Firstly, I unreservedly apologise to you, Hondaman. if I offended you. From your practical, to the point answer, I don't got the sense that you were offended.
Second , I apologise to all those forum members who were offended. I can see that what I wrote could be construed playing the man, not the problem.
I have changed the name of this thread to "Rocker Shaft Trouble"
I am overwhelmed by the respose; half called into question my etiquette, half addressed the technical issue at hand. To those offended by my etiquette, again, sorry.
Back to the problem at hand: I accept that it probably was not the omission of the 5mm bolts since it seems many members run their bikes with these omitted. As the inside of the cam towers and the ends of the shaft show no sign of scoring/ damage, I am still at a loss to the cause of the waist wear especially as the 6mm centre bolt was unscathed.
To those who suggest that the extra depth in the o-ring recess in the cylinder oil conduit was a factor, I put in a suitable size washer to reduce this space to be the same as his brother.
I assembled these parts with due care , pre- oiling them, so lack of lubrication does not ring true, especially as i ran the motor for 30-40 seconds only.
The god news is,as observed else where, the engines are very tough. I am rebuilding it with the damaged shaft, but withe 5mm bolts in situ as there is no measurable wear on the rocker shafts where the rockers rock or in the inside of the rockers themselves. Aside from that the only real cost apart from my effort, was for a new cam cover gasket,
I must say that, without trying to court controversy, This forum proved itself robust enough to be able to deal with unpopular positions and diverse opinions. Just as it should be.
Finally, Got a personal message from someone called Yaan who asked me not to give up on the forum even though i was copping some flak as there were many who were sincere in getting to the route of the problem. That touched me.
Groover
