Topic: 81 cb650c head gasket replacement?

[racing33]

 I noticed that my head gasket is starting to weep a little bit. So my question is how hard are these to replace? I am a pretty good wrencher, with a better than average understanding of how mechanical things work. I could probably let it go a little longer, but I want to get at it before it becomes a real oil leak. Also want to replace the cam chain while i am at it. Any advice will be most appreciated.
Thanks
Bruce

[Ibsen]

Replacing the head gasket isn't too difficult on the 650. But they are known to leak a liittle oil.
What's important is to replace at the same time are the o-rings for the oilways to the cylinder head, and the rubber pads that are sealing off the cylinder/cylinder head bolts, and the rubber gasket for the cylinder head cover.
The cam chain is a HyVo chain and there is no master link for it, so you will have to split the crankcase. If your engine isn't a high milage engine, I wouldn't worry too much about the cam chain. These HyVo chains are very strong.

And you should get a workshop manual before you start to work on the cylinder head. A Clymer manual will be ok. The manual describes how to remove the large number of bolts holding the cylinder head cover without warping it. Also make sure you clean the area around the two middle  cylinder bolts, in front. That area pics up road dirt, and if you don't clean it up before removing the bolts, the dirt will fall down into the threaded hole for the bolt in the crankcase and it can ruin the threads.