Yesterday I pressure tested the engine. The test consists of attaching a couple of specially built pieces to the engine. One is a thick aluminum plate that goes over the exhaust manifold and has a stem to add air, like on a car or bike tire, except it is stainless steel. The other is another aluminum plate which attaches where the carb goes and has a pressure gauge attached. I created seals from a sacrificial bike inner tube.
I got everything tight and put in a few pounds of pressure, not knowing what to expect. The pressure needle went to 25lbs then fell to 13 in a few seconds. Then down rapidly from there with a low, slow, whooooshing, sound. I applied some soapy water to the pressure test seals.... Nope. I had to pump in air several times until I found the culprit...behind the flywheel. After removing the flywheel, adding pressure, and moving my ear down to the crank, the sound was as plain as a mare passing gas (thanks for that visual, Randy). It was the crank seal!
Oh, FUI! (that's Latin, you know). I chuckled a bit and got choked up because I heard and saw Dad crunching his face up, wincing, almost in pain, saying softly, "Dammit, dammit, dammit. Todd, we should have changed those."
But all is not lost. I conferred with Sonny and Rick Chapman and they kindly pointed me in the right direction.
What does this mean? I get to tear the engine down, again, and replace the seals. I see it as a good practice. Plus, I will take a look at the lateral play in the crankshaft.
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