A little update!
Yes, I know the tensioner was not in the perch correctly. The main reason I took that picture was because of that damage on the side of the case that looks like at some point the primary chain was hitting that if I had to guess. That's definitely concerning right?
I'd like to be the 4th guy to say that the cam chain tensioner isn't sitting in it's perch, but I'm looking at the primary chain, looks really slack in that picture to me. What do you guys see? How is it in person Marissa? It would be a shame to go through all this work and miss the opportunity to replace a worn primary chain.
That being said, it did not feel that "slacky" but I'm not sure what amount of tension is supposed to be on it. I think for safe measure I will take the oil pan back off to double check.
I was able to install the cam chain sprocket onto the cam as well after I added an extra set of hands. I believe we first put the chain on the sprocket while the sprocket was resting on the side of the cam, then slowly pried it up onto the cam shaft. We used a lot of picks and small Philips screwdrivers to finesse the chain onto the sprocket (this worked best for us and I'm hoping others who have difficulty initially will find this thread and try it).
We started on the easier side which has the chain guide, not the tensioner. We would pry the chain over onto the sprocket one link at a time, and once we would get it where it needed to be, piece by piece we put a screwdriver at an angle between the sprocket and chain to keep it from trying to sway to the other side. Once we got the next link over the sprocket and parallel, we would put another small screwdriver in the same position as previously, and take the first screwdriver out. So we fed the chain on literally one link at a time, and once we got to the tensioner side, we placed a bigger flat head in laterally on the side of the chain to force it (if you were sitting on the bike, the flat head was placed on the right side of the tensioner, partially on it and also moving the chain at the same time. Once we got it to move the chain as close to the sprocket as it would go, we took a dental pick and moved the chain one link at a time once more. It popped right on once we did that to two links or so.
I have no idea if we made this overly difficult or if people had a much easier time doing this, but regardless we have no issues now with the chain, and it is properly timed. We used blue threadlock as well on the cam bolts as extra insurance that they won't back out. I think I will also use that on the oil pan bolts as well when I'm checking the slack on the primary chain.
Dad lending a hand, he taught me how to work on cars, but he has never worked on a bike before.
Currently, I am waiting on some oil, Honda Moly paste, and cables in the mail. I was told by someone on SOHC4's Facebook page to use the Honda Moly oil on the cam to ensure I don't wear down the seat of the cam. (I'm sure many just use oil liberally, but I want to ensure I'm doing things as best as possible where I can.)
I mocked up the valve cover and a couple of things just to see how it will look. If it runs well and I can get a few runs in this season, I will certainly be doing an extensive cleaning, wax and polish. I clean the bike whenever I'm making progress but there's usually a week or so where I'm waiting on parts/too busy.
Think it looks fairly nice. I purchased the stainless steel bolts from alloyboltz on eBay (Dime City Cycles also sells them) and while most of the components had the perfectly sized bolts, my side cover bolts were quite wrong and I had to switch/piece meal them together because the cb500 kit is supposed to also fit the cb550, and I'm guessing they have slightly different side covers in order to fit the CB550 moreso. Regardless, they are fine if you want a little upgrade.
Found a NOS cylinder stud to replace my broken one as well.
