Valve adjust gone bad

[tbot]

The B12 took to the streets yesterday on a pair of new Metzler z6s I'd put on the day before this saga started.

The oil pan I bought off EBAY showed up Friday and I got started on reassembly first thing Saturday morning. The pan was in excellent shape. I immediately busted my knuckles getting the Oil Pressure regulator off the old oil pan. That was the worst thing to happen all day, woo who!

The oil pan went on without a hitch. I used a 1/4 inch drive ratchet for assembly to guarantee I wouldn't over torque anything, even though I'd picked an inch-lb-er, I still had no faith. I ended up replacing four of the pan bolts in the end. I'm also glad I purchased an O-ring kit because I ended up breaking the connection on the Oil Cooler lines to re-mount the exhaust header.

http://members.cox.net/tdawk/IMAG00081.JPG

All in all about two and half-hours work to put the B12 back together. I still had the tank and the fairings off.  

[YellowDuck]

Well, now that you are out of the woods, can I just say...

The ice cream scoop thing was a riot.  Thanks for the laugh!

[Bazza]

You're not the only one, last week I had to drop the pan on mine to retrieve

1) the small nut on the fancy feeler gauges I bought.

2) the little plastic cap off the small screwdriver I was using to try to get the nut.

3) A feeler gauge.

Note to self...

Do not drink Crown Royal whiskey while doing a valve adjust.

I was amazed how fast things trinkle down that little tube though!

[txbanditrydr]

I was amazed how fast things trinkle down that little tube though!

Yeah..... Crown is pretty smooth, huh???  

[tbot]

I never had a chance. As soon as I began to lift the Valve cover, the dowel was on its way down the drain tube. Wish I had been liquored up at the time.

[Sandman9270]

Man I'm getting ready to do my valve adjust in a couple of months.  Stories like this really freak me out!  Esp. since I don't even know what the hell "dowel" you're talking about!

[Red01]

The dowel in question is item #11 in the pic below.

[gearset01]

There are two of them, they are catty corner under the cover. When you have all the prep work done and you are ready to lift. lift only high enough to see the little suckers. Grab them with a small pair of needle nose pliers lock wrench type. Do not tighten the cover bolts down that are into the journals till very last.  Use a good grease on all the gaskets to re-assemble. Use blue lock-tite on right side cover lower bolt. Stuff rags into ALL openings while working.
I left my spark plugs in until the cover was off, glad I did.
I never did torque those journal bolts did the rest and just hand snugged those lotsa grease on the inside and outside gaskets.
PIN

[CWO4GUNNER]

Well if all the good suggestions fail you can proceed with your valve adjustment and attach a speaker magnet to the pan so the pan can catch the pin after moving or starting the engine then after running it and nothing happens, the pin will be stuck to the pan if it was in the engine at all.

[CWO4GUNNER]

There has got to be a way to remove the cover without the chance of this happening because last time I was just lucky as the vacuume from the oil held the pins in the cover until I could reach for them with one hand. What about placing a magnets at each point where the pins reside outside the engine so they will remain in the lower or upper half as you pull the cover off?

[Sandman9270]

I've started my valve adjustment, but have to do it in stages due to time constraints.

Question:

I have removed the plugs and stuffed paper towels down the hole to keep anyting out, they will be in there a couple days tuill I can get back to it.  Is that a problem?

I have loosened (but not removed) the side fairings.  I can now move them out and up a little.  I can't get the buggers off and I don't want to break the fairings.  Is this ok?

I have NOT removed the coils, throttle cables, nor have I moved the air filter back.  Would rather not are these steps necessary?

I will be removing the oil lines today.  Anything to be careful of?

Finally, I noticed in the maual they say to remove the "tower" on top of the cover.  Might that not be a better way to improve clearance?  Any reason NOT to remove it?

[pmackie]

On my 2G 600 I do have to remove the top "tower", as well as the Carbs, Throttle Cables and Coils and slide the Air Box back to get the cover off. I do NOT have to remove the fairing supports or touch the fairing.

I have found that I can do a valve adjust without removing the carb/move airbox, but this means I have to leave the cover on, just move it back and sideways and check each side, move cover again, etc. It is about 3mm away from coming off the bike. A much higher risk of knocking something in the engine, but less work than removing the carbs.

Your bike may be different, and I would like to hear how other guys do it.

[Red01]

Removed seat, tank, spark plugs, AIS "box" (left hoses in place), disconnected oil "breather hose"

I have loosened the fairings so there is plenty of play "up" and "out" can't seem to get the dang things off and I don't want to break 'em.

If this is a 2G bike, you don't have to remove, or even loosen, fairing bits.

Question: Do I HAVE to remove the throttle cables, and ignition coils? This is on a 600s. Seems like there is enough clearance but I will if I have to.

I don't know why Blade says to do this. I've never removed either the coils or the throttle cables to pull the valve cover.

Second...the manual says to remove the "tower" (that's the little box that sits on the cover) but the blade's instruction make no mention of this. Removal of the "tower" may help with clearance?

I do remove the "tower" (aka breather box cover). With this off, the valve cover will come out without fussing with the fairing on the 2G bikes.
I don't know about the 1G, but I hear on them if you remove all the bolts that hold the fairing frame to the bike except one of the ones on the steering head (just loosen the one you leave in), you can tilt the fairing up to get clearance for the cover.

Thirdly...I am having to do this in stages over three days. Any harm in haveing the plugs out if I block up the holes with paper towels? should I maybe just leave the paper towels in?

Should be fine.

Lastly....do I use Permatex Gasket "Maker" or "Sealant"? I would think the Sealant would make more sense. Sounds like if I use Gasket "Maker" I would probably end up tearing the Gasket when I have to dothis in ANOTHER 7500 miles....

I addressed this in the thread on the board and gave the names of the Permatex products that are safe. I use the Ultra Black, mostly because any squeezeout won't show on my black engine.

When it's time for the next adjustment (or any other reason the cover comes off), you can just peel the stuff off and apply new. It won't hurt the OEM gasket. Mine's been off 4-5 times now and I'm still using the original gaskets.

Any help you can give with these questions would be great. THanks!!!!

No prob... HTH.  

[stormi]

The dowel in question is item #11 in the pic below.

Conversely,.. I think I have a couple of extras from the rebuild.  You may not want to ask, it's a bit of a sore spot.

[wiredgeorge]

To get this straight, steel locating dowels are fitted loosely between cylinder head and valve cover and drop out when the cover is removed. The oil return from the cam wells is located nearby and these pins can drop into the wells? Why not JB Weld the pins into the valve cover or epoxy them? If you need to remove the pins for some reason, it would be easy enough to heat them up a bit and just pull them out since they seem to fit loosely. On the bikes I am used to working on, this type of dowel is hollow and you drive it into the hole and it must be removed with vise griips most of the time and unlikely to fall out.

The comments regarding the 3/8" drive torque wrench were interesting. The 10 ft/lbs of torque for a 6mm fastener are a tad high... these are generally 75-90 in/lbs of torque. If you did torque to 10 ft/lbs, that has to be the lower end of the scale on a 3/8" drive torque wrench and if you cracked a cover, the torque wrench is obviously not calibrated.  If you make friends with a guy driving a tool truck, you might be able to talk him into testing the calibration... I would personally toss that torque wrench as the pan bolts don't generally crystalize and break since they are relatively cool and the cover should never break. I personally use a 1/2" torque wrench and 1/4" for all the torque wrenching that I do... the case bolts and cam cap bolts are all best done with a 1/4" drive. And keep in mind, as has been mentioned that torque specs are for dry threads.