Topic: Was running fine, until I decided to *fix* it...

[DammitDan]

The cam chain on my '82 650 was starting to get pretty loud, so I decided to fix it today.  Followed the instructions in the book, got it done, started it up, and the chain noise was almost gone!  It idles fine, but now there's a fairly loud knocking from the right side (seems to be #4 especially), and it runs very rough and won't run off the choke.  And to add to the displeasure, it backfires like a gunshot and spews light black smoke from the right muffler on occasion (once again leading to my "something is wrong with #4" theory).

I don't wanna touch it till I figure out what's goin on and why.  I haven't checked valve clearances, and the carbs were doing fine before now, but I haven't cleaned them or adjusted them.  Could it be I've done something terribly wrong with adjusting that cam chain?

 - Dan-0

[chrometank]

Hey Dan,cant help with the bike exept the advice "Dont fix what aint broken" 
Good luck

[Zeke]

Dan:

Ya done f#$%ed up yer valve timin'!

Ya see, when you adjusted timing/valve clearance with a loose chain, it's different than with a tight chain.

Do those two things and you might be OK.

out,

Zeke

[DammitDan]

Whelp, once again I amaze myself.

Turns out #3 and #4 spark wires got switched up... *sigh* I can be such a moron sometimes.  Oh, by the way, it will run rough and backfire if cylinders #3 and #4 don't spark correctly!  Timing still seems to be right on.  Who knows?

BUT...  I found a new problem.  That knocking wasn't #4 as it turns out... it actually goes away if I switch it from neutral into first.  So, now I have a clutch problem.  I did a little experimenting and found out that in first gear it wants to roll forward if I don't put my feet firmly on the ground.  I fiddled with the cable (up top and down below), and I adjusted the screw and locknut dealie on the clutch cover, but I can't get it to stop rolling forward at idle in 1st gear.

Any suggestions?

[Sam Green Racing]

Dan,
it can only not be adjusted properly I would guess.

[kghost]

Don't know about 650s but 750s have an ajustment under the crome cover on the clutch housing.

[DammitDan]

If it's a under a big flathead screw thing on the clutch cover, then I've already adjusted it (I think...)

And I've got pretty hard shifting, too.  It didn't used to CHUNK into different gears, more like a light bump.  Now I have to put a lot of pressure on the shifter to make it go up or down.

[Sam Green Racing]

Dan, it can only be one of two things.
Not adjusted right at adjuster mechanism.
Or cable not right or its stretched beyond its maximum adjustment.
Have you not got a manual that you can reffer to ?

[DammitDan]

I do, but it's a clymer.  Not the most helpful thing in the world...  It's hard for me to do something without knowing WHY, and the clymer doesn't do anything to explain itself.

[low-side]

It sounds like the knocking you hear is the rattle of the plates in the basket.  Disengagind the clutch makes them stop rattling and the sound goes away.  The tendency to roll forward and clunky gear engagement with everyting adjusted properly is probably from the plates sticking together.  You might fix it by knocking the glaze off of them but it's probably easier to replace them.

[DammitDan]

I'll look into new clutch plates... I've probably spent more than $2000 total on this bike so far, what's a little more $$$ to get it finished and running clean?

I decided to adjust the valve clearances today, and lo and behold one of the #4 valve cover's allen screws is stripped out.  (*sigh* I've had more screws and bolts strip on this thing...)  Anyways, can't get off the #4 cover to adjust it, but I did adjust the other 3.  Now I've got rattling rocker arms.  Why?  I don't freakin know.  They didn't rattle before.  Once again, I had to go and *fix* something.

It can be so frustrating sometimes... Ya fix one thing and something else starts screwing up once you put it all back together again.

[nomadwarmachine]

Also try changing the oil before you do anything with the clutch...I have quite a rattle in my '72 CB750 but it always reduces on an oil change.  Good luck!

[DammitDan]

I did that, changed from 10w40 to 20w50 and the rattle diminished quite a bit, but the shifting is still pretty hard.