I’ve been working on the split engine casing on the Bonnie. Look at it!
I tried squeezing epoxy putty in the gaps between the surfaces and leaving it compressed.
That was a big no. As soon as I put the engine cover back on the magnet snatched it out of my hand, jarred the join, and the errant piece fell off. I tried again. This time making a bridge over the snapped off part. Better, but when I screwed the bolt in it lifted off again.
My third attempt was a slightly different strategy. I rough sandpapered the paint off of the snapped part and all the surrounding area, to get it as scratched and paint free as possible. Then I degreased it with washing up liquid and dried it with my heat gun. I put some putty between the mating surfaces and pressed it down firmly by hand, rather than mole grips, then built a bridge of epoxy putty over the part. I tried cutting down bolts so I would have less thread going into the hole and potentially forcing it open. In the end I used the original bolt, but I put 3 washers on it to act as spacers, to reduce thread ingress. The only other thing I could think of was to put some high temperature silicon sealant on the bolt. I put the new gasket on, torqued all the other bolts down and tightened that one as much as I dared. It seems to be held firm. I gave it over an hour for the sealant to set then took it for a spin. One junction up the motorway and back, at full-on speeds to stress the seal. I got back and it was bone dry.
I am so hoping that is all done. My next stop would have been to ask a local welder if they could do the job with the engine in the frame. If not I’d have had to consider whether it would be easier to strip the whole engine so they could do the weld, or buy an engine (with half the miles, for about £650) and swap it. Neither is a small job. I’ve been stressing over it quite a bit. After the first two attempts failed completely I was having to work out what I could do next. The additional factors are we are running out of money because I was out of work for about 5 weeks, so £650 suddenly becomes a lot. And spending £650, and having to fit a whole new engine because of one split bolt hole would have been infuriating. Also, it’s the Bonnie, my commuter wheels to earn money. I’m in work tomorrow, so that’s a full sized test, but I’m fairly confident if it didn’t blow today it won’t tomorrow.
I think one of the reasons I’ve been freaking out about it is because I went for a 20 mile run a week and a half ago. At 10.5 miles I missed my step and really hurt my foot. I wasn’t about to walk home 9.5 miles so I sucked it up and ran home. My foot swelled up and bruised and I was limping for over a week, so I didn’t do any exercise. 10 days of inactivity, on top of a stressful job, then a nasty, trivial, but potentially engine-breaking surprise mechanical fault, and a feeling of tiredness… no wonder I was stressing.
I thought it might be a slight fracture, being that sore for that long, but by yesterday I’d had enough. I was getting frantic. I went out for a 6 mile run. My foot didn’t explode, and apart from a bit of swelling, wasn’t any worse. I did another 6 miles today. I feel a lot calmer. Well, the bike seemingly being fixed has definitely helped, but the running has burnt off a lot of the loon. And I’ve not had that weird listless/ tired feeling.
The other thing that’s been a concern is the money, as I said. I’ve been looking for other jobs, which is also stressful. However, I’ve been given a shift for tomorrow already, so that’s 4 out of the last 5 days I’ve put as available I’ve got work. If there’s work to be had, my bike is working, and I’m not wasted with tiredness, I might try and batter a few weeks. Once we’ve got a few grand in the bank a 3 or 4 day week would be sufficient.
See how it all goes, but for now things are all looking up.