Oil From the Exhaust Ports?

48lesco · Post by **48lesco** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:05 pm

14-17 foot-pounds is what the Honda shop manual says. You can download the shop manual for free or I can email you a pdf. I wouldn't throw LM under the bus. If you use the right parts, the head will go together properly and the head side covers won't leak.

houseowax · Post by **houseowax** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:38 am

Thanks for the offer, 48- I have a shop manual, Silver guides, Clymer manual. You'd think I'd know what I was doing with all the literature I have on hand.

As far as the side covers, I'm sure they're both Honda- they have the same casting marks inside and are identical except for weight. When I bought my bike it had been inexpertly rebuilt/maintained. I don't know for certain the side cover that came with the bike is the proper one, but the one I replaced it with (from a lot of Dream parts I bought on eBay) fit like a glove. Different years maybe?

Regarding LM's 22 ft lbs spec- I certainly don't blame him for my mishap. Ed's specs are based on years of experience and understanding and when they contradict the Honda manuals my instinct is to trust Ed.
I should let him speak for himself but my understanding is that Honda's specs are for new parts, Ed's 22 ft lb spec assumes that teh parts are used and have some wear.

In any case, this time around I split the difference and set my wrench to 18 lbs.

Ford Guy · Post by **Ford Guy** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:45 am

I hate to tell you this but that stud did NOT come through the top of that acron nut from over torque. It came through because the stud was bottomed out in the nut. either the stud wasnt in the case far enough or the washers are too thin. Acron nuts are only designed to have the bolt or stud in this case to go in as far as the threads allow. beyond that the stud will hit the dome and pop the top off as it did in this case. If you had used a regular nut most likely you would have been able to torque it even more.

Good luck

houseowax · Post by **houseowax** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:56 am

That makes perfect sense. Thanks.
As I said upthread, that particular stud was a bit touchy the first time I bolted on the head. Maybe it was that the stud wasn't fully screwed down in the case.

houseowax · Post by **houseowax** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:06 pm

I'm losing it!

I pulled the engine again, opened up the valve head and made sure the two halves of the camshaft were nice and tightly screwed together by giving the two halves of the camshaft a little persuasion with a deadblow mallet and then tightening the locking nut with a small cold chisel. It looked very much like the bearing sets had settled nicely into their holes and there would be no trouble. As I mentioned before, I swapped a mysterious side cover for one that seemed to fit much better. This bolstered my confidence even further. Busted that stud, but that turned out to be no big issue. I was feeling pretty good about myself and feeling uncharacteristically optimistic.

So I got the engine bolted in ( getting pretty good at that now that I've done it 4 times) and kicked it over. EVERYTHING was perfect- the new throttle cable seemed to be making a huge difference, the new clutch cable and clutch lever spring felt perfect. It was revving pretty high and irregularly, but I hadn't done anything to adjust the carb yet so I wasn't too fussed about that.
I watched the left side cover- the one that previously gushed oil- like a hawk and ...NOTHING! I was relieved and pleased that I'd diagnosed (with all your help) and fixed the problem. Then...oil started seeping out from behind the RIGHT side cover!!
Not nearly as bad as before, but bad enough.

Anyhow, I'm closing in on it. More to come as it develops.