Good to hear you found the source, and its not the bottom end.

It's always easy to be an expert after the fact, but using a mechanic's stethoscope to exactly locate the source of a knock or rattle before tearing the engine down can save a lot of time and money.

Back in the bad old days when we were too poor to buy a fancy stethoscope, we used to stick a long screw driver against the engine and jam the end of the handle in our ear and listen that way. It works, but not as good as the proper stethoscope, which you can buy cheap these days.

 

True. I guess the issue here is the bike was not running anymore so I only got one shot at listening to it while I was out riding. No big deal. It's not much more work to tear down the rest of the way and I needed to replace the timing seal on the cam cover and wanted to re-powder the primary cover anyway. It's a good idea with a bad lifter to pull the heads and make sure you didn't damage any valves, so really it just cost me a little time and some new piston wire locks.

 

You've done an excellent job. Looking forward to some new pics, with the powder all done.

John

 

Well it's back together but still waiting on the primary cover. Gonna give the motor a good wash before putting the carb and exhaust back on.

 

Looks good. Interesting intake and exhaust(?) port covers, not your usual shop rags. Do they also help install the exhaust gaskets? Rocker covers look good too!

John

 

No they're just covers. Got tired of using rags. They don't help with the exhaust gaskets but I switched over to the copper gaskets as they are way easier to install and they don't kink and protrude into the port like the stock gaskets tend to do. The copper ones you just slightly bent so they are oval and they stick in the port opening without falling out. Never had one leak.

 

One thing I did notice was the 3rd head bolt on the front head wants to walk back slightly when torqued, so when torqued it reverses a hair at the highest torque. I am not sure why that is. My thoughts is the stud is flexing a little beyond a certain torque. I think it will be fine but I am going to replace all the studs the next time I have to take the top end off.

 

Which copper gaskets are you using please? Despite the many videos showing how straight forward it is to install the stock mesh gaskets I can mess them up a couple of times before getting one to seat properly.

 

These are the copper gaskets I use.

 

Well. The top end needs to come off again. Spoke with Dan at Hammer about the bolt feeling spongy and he said likely the head bolt is bottoming out on the stud because it is stretched or it is pulling out of the case. I think I will just replace all the studs now while the motor is not completely back together yet.