Missing cylinder head cover sleeves??

[CaptainB]

I am rebuilding the top end of a friends bike using a donor motor that I had in the shop. The donor looks to be in great shape and possibly original but when I removed the cover there were no sleeves and o-rings? Has anyone heard of certain models without sleeves or sleeves being removed for any reason?

 

[5twins]

No, I've never heard of them missing or not being used. They were installed on all years/models.

 

[CaptainB]

Thanks! that's what I've always thought but I haven't had my hands inside XS in several years.

 

[xjwmx]

You're asking about this in two threads. I could be wrong, but I think my '81 doesn't have them. I got the o-rings in the top gasket kit I got, and there was none present on the bike and no obvious place to put them. After lots and lots of reading and looking at pictures I convinced myself that the later years didn't use them. Or it could have been a dream. At any rate, I'm running fine without them. I think.

 

[CaptainB]

Thanks, I'm going to do some more research tomorrow on the year of the donor motor.

 

[xjwmx]

If you have the original and the donor, and the original has them and the donor has no place for them to go, there's your answer. Or -- put up pictures of the head in this thread and let people point out where they're supposed to go.

 

[CaptainB]

The weird thing is, the ones from the original fit perfectly in the donor...

 

[xjwmx]

Might fit mine too Unless they're very hard to notice when installed I don't have them. I got the bike at 17,000 mi and I don't think the engine had been out.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

You're asking about this in two threads...

*whew*, thought I was losing my mind.
My take:

http://www.xs650.com/threads/cylinder-head-cover-sleeve.15531/#post-543281

 

[xjwmx]

I've been scratching my head. Is this the sleeves in this ebay pic? If so, and if they hold the rocker shafts in, then I somehow overlooked them. I'm sure they're in there so please switch your old ones to the donor cover. I have the o-rings if you need them

 

[5twins]

Yes, those are the sleeves. Installed, you may not even notice them much, and you can't see their o-rings. They're under that lip your arrows point to. The sleeves don't have to come out during a rebuild unless you are planning to pull the rocker shafts out. I don't disturb them much anymore because I rarely pull the rockers out now. I used to when I was grinding the ends with the rocker screw holes for the elephant foot screw mod. I don't do it that way anymore. I figured out a better way to mod them and can do it with the rockers in place .....

 

[Paul Sutton]

My 81 SH US model did have the sleeves. They are really only noticeable when you remove the chrome bolts/covers to take out the rockers.

 

[Bezz]

I’m looking locally but I need a single sleeve - somehow misplaced one. Can anyone airmail one to the great white north?