Well done! It's a great feeling
, even when you know you have done everything right, you are never quite sure whether she's going to fire.
I apologise for boring anyone with a little story, but it is pertinent to starting an engine for the first time after a rebuild. Many years ago I rebuilt a motorcycle engine for money, a friend had a bike workshop, but British bikes were not his speciality so he subbed it out to me. The bike had broken its crank in half [still ran!] so needed a complete rebuild. I did the job as carefully as I could, put the barrels and head back on, timed it up, new plugs, leads and points. Fresh fuel, tickled the carb and kicked it over, expecting to hear the 650 twin burst into life. Nothing. I rechecked everything, I had a spark, fuel was getting there - I kicked it over so many times I broke the cotter pin on the kick start, I replaced the coils, and condenser, stripped the carb , checked the valve timing, compression tested it, changed the fuel, still it wouldn't start. Not only was it bloody frustrating, it was extremely embarassing as I was being paid for it. In desperation I took the head and barrels off to check the camshaft, put everything back together. Nothing. Finally, I took the oily old spark plugs out of the bin refitted them and with a gentle kick she burst into life, and ran like a sewing machine. The brand new Champion spark plugs were faulty, they sparked on the head but broke down under a slight load. I never bought Champion plugs again.
The moral of this story is, when your newly rebuilt engine fails to start, check all the easy things first, don't throw your old parts away until it's running and never assume because something is new it's ok!
Mike
