So after reading this thread for a few days I decided that it was time to check out my Aluminum Cap plug experiment. (see pict's below).   Well, looks like there has been a drop or two of oil out of it, in the 2K mile it's been in.  The acorn nut was a tiny bit wet but there is no trail of oil out of the recessed area.  Hmmmmm...... might be the oil ring I used.    I guess I'll get to take the head apart too...   Note: at 1K miles it was very dry.....  Also, the machinist used 1 1/4" round stock but he could have used 1 " and then he wouldn't have had to mill off sections so the oil could pass by.

As for the cold....one of the better things I did was insulate the garage.  Two cagers in the garage helps a lot.  This past summer we bought new insulated doors too.  Better seal keeps the wind out.  The other day, 35 deg out, the Kero heater (from the '80's) heated the 2 3/4 car garage up to 65 deg.

Here my experiment:

The threaded hole is so that you could put a bolt in and pull the plug out of the head easier.

Yea, the groove is cut for a fatter o-ring, but it stuck out too far to be able to be pushed into the hole.    Unfornately the lathe was already setup for another job when I found out.  Since my machinist friend didn't charge me anything for it, I didn't complain.    

I would like to get him to try again, this time with 1" round stock and  a better groove.  

T Mack 1 - FSO wrote on 01/02/08 at 09:44:11:

That's a good point.

Just curious...what's the difference in the plug diameter and the hole?

T Mack 1 - FSO wrote on 01/02/08 at 19:53:24:


"Pinky" push...Oooooo  

Use any grease on the o-ring too?

T Mack 1 - FSO wrote on 01/04/08 at 10:50:10:

I do that on the regular plug.  Copperish-orange?  I use the high temp red...but of course, Suzuki recommends their own stuff

My garage isn't heated either, but I use a 1500W space heater too.  Keeps it about 20 degrees above the outside.

Wood burning stove is a good idea. I can walk thru my alley on spring morning and collect enough fallen branches & such to heat my garage for the winter. The tricky part is the fluting. I have a loft(read junk storage) over my garage and the flute would have to pass safely thru that. Once thats installed, a good potbelly stove, positioned safely away from my growing collection of oily rags would be awesome.

Oil Leak Update: Hmm - you know that headcover bolt on top (L70) that we're 'sposed to remember to have in place when we put the head cover on? Well I did remember to put it in place, but, crap, forgot to tighten it - it wasn't even threaded. I had to remove the upper mount to get a wrench on it, and once tightened, my leak went awy. I am both happy and ashamed.

I cleaned up the engine, could not reproduce the oil leak (after 30 minutes of idle), and I have to say - a non-leaking, clean single cylinder engine is quit a beautiful hunk of aluminum.

Speaking of aluminum - man, if I ever have to replace that plug again, I am going to follow T Mack 1's lead and make me an aluminum plug.

Stupid Noob - The Sequel

Heh - so, with the leak gone, and the petc0ck behaving,  I decided to take her for a test spin - about 8 miles. I did this at night, and she performed beautifully - no leak, not stalling - the job was a complete success.

So, the  next morning I grabbed some rags and am going to clean her up. Whoa! The tool kit cover was missing!  Here is what happened...To pull the spark plug to test for TDC, I needed the tool kit  spark plug wrench, so I took the kit out, left the door hanging, but not locked. When it's  hanging in its spot without a tool kit in there, it looks as if it's on correctly, so when I was checking the machine out before the ride, the toolkit door looked ok.

But, when I was riding it fell off - but where? Idunno! So I jumped on my bicycle and pedalled the 8 mile route that I took - no luck. On a whim, I rode the reverse of the route that I took and there it was - about 3 miles from home, only moderately smashed. It fell of the right side of the bike, and made its way to the oposite(left) side of 6 lane street and on the the sidewalk.

Why do motorcycle parts defy physics when they fall?  

I got it home, bent it back in to a rectangle, and was able to get it secured. The chrome is toast, and it's scratched up. I'm thinking of covering it with some thin polished diamond plate.

I spent most of the day familiarizing myself with all the fasteners makeing sure they we're all tight.

So, the next time I go out to by a new diagnostic tool for the garage, it's going to be a mirror to mount on the garage wall - whenever something is screwed up, all I have to do is look in to the mirror and I'll see where the problem started