engine hadn't been run in 10 years- oil pressure?

[jellywrestler]

Throw some antisieze or wd40 on the valve cover gasket prior to installing. Makes for a super clean and easy removal. You can even reuse it.

engine side only, then the gasket comes off with the cove and if it needs stripping off it's remote from the bike.

[Sandman900ss]

Throw some antisieze or wd40 on the valve cover gasket prior to installing. Makes for a super clean and easy removal. You can even reuse it.

Great suggestion, one that I just followed. Antiseize on the engine side only. Somebody, sometime, is going to have to go back inside that cam cover- probably me.

[Sandman900ss]

Update: after using many of the suggestions and advice offered, the GS650 was fired up for the first time in many years. Success- engine is totally quiet, no clatter and sounds like a classic GS should. Carbs aren't leaking, valve adjustment was worth doing as long as the cover was off to oil the dry cam lobes. Gearbox and clutch good, no issues. Now that it's a confirmed runner, I'll put more time and money into this 650 and take it up another level.

Thank you all for contributing to this thread. Hopefully somebody else doing a forum search and bringing a vintage GS back to life will find this useful.