Topic: am i messing up my tappets......

[xsmooth69x]

ok check it out  ive read the shop manual

it made sense

i rotated the engine till it was T 1.4

felt cylinders 1 tappets and they where loss so that means cylinder 1 is at top dead center tried cylinder 4 and it was tight so thats right i think....

inlet size .05mm
outlet/exhaust size .08mm

so first looking at the inlet tappet on cylinder 1 the lock nut was very high so i thought my PO really muffed things up. after giving it a quick tweak it pretty much looks the same...... is this right?

picture 1 is cylinder 1 inlet (some play)
pic 2 is cylinder 1 side (some play)
pic 3 is top dead center (for cylinder 1) (bad pic but a assure you its at T 1.4 not T 2.3)
pic 4 cylinder 4 (no play)

after doing another full rotation and at top dead center cylinder 1 is tight and cylinder 4 is loose

after another rotation cylinder 1 has play again and cylinder 4 is tight

re did the measurements still the lock bolt on the inlet side of cylinder 1 looks high.... or maybe this is normal?

[dave500]

picture one,,that nut looks like a bigend nut with the washer type face on it(upside down),that might be why not so much spare thread is poking through?look at all the other nuts,,is that one a 12 mm hex and all the others are ten mm?

[xsmooth69x]

all the nuts are the same i took it off to compare 

these nuts look like regular nuts but on either side there is a super flat washer like face on both sides....

[dave500]

can you get a picture of cylinder #two inlet tappet?that nut just looks wrong but it might just be the photo angle or something.

[xsmooth69x]

gotcha give me 2 min

[dave500]

either the valve tip and the tappet have worn down a heap and or the rocker shaft has worn an oblong hole where it rides and also the cam lobe has worn away to nothing all at the same time?so the tappet has been adjusted to the max?looks odd!i doubt all those nasty things have happened though,two minutes is up,later man.

[xsmooth69x]

inlet for cylinder #2



inlet cylinder #1



exhaust cylinder #1



cylinder 1 & 2 inlet side



cylinder inlet #1 crashing into head?



tappet covers for inlet and exhaust for cylinder #1







i think the worst one actually came off of the exhaust tappet hole

but either way they couldve been switched around by the PO

also when i did get the bike running it did make some tapping noise from cylinder #1 side. like not regular tapping but ding ding ding kind

[xsmooth69x]

i also unscrewed the inlet tappet bolt thing out all the way to check it for bends or anything crazy and it looked fine

its just that tappet rocker arm thing is just so high up! when i rotate the motor for cylinder #4 to be top dead center the rocker arm thing on the inlet side does not raise that high

also cylinder #1 had the best compression at 150 psi cold

when i ran the motor for a bit and after it was warm did some slow throttle up and down and a couple of jerks. for about 10 min for so total time

after the motor got cold again i did a compression test and cylinder 1-150, 2-151, 3-148, 4-140

didnt wanna burn myself so i waited till the engine was cold again to do a compression test 

[xsmooth69x]

i also drained the engine of its oil and it was definitely dirty but i checked for metal shavings for anything crazy that would throw up red flags but it was just dirty oil

[xsmooth69x]

off to bed dave500 thanks for your help 

[bryanj]

I think you will have to take the cam cover off and inspect the cam lobe and follower for that cylinder

[grasscutter]

<<<I think you will have to take the cam cover off and inspect the cam lobe and follower for that cylinder>>>

+1 on this diagnosis.  Not the best news, but likely you have some cam lobe issues. 

If you can't find a good used cam, a competent machinist can fix this one. 

[xsmooth69x]

yup the head is messed up

the channel that holds the tappet for cylinder 1 and 2 inlet the rods slide to far into the head giving the end (cylinder 1 inlet) some play that is messing up the size issue.

it seems the only thing holding the 2 pins on the opposite side of where you slide them in is a little machined groove that stops the pins has worn out letting the pins slide to far

swapping out the whole head off my parts motor

----------------------------------------------------

since the top is off is there anything else i should do or look for?

[dave500]

is the rocker shaft sloppy in the cover?is yours the type that has four tapered bolts to lock the shafts but the bolts were missing,can you post a picture of the inside of the cover?

[xsmooth69x]

so my initial diagnosis was wrong

the actual problem turned out to be the whole where the rods slide into from the outside of the head.

the rode literally made itself a new seat in the hole. so instead of a nice circle it turned into an oval

the first 2 pictures are the whole that turned into an oval and the last picture is a reference to another whole







tried to get the best angles i could but my lens on my camera is big for shooting macro shots

extra photos trying to show whats going on but the angles of the shots makes it hard

[xsmooth69x]

also everything is well i took the head off my parts motor and it is immaculate 

[bryanj]

There was a modification to stop the holes ovaling in 76/77 where cotter pins were used to stop the shafts rotating, Still worth putting the worn cover somewhere safe as it can be repaired and they will eventualy be none left

[dave500]

im about to replace my cam cover aswell,i have a perfect late type with the bolts that locate the shaft,my plain one has a little slack so its time to go,it rattles a little when its cold,i can move the shaft around in the hole somewhat if i bring that cylinder to tdc fire and the load comes off the valve springs,the less i wear it out the easier it will be to repair,as bryanj said these will get hard to get eventually.

[xsmooth69x]

wow ya i definitely dont have those extra holes on either of my cam top things....

the place by my house has dozens of cb550's so i dont have to stock up now 

im going to look for a cb650 cam and tach screw thing maybe pull them and hide them for a later day wahahaha

did you paint your cam cover thing dave500?

[dave500]

yeah thats vht engine aluminium,im going to spray it a more silver colour that looks very dull and grey compared to the head its going on.

[xsmooth69x]

yeah thats vht engine aluminium,im going to spray it a more silver colour that looks very dull and grey compared to the head its going on.

is that what the engine color is?

i guess my factory color on my engine is coming off so is that the color?

[dave500]

that looks like the stock colour,i like them a little more silver.

thats ordinary cheap rattle can silver,it hangs on as good as the vht.

[xsmooth69x]

that looks like the stock colour,i like them a little more silver.

thats ordinary cheap rattle can silver,it hangs on as good as the vht.

so the silver on the engine is the vht? (other than the points cover and clutch cover)

also how did you get your carbs so clean and the clutch cover so shinny?

[dave500]

the silver on this engine is cheap rattle can silver,the clutch cover takes elbow grease,thats just precleaned in this shot it looks like a mirror now and i soda blasted the carbs.

[WarwickE36]

Dave, I just wetsanded and polished my clutch and primary cover... I was looking to sodablast my motor when I pull it apart... any experience with this?  I was wondering if its even possible to ever get it as mirror-ish as the clutch cover/primary cover? 

If not I am going to paint in the same scheme you did.  Any hints to prepping this or is it just degrease spray and pray.