Topic: Small grooves on shaft under rocker 78 CB550

[Turbogrimace]

I tore down the valve cover/rocker assembly on a 1978 CB550 for inspection and noticed that the shafts have some scoring marks under the rockers. The cover is a late model with the locked shafts.  I can feel the scoring with my finger and am concerned that the shafts might be toast.  Also, if the shafts are scored, shouldn't the rockers be replaced too?

im not rebuilding the engine at the moment, just cleaning it up and running as is.  It has about 19k on it and sat since 1986. I got it running a month ago.  Should I be concerned about the wear or will it be fine for a while?

If I need new shafts and rockers, does anyone have a decent set?

[flatlander]

a picture is worth a thousand words
do you have any evidence of oil starvation, on the contact surfaces of rockers or cam?

[edit]
ha, you read my mind. i had this answer sitting while i got distracted and posted it later...

[flatlander]

i think you could run them, it looks pretty minimal from the pics. how do the cam lobes look?
check that you get oil up there so that it doesn't get worse.

[Turbogrimace]

The cam looks good.  In terms of oil starvation, I think the only time it was starved was when someone decided to kick the hell out of it to feel the compression after all the oil drained to the bottom over 29 years.  By the time I got my hands on it, it had been checked a few times so the top end had some of the old oil on it. 

[flatlander]

i'd probably run them as they are, unless you do a full rebuild anyway. it's a bit hard to tell from the blurry picture how good or bad it really is but should be fine. if it's only tiny grooves and the rockers still fit on well without too much wiggle, they can act as oil retainers

[Turbogrimace]

Hehe. Self clearancing. My gut says run it. When they toast themselves, I'll swap in some new stuff and a 650 cam for no good reason.

Thanks for the quick responses!