what did you wrench on today??

[Guest]

"head" IS short for cylinder head. But what you removed is the Cylinder Head COVER. COVER is the word your missing that is the distinction between the 2 parts. No comment on what, if anything, to put on your home cut gasket. I've had them fail with a little WD-40 on them, and I've had them fail dry. But I'm fairly certain that both were due to too much torque on the bolts holding down the cylinder head cover. I suppose it depends on what the material is. Others hopefully will have some advice for you.

May I ask what torque you found out is the sweet spot? My wife is almost done outlining the gasket. Then I just need her to cut it and then Ill clean the mating surfaces and voila, back on the road. Might have to wait til tomorrow, early work tomorrow.

 

[Grimly]

Was going to get a decent set of used OEM GS1100 mirrors, but had a closer look at the cheap and cheerful ones I bought as a stopgap and managed to get them mounted acceptably. I wasn't too impressed with the plastic chrome heads on them and expected them to fall apart in short order, but they've held up well, so some proper mounting technique brought them into range of being quite useful.
Nearly fitted a Deauville clutch perch and lever, but decided to leave that for another day, as there's nothing really wrong with the original, just a bit rattly.
Then moved on to the Darkside wheel. Was waiting for the bolt head retainers for the disc bolts, so installed them and it's ready to go on.

 

[Guest]

'
Gasket is done, I am cautiously optimistic about this. Should have noted where the long and short bolts go. Need to clean the mating surfaces and then Ill try it out tomorrow. I think cleaning the other part will be a pain, as I assume getting old gasket into the oil is suboptimal...

In case this doesn't work as expected I will make a new outline so I can manufacture a new one easier. And by I, read my wife.

The old gasket got ripped to pieces when I dissasembled it. Seems to be some sort of paper. Is OEM yellow?

https://imgur.com/a/CGewpTh <- the other pictures taken, maybe not particularly useful. Might make a more readable presentation of my process.

 

[Grimly]

Excellent work.
When you fit the bolts, make sure none of the bolt holes are filled with oil else you can get a false impression of them being tight when they're not and worst of all you could hydraulic the threads out, but that tends to happen when some monkey just heaves on them.
The valve cover gaskets are definitely not what they used to be - the only ones I'd used previously were OEM and they lasted for years, through several removals / refits, without leaks. An aftermarket one I fitted last year didn't last two thousand miles and it's been replaced by a *supposed* Vesrah (though I have my doubts about its authenticity).

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

May I ask what torque you found out is the sweet spot? My wife is almost done outlining the gasket. Then I just need her to cut it and then Ill clean the mating surfaces and voila, back on the road. Might have to wait til tomorrow, early work tomorrow.

Sorry to leave you hanging, I'm "wrenching" on my own project, a bathroom renovation, pic below, but first, this:

Major Disclaimer: I am only slightly more experienced at this than you, only starting seriously working on my bike a little over 2 years ago. As stated before, I have had a few failed attempts at this. I now have 1500 miles on the engine I rebuilt, so the most recent cylinder head cover bolt tightening job has held up for exactly that long. That said:

My Manual suggests a torque for the cylinder head cover bolts of 6.5-7 lb-ft. (your factory manual says 6.5 lb-ft.[09 kg-m], not sure what your Clymer's says.) Because the bigger lb-ft. torque wrench is no good at that low range, use smaller lb-in. wrench, multiply the lb-ft figure x 12 to get lb-in. 6.5 lb-ft. x 12 = 78 lb-in. On my first failed attempt I did not own a torque wrench, bad idea. On my second failed attempt I used 72 lb-in. On my third failed attempt, I used 50 lb-in. My most recent and, so far, successful attempt is at 45 in-lb. You'll have to figure out the conversion to kg-m or N-m if needed. I know there's easy converters on line. Just google it. I am in no way suggesting any of this will work for you. It's what is working for me on my bike right now. (knock on wood, cross my fingers, say a few Hail-Marys). Your home-cut cork gasket (nice work by your wife, by the way), may or may not squish like the OEM gaskets I've used.

As for the various bolt sizes. I should have suggested making yourself a cardboard "map" to place the bolts into as you removed them. Just a tip I picked up watching YouTube videos and probably read it on the forum as well. Now I do it whenever I take any cover off the bike. It's a huge help when putting things back together. Anyway, according to the parts fiche from partsoutlaw, you should have (10) 6 x 35mm long bolts, and (6) 6 x 40mm long bolts for the cover. Where they go, I couldn't say. I'm sure someone else w/ experience w/ an 8v engine can tell you. The 4 bolts for the Breather Cover are much shorter 6 x 25mm, so at least you will have those where you need them. Although you probably didn't take the cover off the top anyway. Good Luck.

Here's my current project. Drywall, Cabinets, Plumbing, Electrical, Paint (but for a bit of touch-up), Shower Pan, walls and glass doors, and as of tonight, most of the floor is down. Hope to get the rest of the floor and all the trim and new toilet installed by the end of the weekend.

 

[Guest]

My bike ran for 30 seconds with no leaks. Tomorrow I will try it properly.

