The sexy one on the silver bullet ??

 

I am planning on making a video or a step by step instruction with many pictures.

 

The idea of a manual tensioner sounds great but the idea of drilling a hole into your head doesn`t sound good ( or the idea of trepanning which i believe is the same thing ) I will be interested to see how you`ve acheived this though , so put up some pics.......

 

Trepanning relates to large diameter holes, usually formed through relatively thin materials. This is not the same as drilling. Trepanning tools use a cutter which can be adjusted on and arm or arms to give a variety of hole sizes.

Just thought I'd put that little doubt to bed before it gets out of hand.

As far as drilling a hole through my head goes, I'd want to have a blood good idea if where the water jacket is (or isn't) before going down that route.
I drilled out an exhaust stud whilst doing my rebuild and had the misfortune of going right into the water jacket through the bottom of the stud hole. When I started it up the first time I had water weeping out of the stud. A rubber bung and some exhaust repair paste soon stopped that but I would be very wary about even going through the jacket. Aluminium heads expand and contract a great deal when they heat and cool and you'd have to be damned sure you weren't going to cause a leak when you're on the go, miles from anywhere.

But hey, if you did it a year ago and it's still good, let us in on the secret. I'm very interested to see what you've done.

 

be interesting to see Henry if we're talking out through the side or up through the
top cover ..............

 

"Trepanning relates to large diameter holes, usually formed through relatively thin materials. This is not the same as drilling. Trepanning tools use a cutter which can be adjusted on and arm or arms to give a variety of hole sizes."

"Just thought I'd put that little doubt to bed before it gets out of hand"

HenryM , i was being funny( i thought ) ,from a medical point trepanning is "drilling" a hole in your head (skull) to improve blood flow or to clear pressure from around the brain.......sorry for the confusion

 

A friend of mine made an adjustable CCT for the FH/J a couple of years ago - It had a bolt down the middle of the unit which had threads on it and allowed you to adjust the distance the arms of the CCT were apart. He never got around to curtting a hole in his tappet cover, but I'd be happier doing that than, as Henry says, drilling through the head. It's pretty cheap to replace a tappet cover, but the head Also, to do the job properly you would probably have to remove the head to drill it correctly (remembering all the swarf that'll end up in the engine from the drilling) and I would also think that a steel insert would be an idea, because once the threads wear in the aluminium head, that'll be a real problem. The two metals in close heat association may not work too well either.
All in all while I admire the bravery of doing what you have, I'd opt for a stronger spring in the CCT and more "throw" to give the arms more movement, with a bolt down the middle, and if needed a hole in the tappet cover.
I'm curently looking at a more long term solution to the primary chain problem which involves drilling a hole in the casing behind the stator, mounting a tensioner above the chain rather than below it, which could be adjusted without removing the stator or anything else once in place.
Stay tuned......................

 

The suspense is bloody killing me Sprock.

MarCBR, sorry if I put you out, I never considered the medical comparison with Trepanning. I have to say I did grin when you put two and two together. Don't take offence at anything anyone says around here, we all get confused after the tenth beer of the night.