Topic: Chipped off a piece on the valve head cover. Bond it back on or buy a new cover?

[egar]

I had some frozen bolts that I had to drill out. I accidentally cracked off a small corner of the cover near one of the heads. I have the piece that broke off. Should I buy a whole new cover or try to use some kind of bonding agent so I can save this original cover on my KO? any suggestions?

Also, is this year interchangeable with other years? I found a number of old valve head cover going for cheap but I want it to fit. I'm used to working on 550s, my 750 knowledge is small but growing....

[MCRider]

I had some frozen bolts that I had to drill out. I accidentally cracked off a small corner of the cover near one of the heads. I have the piece that broke off. Should I buy a whole new cover or try to use some kind of bonding agent so I can save this original cover on my KO? any suggestions?

Also, is this year interchangeable with other years? I found a number of old valve head cover going for cheap but I want it to fit. I'm used to working on 550s, my 750 knowledge is small but growing....

Either way, spare covers are cheap I think, less or same as which would be a choice. But if looks aren't an issue, JBWeld should fix it. There is a lot of oil slinging around right there, but it is not under pressure.


On the other hand, if you got it all buttoned up and the JBWeld started to seap, one may not be so pleased.

I'd get it welded.

[Magpie]

I would go with a another cover rather than try to fix that one. It's right at the most exposed part of the motor. You're doing a great job on the bike, I don't think you'll be happy with a repair there.
Cliff.

[Alan F.]

I would tend to think that that part of the cover doesn't really have any oil concerns.  From the way I see the picture it's just the area that the screw tightens down against that's broken off, and I don't see that the break goes clear to the inside of the cover. The cover's gasket will prevent oil from entering the area of the cover that the screw passes through, right?  If the screws were all bathed in oil they'd never sieze up...

Am I right there?

If that's the way it is I's say use JB Weld, don't use the 'quick'type, the regular blend is stronger by all accounts.
There are plenty of other covers out there though, nobody will fault you if you didn't want to use this one.

[754]

I think all the covers fit and look same on the outside. May be small differences under the breather cover and the hose barb. I know on early there is a different breather cover with different  screw lengths.

 However I think real late covers after 76 or 77 are a bit thicker, and may have bigger hose barb. The extra thickness is to quiet the rocker noise.
.
 I know if its cold out and I start the 74  I am riding there is lots of rocker noise. if I touch the valvecover on each side it gets quieter...

[egar]

I found one on ebay that I will clean up and replace. I figure I can always jb weld this one and offer it up for sale....I really want this bike to look right. My build progress is in the project shop section.

[faux fiddy]

JB weld has character.Find the replacement but leave it off as a polished  spare for a show.

Fllow the instructoins and send a testimonial after it works.