Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Opinions please

Sounds like some loose valves in there or possibly cam chain. I'd be checking clearance's first then looking at the chain or possibly the backlash gears if noise is still present. Mine certainly doesn't sound like that.

First and easiest thing would be to check the timing chain tensioner. I haven't watched the vid yet way too late and I'm too tired.

I'm pretty sure it's the valves. Put this head on from a different bike. I'm was curious how bad it is

Did you plastgauge the cams/journals like I advised you back in March? Remember, I bought the cams from that head, and told you how there was strong evidence of oilfailure/overrev or both on the journal bearing surfaces? I had to have those cams, flame sprayed and reground as they were scored badly and .002-3 out of round. No mercy in this Dojo.

We were going to but the day we put the head was a day of struggle. We wanted to make sure that it would start before checking the clearance. By the time that we got it started it was very late and we were relieved and drained at that point that we ended the day. One struggle we had was a part falling into the the engine. We spent a bit of time going to town going to different places trying to find a magnetic tool to stick down in the engine to retrieve the part. Both of us have been very busy to try to tear it back down again. I called two different dealerships to see about having it done and got a quotes of $350 and $439. Is that high? Anyways I have been riding it but I've been taking it easy with it and wonder if I should even be doing that?

Well, what I would do at this point, plastigauge the cams in place and torqued at 120 degrees apart all six journal bearing points. If you find excessive clearance, there are things to do to make a workable solution. I think you will find wear commensurate with the cams I bought. Cams being steel and heads Aluminum. Let us know.

I forgot to add that I don't know if I was having a death ear because it was running or what but I dont remember all the noise. my first tank gas out of habit of pumping gas for my car I pumped 87 octane into the bIke. I was checking the service manual on some other stuff when I realized that I was suppose to use 89 or higher. Anyways I've been running around with 93 in it now. I remember lower octane makes some valves rattle so could this be my issue or part of it? Or should I stop riding it till I get the valve checked and in clearance

Just put good gas in and see if it changes.

That's what I've done. I got about 60 miles on this tank. Just been taking it easy while I run a couple of tanks thru it

Trouble is if there was a problem it is too late now, damage would already be done from running the engine. Checking clearances isn't a step to skip, especially if there is any question.

I touched it

Are you saying that the head came without cams? What about valve shims? Did you get them with the head? If so, were they marked as to location?

You need to measure the clearance between the cam lobes and the valves, that's assuming the cam clearance in the journal is ok.

In the past, noisy valve train has been linked to loose valve clearances, defective backlash springs in the anti backlash gears, and once a defective cam with out of round main journals which messed up valve clearances causing noise.

The head came without cam, I'm using the one from the old head

Check your valve clearance. Most of the time, noisy tappets are from excessive clearance. Did you measured and save the shim thickness before you installed them in the head? Sure does make life easier for future valve adjustments.

Anyone have a good link to valve calculator? All the links I have seen in previous threads are coming up as bad links

What about the caps to hold down the cams,did you get them with your new to you head?

Those came with the head

It just hit me that the tappets that came with the head were all in a bag and we used the ones from the old head. Remember seeing somewhere where it said to not mix these up when taking them out and to return them to their original spot. I don't remember seeing any marks on the old ones but I'm going to look and see

I checked and they old ones weren't marked

I planned on checking valve clearance today but after fighting with swapping the front wheel because of a stripped spindle clamp bolt I lost the motivation to do anymore today.

Checked my valve clearances today, forgot to get a micrometer to measure the existing shims to see what I need to order.
I1= .254 I2= .330 I3= .254 I4= .254
E1= .330 E2= .254 E3= .254 E4= .254
All measurements are mm

So if I'm understanding this all of my intake valves and E1 are too large correct?

yup that would be correct. on the intake you want to aim for a tight 0.175 or so and on the exhaust same kind of thing like 0.275 or so

Got my shims out today and see the INA mark on them. I use to work at a warehouse here that has INA products so I contacted one of my friend there and asked if they carried the Shims and I get a yes back. So I ask if they are able to purchase them, they never would let us buy stuff thru them, and she says no. She did tell me that Applied Industries carries them

Glad to see you almost have things sorted out.

Now it's the waiting game. I only had to order three after some swapping around plus the service tool, a few seals and o rings plus a low oil pressure switch. Free shipping is nice at bike bandit but then you have to wait

If your gears back lash, how far do they backlash? When we were messing with mine I don't remember Any movement in them. When I'm looking at them they both don't appear to be more than two teeth out of alignment.

The dots and hashmarks should align just as the picture in the manual shows. You should have told me you needed the serv tool, I would have loaned you mine.

The holes where the service tool go are off by about two teeth. I'm trying to figure out if I can turn them back in place or if I'm going to have to take them apart like what's in the service manual and reset the spring. I didnt find out that they were off till after I got the wheel off of ya. It's no biggie, it was worth getting to have around in case I need it in the future.