Thanks Jim. Ya do what ya can with what ya got, or in my case what ya don't got........lol.
 
When I check the valves for leaks, I use kerosene in the combustion chamber but combine that with compressed air blown in the ports. I use an extension on the blow gun so I can get right in there up under the valve ......

dAyCZVL.jpg


scTVevw.jpg


No waiting this way, leaks show right up as streams of bubbles .....

mLxDTcb.jpg


ShfA3qL.jpg


You need to play around a little with the positioning of the blow gun. Get it too close to the valve and you'll actually blow it open. It will appear to be leaking like crazy even though it may not be bad.
 
Ah, that's a great idea 5twins. I will give that a go now as well to get a feel for it, then will know how to test this after lapping. Might have a long enough extension.

Thanks for the tip.
 
A long list indeed!

Just remember the Shop Toys Rule of Life:

He who dies with the most toys - wins
 
Last edited:
Thanks Bob. It really is rewarding seeing all that gunk and grime come off and getting them back to their former state of glory.
 
Close the port opening off around the blow gun with your hand. Again, this will take some experimenting as to how much. Close it off too much and you'll develop too much pressure in the port, blowing the valve open.
 
OK, got the rocker cover cleaned up. No surprises that I could see.

IMG_20171210_195409.jpg


IMG_20171210_195746.jpg IMG_20171210_195810.jpg
IMG_20171210_195503.jpg IMG_20171210_195512.jpg

I didn't bother to pull the rocker arms. Some axial play obviously but could not feel any radial play when still lubed. Is this something that should be done to investigate things further, or am I probably OK?
Also, I think the rocker arm pads look OK?
I did blow out any kerosene from the rocker arm oil weep holes with a small air gun extension.

IMG_20171210_195617.jpg IMG_20171210_195646.jpg IMG_20171210_195709.jpg IMG_20171210_195728.jpg

I thought the valve adjuster tips were in amazing shape, however the left exhaust was a little more dimpled. Interesting as this was the exhaust valve that was the harder one to clean. All this is a moot point as I plan to use these adjusters for 1981 to 2014 Viragos and V Stars. Picked this tip up from a post by aldo5468. He claims they are plenty long to engage the lock nut and the allen key head will be nice. Hard to see in the pic.

IMG_20171210_160532.jpg


So, all the big cleaning is done. Whew! Will move on to cleaning up the smaller parts, do 5twins porting and polishing, then lap the valves while waiting for my pistons and bits.
 
Last edited:
You need to let us know what your cleaning techniques are. I really can’t believe just how nice and new you’ve made everything look.
 
Thank you Bob. That's very kind of you. Nothing special, just time, kerosene, elbow grease, and lot's of different sizes and shapes of brass brushes, brass tube brushes, parts cleaning brushes, chip brushes and pieces of scotch brite hot glue gunned to popsicle sticks....lol.

As Maxpete would say, here are some of my tools of mass production....lol.

IMG_20171206_114942.jpg
 
Robin ,
I think you wore those brushes out man!
Not to mention you must have arms like Popeye after all that scrubbing!
 
Back
Top