lidirtrider
XS650 Addict
I think I may be a tooth off on the cam. Cam was rephased by Hugh. I have the threads on the right hand side of the engine. Advance Unit mounts just fine, all checks done on advance unit and PAMCO check out OK.
I've been searching on here for days but I can't seem to find anything to come to any hard conclusions. If you've seen my other thread on the "White Trash Bobber" you know I've been through some, lets call them "issues" with this bike.
The issue now is that its SUPER difficult to start. Not in that it won't fire up, but that it takes everything in my being to kick it over, and the starter struggles to turn it over, and it kicks back like a bastard. But it will start and run if the PAMCO plate is as far retarded as I can get it. All the symptoms of cam being off a tooth or 2 off. I can turn it over with a wrench on the alternator nut, and everything moves freely, no valves hitting pistons or anything like that, but it's still very hard to get passed the compression stoke on either side. When I installed the cam I made sure the notch was vertical and the punch mark was dead center to the head. What I realize NOW is that I didn't install the cam chain tensioner until after I closed up the engine and reinstalled it in the bike, so I didn't confirm its position. I also see the when I check the location of the pin on the right side of the cam, under the advance unit, with the left cylinder at TDC on Compression, that pin is at about 7 O'clock.
Everything I read on here says that the pin should be "vertical" and most posts say it should be at 12 O'clock. But I haven't seen anything posted specifically to a rephased cam. If everything is the same as for a stock cam, and "vertical being EITHER 6 or 12 O'clock, then my position of 7 O'clock seems to mean that at least a tooth off. Pic below is the right side of the cam.
I've been searching on here for days but I can't seem to find anything to come to any hard conclusions. If you've seen my other thread on the "White Trash Bobber" you know I've been through some, lets call them "issues" with this bike.
The issue now is that its SUPER difficult to start. Not in that it won't fire up, but that it takes everything in my being to kick it over, and the starter struggles to turn it over, and it kicks back like a bastard. But it will start and run if the PAMCO plate is as far retarded as I can get it. All the symptoms of cam being off a tooth or 2 off. I can turn it over with a wrench on the alternator nut, and everything moves freely, no valves hitting pistons or anything like that, but it's still very hard to get passed the compression stoke on either side. When I installed the cam I made sure the notch was vertical and the punch mark was dead center to the head. What I realize NOW is that I didn't install the cam chain tensioner until after I closed up the engine and reinstalled it in the bike, so I didn't confirm its position. I also see the when I check the location of the pin on the right side of the cam, under the advance unit, with the left cylinder at TDC on Compression, that pin is at about 7 O'clock.
Everything I read on here says that the pin should be "vertical" and most posts say it should be at 12 O'clock. But I haven't seen anything posted specifically to a rephased cam. If everything is the same as for a stock cam, and "vertical being EITHER 6 or 12 O'clock, then my position of 7 O'clock seems to mean that at least a tooth off. Pic below is the right side of the cam.