This matter of tools

[clamp]

I don't know why Royal Enfield just don't fasten everything with wing nuts.

    Then all you would need is a small toffee hammer for torquing up and an old Cornfake packet as gasket material.

     Fabulous gaskets  is cornflake packet,  opened out its big enough for a side cover.

   

[r80rt]

I've made a lot of gaskets from 12 pack beer boxes, good stuff for old bikes

[1Blackwolf1]

  Ah yes, a dying art.  Being able to tap out a gasket with an 8 ounce ball peen hammer and permatex.  The memories.  Will.

[r80rt]

I've got a real set of hole punches for gaskets now, when I was a kid I used .38 special cartridges cases to punch out bolt holes in homemade gaskets, fun times for sure.

[1Blackwolf1]

  Did the same bought a hole punch set and a good set of exacto knives.  Now I use a little grease on the item and press the image onto real gasket material.  Works great and a lot cleaner gaskets. 

[r80rt]

Yeah, the guys at the parts store laugh at me, the never saw anyone but me buy whole rolls of gasket paper before. Exacto knives are a must have item with old bikes too, I've also  been known to use copper flashing to beat out head gaskets for flathead one lungers on occasion. I love that kind of stuff  

[1Blackwolf1]

  Dying arts learned in farmland USA,  I make many a "kid" gaze in wonder when he sees me do stuff like that.  I remember re-using head gaskets on tractors and annealing them before use.  Guess maybe that shows our age.  Will.

[r80rt]

Yep, we must be getting old. We used to overhaul tractors in the field, now it's unheard of. I still keep a scrap iron pile to dig through when I want to make something that I can't buy. growing up dirt poor will teach you things that nothing else can

[clamp]

Not unheard of, still done in Thailand at the shrimp farms where Yanmar single diesels will run for months on a gravity fed 50 galon drum.

   When its time for an overhaul they can do it in an hour.  cylinder and piston is pushed in by the long  head bolts. The crank comes out of the side,  ball bearings and are knocked off with a hammer, the big end shell is 2 dollar.

    All that and you didnt need to drain the oil.

    Yanmar industrial engines cheap and run for ever, static water cooled.

     The cheapness of these parts is ridiculous I had one in a boat once to drive a generator.

[r80rt]

I want one of those engines!

[1Blackwolf1]

  We had an old Wiscosin single on a hay baler I could pull it apart and do much the same by myself in no time.  Only needed help removing the 300+ pound flywheel if I had to replace the crankshaft output seal.  The cylinder bore and stroke on that was amazing.  Will.

[LJRead]

I had an old twin diesel Lister I bought in Hawaii and sweated it out in the engine compartment installing it.  Only 16 hp for a 12 tonne yacht, so it didn't go fast, but air cooled and putted along well.  So simple.  There was an engine hatch cover and I could put a beam across the cockpit combing and lift it out with a come-along.  Enough that is to work on it.  Now I have an old Volvo Penta, sea water cooled, and it seems good too - all iron and heavy as hell.

Heard that in the Danish boats, moderate sized fishing boats, they had one-lungers with cylinders as big around as a sizeable barrel.  Real thumpers.

[LJRead]

This question of tools, and particularly their weight, is overblown.  I feel that a very basic set of sockets to be able to tighten loosened nuts and do basic things like spark plug removal and even an oil change, tire repair, or basic tuneup, should be the criteria to base what we carry on.  A set of sockets, with ratchet, a set of open end wrenches, a few electrical bits and pieces, a few spares, sure it adds up but needn't be overwhelming as to weight.  When I do any work on the bike in the shop, I find myself using a number of different sizes of wrenches and such, and what I do in the shop isn't much different than what may be needed in the field.

Well, in a month or so I'll have the whole thing organized and can give a summary of it with weight.  They once failed me out of the Boy Scouts as being hopelessly non-conformist, maybe I'll get it right this time and "be prepared".

[1Blackwolf1]

  I'll await your report.  My tool kit is very minimalist so maybe I'll see something listed that I probably shouldn't ride without.  Will.