Topic: Honda 350Four Rebuild

[timothyburkhead@gmail.com]

Good day everyone.
I'm a new "old" bike owner. I purchased a 1974 Honda cb350f a few months ago. After some fresh gas, I got the thing running. Not well, but running. Over winter, I began to pull the top engine apart down to the piston cover to replace gaskets and seals due to an oil leak I had. After replacing the seals and torquing the top end to approx. 14ftlb, I went to place the cam cover back on. What I've found is that when I have the camshaft in and chain with sprocket mounted, I can turn the engine over using the kick starter. Once I put the cam cover on,  the cover will not sit flush and when the slightest finger tightening of the cover bolts, the engine no longer wants to turn over AT ALL! Have I missed a crucial step in rebuilding this engine or do I simply need to reset the rocker arms?

Ready to ride. Please help.

[raymond182]

Putting the rocker cover back on takes some tinkering; you want to make sure that all of the rockers are in a correct position on the valve and the cam. Take the tappet covers off so you can get to the rockers and adjust them as the cover goes down. It should sit pretty flush without much force, and the only force needed is to sit the cover over the two guides on the head.
Also, it would help if we could see what is under the cover, in case there is an obvious mistake or something. Take a picture and post it.

[timothyburkhead@gmail.com]

Turns out I needed to line up the TDC with the correct position of the camshaft and sprocket.

Now having a tough time getting the engine to start. Getting backfire but can't get the engine to turn over. Any ideas on the correct firing order for spark plugs (from left to right)?