Valve Adjustment

Before I yanked off the valve cover and started working inside the engine to replace the tach drive parts I pulled the spark plugs and tested the compression. If it was still low I'd be doing a top end rebuild instead of a valve adjustment so this was the perfect time to check it out. Plugs looked fine, but maybe a little white (lean). I'll do some more plug cuts to verify later.

Compression test came back 145-140-145-145.

Awesome. The bores and rings are still good.

Once the tach seal challenge was overcome, I checked the valves. On the exhaust side, there was one tight valve and one very loose one. The shims were 2.85-2.95-2.85-2.90, with the 2.85 on the loose valve and the 2.95 on the tight valve. I swapped the 2.85 and 2.95 and was rewarded with perfect valve adjustment on all four.

On the intake side, again there was one slightly loose valve and three that were perfect. Shims were 2.75-2.75-2.75-2.70. I ordered the requisite 2.80 shim to replace the loose valve's 2.75. Not bad for an unknown engine that has been sitting for 27 years.

While I had the valve cover off I refinished it with silver engine paint. I also scrubbed the cases and cylinder with solvent to give the motor even more sparkle.

The problem with this was it made the scruffy finish on the sidecovers stand out even more. The bike wasn't going anywhere for a while, so it made sense to pull them off, and there was the issue of the weak charging and rattling clutch, and of course I had to change the engine oil to flush out the dirt from having the valve cover off and my grubby hands inside the motor.

Before I could help myself I had out my impact driver and had drained the oil. I removed the clutch cover and stator cover, disconnecting the stator in the process. I also pulled off the chrome starter cover and sprocket cover.

To be continued...