks like the 2011 is also thorny.

another update

replaced the problematic needle bearings to bushings. this is probably one of standard updates most of xr1000 owners would do. i don't know how many xr1000 owners up there reading my blog, however, i hope i can bring some ideas to them, some good, some may not be useful... i hear a lot of rumors about the model, mostly sever crticism. it maybe not wise not listening all that but i much prefer to experience myself before i speak.

colors

i got the valves. made them from harley sportster's ones. cut the stems shorter, made retainer groove and hardened. because they had different material between exhaust and intake, my moriwaki friend had to apply 2 different hardening methods which made different colors.
i tried to fit the valves to my xr1000 engine yesterday, and found out that i need to cut or replace the valve seats for intakes... i shouldve done it before i sent the valves to moriwaki. oh, well, at least i got new valves now.

in hibernation?

not quite.

very slow but some progress on my xr1000 engine.

we found someone in Nagoya could do me a special machining to finish this long time problem i had. the crank bearing case which casted in the aluminum crank case, became loose and i hadn't had complete measure for it. Now, see the photo. i think i can go another 50,000miles with it!!!!

now i'm waiting for the valves i sent to moriwaki which should be here sometime next week. will i be able to join my harley friends for the new year's day ride?