Topic: Special top end work

[joeb]

Well last Saturday Sean Condon and myself replaced the keepers and retainers on my 750.  The procedure was pretty interesting considering we never pulled the head and I thought I would share it with you . We used compressed air and a valve tool that connects to the valve springs, so if you need to put in new springs ,retainers ,keepers, or seals and do not want to pull the head this is the way to go. I used the fitting off my compression tester and a quick release for the air line and  the valve spring compressor I purchased from JC whitney for $29.00.  All we removed was the rocker arm assemblies, no need to disturb the cam itself.  WEll thats about it.           

[MRieck]

 Now go beat the snot out of that thing Joe.

[joeb]

Will have it together hopefully today , just need to put on the exhaust and the chain and I should be ready to go. 

[joeb]

Its alive and kicking test drive went well.  ran it up to about 8 grand in third gear ,if I only had wings.

[MRieck]

Its alive and kicking test drive went well.  ran it up to about 8 grand in third gear ,if I only had wings.

Good....I don't have to worry about you dropping a valve now.

[MRieck]

PS....nice work both you and Sean.

[nickjtc]

I've heard somewhere (can't remember where) that you can thread thin-ish rope down the sparkplug hole into the cylinder to 'fill' the combustion chamber and therefore keep the valves closed.... Anyone else have experience or knowledge of that?

[scondon]

Its alive and kicking test drive went well.  ran it up to about 8 grand in third gear ,if I only had wings.

Good....I don't have to worry about you dropping a valve now.

    At first I didn't really see the difference between how the '78 keepers and the '76 & under keepers held the Kibblewhite valve stem. I mean I could see that the '78 keepers have a raised ridge halfway down the mating surface but they appeared to hold the valve stem just the same. It wasn't until we had half of the keepers/retainers swapped out that Joe noticed how much lower the valve stem sat in the retainers with the '78 keepers. Turns out the only thing holding the keepers to the stem was the rounded ridges halfway down the keepers, YIKES

   Don't know if the 77-78 750K has the same keepers as 77-78 750F but I assume if your swapping in Kibblewhite valves in these later motors make sure to swap the keepers/retainers as well. Thanks a mil. for pointing this out Mike

  And Joe, good work my man. Glad your up and running with a good bit of dry riding season left.

[racing33]

 I use the rope trick to this day. The rope works good and it will not hurt anything.
Bruce

[MRieck]

Its alive and kicking test drive went well.  ran it up to about 8 grand in third gear ,if I only had wings.

Good....I don't have to worry about you dropping a valve now.

   Turns out the only thing holding the keepers to the stem was the rounded ridges halfway down the keepers, YIKES

   Yep....a disaster waiting to happen.

[nickjtc]

I use the rope trick to this day. The rope works good and it will not hurt anything.
Bruce

Hey Bruce. Would you care to share your procedure?