Tear Down and Repair

As if I don't have enough going on right now, I decided I am ready to face the inevitable and break down and repair my Panhead. It all began in Sturgis this past year when I went to start my bike one morning and I found myself bobbing on the kicker. Wtf?! So I tore into it initially with Dale from Mad Jap, using his trailer as shelter from the never ending dust storm brought on by swarms of weekend warriors parading their baggers up and down the lot. At first we were optimistic, hoping the problem would be in the kicker end of the trans. but when it wasn't and we dug deeper into the cause; the evil bitch reared it's filthy little head and stuck it out right in my breather gear pocket. Instantly we knew the fix would have to wait till I was back home and I was up shits creek without  bike in Sturgis! Well, Dale was nice enough to loan me his ride which was awesome of him and definitely made the trip fun again. It got my head out of shit-ville and I was able to have a good time. That being said when I got home I was disgusted and just wanted to use some of the fresh ideas I had gotten from the trip on something new. I have been putting the whole thing off until tonight when Lock posed the question to me "are you bringing any bikes to Daytona?" Right then I got the inspiration I needed to get back into the motor. Thanks guys!

Anyways, come to find out the problem was; somehow a spirolock in the rear cyl. came loose and worked it's way out of the piston. How? I do not know, because I made damn well sure that I felt/heard every one snap into place when I put those pistons in. I knew once I seen half the lock in the breather gear exactly what happened, but with fingers crossed I pulled off the cylinders. The front was great, even wear and everything in tact. However, when I pulled off the rear and saw the wrist pin hanging half way out of the piston I knew my fears had officially been confirmed. Thankfully the damage was minimal and I should be able to fix it with....well, let me not jinx myself trying to foresee the future. 

On a final note sorry for the lacking picture quality lately. I spilled paint thinner on my phone and well that's what happens. I can't see spending $250 on a new phone or even paying $90 for the insurance deductible when there are motorcycle parts that need purchasing. I'll bring a camera into the shop next time I remember.

The breather pocket with seized gear. It has no screen because the guy who did the bottom end thinks Its  better for performance. If the screen was left in it would have done it's job and stopped the second half of the spirolock from winding around the gear and marring the shit out of my breather pocket/seizing the gear! 

What the piston looked like when I took the cyl. off

The culprit