Well fug

RFLIVES · Apr 26, 2014

Finished up the latest project and was shaking it down this afternoon. couple runs up and down the street I pulled in the drive way and heard the tappets knocking i shut it off and went to push it inside and noticed a oil spot on my leg. I was pissed thinking was a cam seal leaking. I pushed it on the lift thinking damn well now I have to pull the pamco and housing and deal with it. well I wish that was only it. A tappet nut a came off and got caught under the cam and busted a hole in the head!
On my sidecar rig I had one of mikes elephant adjusters blow up on me now this. I suck at tappets..

Sparky · Apr 26, 2014

that REALLY sucks. also, we need more pics of carnage.

azman857 · Apr 27, 2014

That bites! Gotta line on a replacement head\camcover?

hard_y_rd · Apr 27, 2014

Man that's my secret fear. They say not to kill those nuts when tightening, but I like to have them better than snug.

gggGary · Apr 27, 2014

FWIW that is one place an offset 10mm wrench is indispensable. I like to keep the wrench at 90 degrees to the rocker arm to reduce the torque on the arm as I tighten, the offset wrench gives the room to do that. Yeah "pretty darned tight".

RFLIVES · Apr 27, 2014

azman857 said:
That bites! Gotta line on a replacement head\camcover?

Yea got on ebay last night and got a head and rocker box on the way. Ordered a cam chain guide and valve stem seals from Mikes , and a versa gasket kit coming from ebay as well. I know it was too good to be true that my $300 dollar craigs list find started on the first kick.

DIRTY DOG · Apr 27, 2014

that happened to me a few years ago it sucked bad it was on a fresh top end
first time out. mine got under the cam damaged the head and cam.if you need any head work I do head it. I grind the seats and valves can even do the guids if needed let me know if I can help in any way

jemmd · Apr 27, 2014

Been there and done that. Lucky no damage to cam but had to make sure bottom was clean of metal from breakage. New used head,cover and back in business.

fredintoon · Apr 27, 2014

gggGary said:
FWIW that is one place an offset 10mm wrench is indispensable. I like to keep the wrench at 90 degrees to the rocker arm to reduce the torque on the arm as I tighten, the offset wrench gives the room to do that. Yeah "pretty darned tight".

Hi Gary,
I've never heard of tappet adjuster nuts coming loose so this string has got me scared.
Also puzzled.
Wrenches come offset from the factory with the box-end cranked and the jaw-end skewed.
But as I tend to buy Bargain Harold wrench sets when they are 50% off I have a pile of 10mm wrenches that me and my torch can pretzel into just about any shape I fancy.
So, please, a photo or description of that "offset" wrench would be most helpful.

RFLIVES · Apr 27, 2014

Pulled the motor after dinner tonight the cam is fine wew :doh:

This is some serious crankcase ventilation. Happy that was only this and the nut din not make it's way downward. Bores look good and the front cam chain guide looks new but the motor looks to be untouched internally. Not sure if I should replace that or not. pictures as requested

FrkyMnky · Apr 27, 2014

I see your bike learned to play dead. I like teaching them to do that. HA

RFLIVES · Apr 27, 2014

Take a nap bike!

wherearewe · Apr 27, 2014

Doesn't the manual specify 19.5 ft-lb torque?

TwoManyXS1Bs · Apr 28, 2014

I think there's another thread or two showing 'patch' jobs to return the heads back to service, just can't find them.

Maybe this cutaway may help:

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30559

maynard911 · Apr 28, 2014

Now you guys are making me paranoid. 50 some years of wrenching and never a problem and now here I am feeling that I need to put some 'surface insensitive threadlocker' on my adjusters. Anyone tried it?

gggGary · Apr 28, 2014

Fred in toon Along this line.

!BglsY9Q!2k~$(KGrHqYOKk!Erzp,gyBkBLF2fhUyZg~~_12.jpg

I think I like the small ones in 6 point, these are cheesy, this app might be worth a quality tool.
Fred; my bud tim may works at the light source in toonville.

gggGary · Apr 28, 2014

This would be THE tool?

$(KGrHqF,!oEE8U4!mcz7BPWl-PQ8c!~~60_57.jpg

on flea bay

Mikesex sells this set also, they even have a cheaper knock off set.

RFLIVES · Apr 28, 2014

while looking around the interwebz I found this. I don't think there is enough clearance to use it on our engines but it is neat none the less.
http://www.mossmotors.com/graphics/products/PDF/386-205.pdf

TwoManyXS1Bs · Apr 29, 2014

That clickadjust is an interesting tool, with a strange tutorial. According to the document example, they're adjusting a 67 thread-per-inch screw, a pitch range usually found in tiny eyeglass screws. For our XSs, one click would be 0.0013", and we would use only 2-4 clicks. Then find (as usual) that the clearance has changed as soon as it is locked down.

Still like the idea, though. For our bikes, we would run the adjuster down to contact, then back off somewhere in the neighborhood of 30°-60°, then lockdown, hoping it doesn't change. Would need an adjuster tool that tightly grips the adjuster stem to get this kind of control...

RFLIVES · May 3, 2014

The suck continues! Got the head rocker box combo off ebay yesterday and after cleaning the 1/4 of crap off of them I discovered one of the balls that block off the oil passage for the rocker arms is missing. Not sure if I want to attempt to fix this or send it back and find another head combo.

Well fug

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