Been too busy to fly or run small engines

Hi guys,

Know that I've been lurking from time to time over the last few months. I've been too busy to play with my airplane toys or share much. I apologize for my silence.

A few months ago my peer at work quit. It was tough as we are both skilled and experienced in our craft, and Boss man had straddled me with additional duties requiring more than one man should do. In fact, "Uncle Sam" decided the additional duty was actually enough to be a separate full time job. Since I had been doing it for the last 3.5 years, it was expected that I'd get the new, , higher paying job. My peer left when a different promotion opportunity presented. So I have been left doing the work of three. So I've been doing the work of three guys...This ain't the first time! Finally our two replacements started last week, so I can finally concentrate on the new job...and only the one job. Phew!

In that time, I've repaired my oldest son's New Years Eve acquisition...a 2014 Kawasaki Ninja 650 that had been wrecked, but repaired cheaply. Kiddo got the bike for a really good price, so I ok'd the purchase but told him he couldn't ride it until he passed the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic Rider course. The PO basically zip-tied the bodywork together and beat the inner fairing stays to make the bike look ok. I certainly didn't want Kiddo getting creamed by bodywork falling off under the wheels, so I tore the bike down to the frame and running gear and spent a lot of time putting it back together correctly. His 1994 Jeep also needed a ton of work, so I spent weekends working on it so he could drive it safely and reliably. Let's just say he didn't inherit the "mechanic gene." Kiddo goes to Maxwell Air Force Base tomorrow to start AFROTC field training.

While all this was going on, I spied a Facebook Marketplace ad for an old Honda Interceptor. However, the ad didn't show a V4 bike from the 80's. It DID show a one-year issue 1983 Honda CB1100F in really and shape. After a couple of FB messages, I learned this was a failed engine replacement from almost 20 years ago. To call it rough would be an understatement. My own CB1100F (owned since 1987) needs an engine overhaul, so I offered the guy a reasonable amount for what is basically a spare engine with really solid, but ugly cases. So the Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day weekend I drove seven hours each way to go inspect and hopefully buy the bike. Since the engine was described as "not as good as we thought it was" by the seller, I got it for song. Kiddo took the MSF BRC the same weekend, and came home Sunday afternoon to show me his certificate and ask for the bike key. I and just finished hanging new tires on it Saturday PM, so I told him "no speeding around corners!" He was gone for 3 hours, but made it home safely.

While all of this was going on, Dan McEntee mentioned he has a J Roberts Cobra and Sabre. These are probably 65 year old kits designed to fly throttled engines with the J Roberts 3-line bellcrank. I have the kit on loan so I can trace parts, and scan the enclosed plansheet and factory literature. The scans are done. The tracings aren't. Thanks Mr. Dan. I planned on doing this during the 4rh of July time off work. Sorry, Mr. Dan, my oldest son brought the Jeep home so "we" could recover his headline in USAF DigiCam cloth.

Between the boy sweating his butt of pulling interior panels and sniffing adhesive, I worked on the CB1100F. Stripping-out the ignition wiring from an eBay procured CB900F wiring harness I was able to set up a test ignition system and my carbs to run the engine. Cold, but wet (tablespoon of oil per cylinder) compression after several minutes of hand-cranking the sparkplug-less engine yielded 210 psi on jugs 1/4, #2 was down at 120 psi, and #3 was 90 psi. Not awful considering this hunk hadn't run since the early 2000's. So I reinstalled the plugs, and hooked it up to my car vai jumper cables. Number three hole backfired out the intake during testing. I hope to have only stuck rings and a few tight valves.

With all the rain we've been getting in Mississippi the last few weeks, I wouldn't dare to put a shop fan in front of the engine for longer runs, but that is next. I plan on checking valve clearances after a couple off five-minute runs, and then checking compression. If the compression evens out across the four cylinders and the valves don't leak, my wife will be ok with me swapping out my worn engine for this ugly one. Otherwise, the engine will be stored for another day.

Wifey has been very patient this year. I was actually supposed to be working on her Porsche this spring/summer. So I really do need to make sure she feels appreciated since all the other stuff has been pushing the Porsche to the bottom of the list.

Like the Terminator says, "I'll be back!"

So for all you gearheads, here is run #1: