Yup. There's a small amount of fresh oil under the left cover. Only happens when I ride it for an hr or more, which is very rare. On the list to replace clutch push rod seal.
Big weekend. Got lots done on the bike.
- cam chain adjust
- checked valves. adjusted 3 out of 4. Both intakes were .07 so I tightened to .06.
- replaced sump filter. Yes, I broke a bolt!!! I even hand tightening the bolts back on carefully as I read in here to be very careful. 3/6 managed to torque to 7lbs. The other 3 felt weird so I took them out to look and voila, 1 was broke and the other 2 looked weird. Like ready to break. I was lucky that there was just enough bolt sticking out so I was able to grab it with a vice grip. Dodged a bullet there. My filter wasn't too bad I think. I replaced it anyway. took 4 hrs with a trip to get 6 new metric bolts and more oil. The new bolts torqued to 7 lbs nicely.
- did compression test today as well. A tad more than 135 in both. Kicked it 15 times at least before it stabilized at about 135. Supposed to be higher right?
- installed new petcock from xsdirect. My original works ok, but I figure the vacuum business will eventually fail so why not replace it now. Well, those little f$&&&g orange washers suck. I broke 2/4 of them in in the first 2 min trying to get the 90 degree bits to point towards the carbs. After a lot of head scratching, and since nothing from xsdirect has any sort of instructions, I searched here and found that one guy had a washer that was thinnier than the rest and that enabled him to turn the fuel line nipple to where it worked for him !!! So I rubbed one of my washers up and down a sheet of sand paper until it was thin enough to get me pointed in the right direction
now I've read more about those little orange sealing washers failing and now im wondering why I even bothered.
- I put on a 79 special fender to see how it would look. It has only one tail light unit instead of tail light plus licence plate light on my 80. Did a bit of wiring to make it work. Only needs 3 wires. Contemplating using an old triumph single seat. Not sure how I can make it work. Imagine a shorter rear fender with the light unit moved closer to the seat.
Will tackle the carbs this week. try a needle adjust to see if I can get some consistent throttle. Snow in the forecast.
Cheers. G