 

[ddaniels]

My bike ran for 30 seconds with no leaks. Tomorrow I will try it properly.

Yeah, 30 seconds is not enough time to build up much pressure.

 

[Guest]

Tried starting my bike today, with the gas tank. It does not really run, and there is gas coming out of the airbox.

I think I flooded the engine by using the starter with no enough choke for too long (I routed the gas line in the way of the choke at the first attempt).

I managed to keep it going for a bit by holding the throttle.

I wonder if I can wait a bit and then try to roll start it?

It sputters a bit like when its cold, but never quite starts now.

Sound is also somewhat off I think.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

"gas line" = Throttle Cable?

 

[Guest]

"gas line" = Throttle Cable?

No, fuel hose. I put it on the wrong side of the choke things.

 

[Burque73]

Yeah, 30 seconds is not enough time to build up much pressure.

Is there any pressure up there anyway? Seems like the breather would release any built up pressure. Maybe after a lengthy ride with oil splashing around in there would be more revealing if it was to leak.

 

[Guest]

I think I attached my fuel line to the wrong thing? No idea what the thing I attached it to is for... It was between carb one and two. Fit decently with the fuel hose.

I think this could explain all my troubles.

But I am not entirely sure where to put the fuel line now, I think I need to take the carbs out...

Edit: I attached the fuel line to "Vent T", no idea what that does.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Edit: I attached the fuel line to "Vent T", no idea what that does.

Evidently, if fills your airbox with fuel. Fuel line goes to a T on the back side of the carbs between 2 & 3. The T's on the back side between 1 & 2 and between 3 & 4 should have vent hoses attached to them and those hoses' open ends should remain open, in still air probably somewhere up on top of your air filter box. Then there should be a nipple on the front side of carb #2 which gets vacuum hose from the petcock. Think I got all that right.

 

[Guest]

Evidently, if fills your airbox with fuel. Fuel line goes to a T on the back side of the carbs between 2 & 3. The T's on the back side between 1 & 2 and between 3 & 4 should have vent hoses attached to them and those hoses' open ends should remain open, in still air probably somewhere up on top of your air filter box. Then there should be a nipple on the front side of carb #2 which gets vacuum hose from the petcock. Think I got all that right.

I attached the hose to where it should be, and am happy to report the bike runs as expected. Normal sound, a bit of white exhaust and its dripping gas from the carbs somewhere, but not entirely sure if its a remnant of the previous mistalation or something else entirely.

I ran it for far longer now, and reved it and it did not visibly leak oil, so I think the gasket is a success.

Not sure why its so much white smoke, but I figure it might be moisture in the oil, or oil in cylinders, or something. I need to go ride it for a bit to see if it stops.

So routing the fuel through Vent T is apparently not a good modification, at least if you want your bike to run. But its an excellent way to clean the air filter and make your driveway rainbow coloured if it rains.

My neighbors probably thinks Im certifiable standing outside in the pouring rain trying to get the bike running...

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

I wrote more in your new thread. https://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?259584-Fuel-in-vent
I'd say try to keep the problem related stuff out of this thread. Too hard to track progress as your issue get's broken up by other posts that don't have anything to do with your issue. Glad you got it sorted.

 

[Burque73]

Mr Hedges stopped by today and we changed his valve cover gasket. It was great to meet another GSR member, have lunch, and share some garage time.

We gave his bike a quick bath before working on it so the drips underneath are just water.

20200830_091016 by Roger, on Flickr


He also talked me out of some GS mirrors and some other bits he needed for his bike. We could have spent all day working on things.

20200830_140834 by Roger, on Flickr

 

[steve murdoch]

Great post, Roger.
Proof again of what an excellent site this is.

 

[Redman]

Roger, thanks for representing TheGSR so well.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Started putting my GS550T back together now that Charmayne's is running again. This just meant putting the carburetors back on, tightening up a couple of odd pieces I removed to help troubleshoot hers, and re-installing the petcock. Now to get a new battery for it and I should have it back on the road this month I hope.

 

[SusKatCas]

Took a cruise to Niagara on Sunday. On the way home, people started flashing headlights and a nice rider gave me the headlight wave. At first I assumed they didn't like my brights. Eventually, my synapses fired a little and we stopped to check my headlight. Turned out I had nothing... So I followed close behind my wife on the Pocket Hawg until it got a little dark, then abandoned the GS650G in Barcelona, NY. We rode the last hour home, two up on the GZ. (That little bike did much better than I expected.)

We trailered the GS home yesterday.

Today I dug in a little. I started at the headlight bucket in search of 12V. Spent a little time squirelling around inside the multi-function switch. Eventually swam my way upstream to the fuse box where the 10A headlight fuse looked great. Closer inspection revealed corrosion hidden inside the end cap. I swapped with blinker fuse and had both headlights again!

I guess if I were thinking I could have taken care of that on the road. Now I have some spare fuses in the travel bag and will soon have a halogen headlamp.

Has anyone else seen a glass fuse fail in a non-visible manner?

Cheers, Alan