Hi. I started working on the camchest of a TC88. The owner did a partial disassembly then brought the bike to me. I never did this before, so I've been working on it very slowly and carefully. Oftentimes I realized I needed a special tool that I didn't have, and I had to order it and wait...
The engine has 40K miles on it, and the owner knew he had to check and change the cam chain tensioners. He opened it up and the side of the inner cam chain tensioner popped off.
When he brought it to me, the engine oil and filter had been changed. I took out the cam plate, removed the chain tensioners.
The inner cam chain tensioner side plate that he said had popped off from his screw driver, had some scoring on the metal, the shoe was worn all the way through where the shoe's supporting rod was showing.
I found some small pieces of the shoe inside of the cam chest.
I was at a delimma on whether or not to just replace the inner and outer bearings and the chain tensioners and start buttoning it up or investigating further.
I opted for the latter, ordered an alighment tool for the oil pump, removed it from the cam plate and disassembled the oil pump.
I found that the inside of the oil pump had been scored: both by the feed gerotors and by the scavenging geroters.
The score is most profound where the scavenging geroters were inside of the oil pump housing.

I didn't know (and still don't yet) if the Oil Pump is salvageable or should be salveaged. But I found a really good price on a brand new Twin Power Oil pump that would fit this bike, so I went ahead and ordered it.
If he doesn't want it, I can always sell it on Ebay or use it in another bike. It seemed worth it to order one before I started to disassemble his oil pump
So now I'm thinking I should clean out his cam plate completely, rebuild it, and drop the engine's oil pan and clean that out too.
I don't feel comfortable buttoning up everything and firing up the engine, but would rather go the extra mile or two to make sure that the engine components are as clean and free of metal particles as possible.

It's my first time.
I did replace both the inner bearings inside of the Cam Chest (wasn't too happy using the INA bearings he supplied me over something like Torrington bearings). I also replaced both outer bearings in the cam plate, and replaced the bushing and thrust washer on one of the cam shafts.

Am I headed in the right direction?
I have a very large container of assembly lube for when I start assembling.
I also carefully marked the hard to see timing marks on the camshafts and I marked the cam chains so I know which side goes where.
I'm definitely in the running for the world's slowest and most paranoid wrencher. I just want to make sure everything is as right as I can make it.
I have the OEM service manual and a parts catalog (I like the drawings)
I have bought all kinds of special tools since I started on this project.
It's been both fun and very scary, so I take my time
I watched the Twin Cam series videos on Youtube from "How to Wrench"

 

Kudos for diving in. I have not yet, but my time is coming. You sound very thorough & that is a huge benefit. Some of the real Mechs here will come along and give you some tips I'm sure.

 

Did you take pictures? Check wear on pinion shaft to cam support plate. The pump you ordered will work fine. Same as Daytona. I would also check pinion shaft run-out.
If there was a lot of debris in the cam shaft, I would replace the cam support plate. Cyco gasket is a good source for replacement cam tensioners. Most think they are better than OEM.

 

Have you looked at the pump? Post pics. If it's bad it definitely needs replace. Use the full complement bearings. They are cheap. Remove oil tanks and clean it.. You may want to check crank runout.. It's helpful to include year and model. If the customer refuses any part give it back to him as is..

 

Being too thorough is not a bad thing, pictures, tags, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning… take your time. Sounds like you are making decent choices. Keep us posted.

 

Pictures would definitely help as well as year and model..
As for the inner cam bearing, definitely pull the INA and install the Koyo or Torrington b-148.. very cheap and great insurance..
Also at their point might want to consider a Cam upgrade..

 

Yes, if you can take some pics that would definitely help. Based on what you said, if it was my bike or a customer's bike I would be measuring both sides of that crank/flywheel for runout and go from there.

Ride safe!!

 

Cam Chest

Outer Chain Tensioner

Inner Chain Tensioner

Inner Tensioner Pieces

Side Plate of Inner Tensioner. This was resting in the bottom of the cam chest. Metal is a little ground down in a spot

Oil Pump Housing with heavy scoring.

Pinion Shaft

 

I inspected the Gerotors except for some small nicks they look fine on both feed and scavenging sets. I checked the seal between the roters with a 0.004" feeler gauge and they were fine. The scoring on the Oil Pump housing I can definitely feel when I run my finger nail across it.
I cleaned out the cam plate with penetrating oil and blowing some compressed air through the holes (had to pull the top plug first though).

Except for the scoring I'm thinking that the Oil Pump is fine, but...if it were my bike I would want to replace it.
I need to talk to the owner about it, I do have a higher volume oil pump en route from Twin Power that should fit, not sure though if the increased Oil Pressure from it would result in other problems like a problem with the Oil Relieve Valve in the Cam Plate. I'm a little hesitant about that.

Inner and outer bearings are installed
Race and Thrust washer with Oring installed on one of the cam shafts
I still need to check the Oil Relief Valve in the Cam Plate.
Pinion shaft looked ok
Haven't checked the run out on it.

 

JMHO but I think collecting and sending an oil sample to Blackstone for analysis might eliminate oil pan R/R which is a PITA. Google Blackstone; they will send a collection kit. The analysis isn't expensive and if metal is traveling in the oil the anaysis will pick it up. You will also have supporting data for the owner showing the general condition of the motor. Of course, changing oil and filter should be part of the process.