Now what, HELICOIL TIME.

[jagarra]

Sometimes things just turn to crap when you think you are doing everything correctly. Adjusted the valves on my bike the other day, book says .006 on intake and .008 on exhaust. I decided to do the valves as I could a tinking sound on the left side at idle. Well the culprit turned out to be the side play on the rocker shafts, that side was adjusted tighter and the valves readjusted. Then I got to the right side, it was a PIA to get the rocker side play adjusted correct, tried to place a .002 shim between block and rocker, ate that when tighten and I tried to remove it. Finally got it adjusted, or so I thought. Went for a short ride yesterday and when I came back heard the tinking on the right side, figured it was the exhaust side where I had problems, sure enough it was. Messed around this morning and got it adjusted back and went to put the cover on. When I went to tighten the 10mm nuts on the back my wrench got stuck in there, it is one of those ratcheting types that you cannot change direction unless you remove the wrench and flip it over. it was stuck in the tightening position and all I could do was wiggle and keep tightening the nut. Praying that I wouldn't snap the stud, prying and sweating finally did it and then I went to tighten the nut on the center of the cover, well it turned and turned. Figured it was the nut and helicoiled it, tried it again and it still spun. Looked at the treads on the end of the stud and they were perfect, tried the nut and it tightened up, put to cover back on and it spun again. Pulled the cover off and the stud came out of the head filled with aluminum on the threads. Crap. Stripped out head...Have more helicoils, is this a common occurrence, any issues I should be careful other then drilling too deep??

[Kurt in S.A.]

Hard to understand but I think you're talking about the stud in the middle of the valve cover, right? The acorn nut really doesn't take much torque and in reality don't help all that much to seal the head...the two small 10mm on the sides do a lot more.

Snowbum has some discussion about this. One of the easiest quick fixes is to get the appropriate length of metric all-thread...the length escapes me. Get the hex nut that fits the all-thread and grind off some of the opposite flats...you're trying to get it down to a point where it will fit into that small opening just below the spark plug hole. Once you get that figured out, using red loctite on the all-thread, you feed it into the old thread area of the original stud and engage the hex nut. Get it seated at the right depth and let it set up. To figure the length of the all-thread, use the old stud as a guide plus add a bit to account for threading into the hex nut.

Kurt in S.A.

[Deleted User 287]

On the center stud/nut assy, the stud and the acorn nut are steel - no worries. But the head is aluminium, and that is where the threads strip by folks (like me as a wee lad) that don't know about BMW's aluminium castings and steel screws.

I finally gave up and ran without them. If you want, you could leave the stud out and epoxy the acorn nut on the valve cover!
Some have found a way to slip a narrow nut down the "backside" of the tunnel where the stud goes. I have no first-hand experience, but I was always curious about it.
The two side fasteners will hold the cover well enough to prevent leaks, provided everything is flat.

And I would NEVER think of trying to fit a ratcheting head wrench in there! I always used the 10mm from the tool kit. The open ended one was fastest. Basically I broke them free and then spun them with my finger, holding a magnet on a stick with the other hand.

[Kurt in S.A.]

IIRC the acorn nut takes either a 13 or 14mm tool from the kit. Are we talking the same thing?

Kurt in S.A.

[Deleted User 287]

IIRC the acorn nut takes either a 13 or 14mm tool from the kit. Are we talking the same thing?

Kurt in S.A.

That would be the smaller of the two "sockets" in the tool kit that use the drift for a handle. In this case, the smaller of the two ends of that socket.

#13 here, thanks to Duane: (and yes, it is 14mm)


http://www.w6rec.com/duane/bmw/toolkit/

OP is trying to fit a ratcheting closed-end spanner on the small 10 mm nuts, I believe.

[Kurt in S.A.]

I'm pretty sure the acorn nut is not 10mm. I really couldn't tell from the OP if the problem was the center nut or the two smaller nuts where the 10mm open-end wrench is usually used. If the two smaller studs are the issue, there might be other ways to fix that. Potentially JBWelding in a stud. It might not be pretty but I wonder if someone could weld up the hole in the valve cover and then retap for another stud. Those studs are just threaded in...they can be removed by double-nutting the stud and turing them out.

Or just buy one of the new carbon-fiber looking valve covers...be the first on your block!

Kurt in S.A.

[jagarra]

That box wrench ratcheting head issue sent me for a loop. Worked fine the other day and this morning when I took them off. Plenty of clearance on the top nut, but when I got to the one by the right exhaust, things went south.

Back to the stripped center cover stud. The stud has longer threads on the nut side than the head side so one could reverse the stud and possible place a nut on both side of the hole if there is enough thread.
Well I reversed the stud and put the long thread side into the head. screwed it in until I caught /made good threads and snugged up good. I fitted the cover, it tightened down OK with the center nut, (13mm) installed the small nuts (10mm) and we're good again.

What's a stock tool kit, never had one.

[Deleted User 287]

What's a stock tool kit, never had one.

They are a set of the nicest tools ever included with a motorcycle.

It is possible to work on the bike without them, but they are very nice and feel good in the hand.

For comparison, my CBR250R came with a 6mm allen key and a cable for hanging my helmet on the side of the bike.
And a small book.

[Jean]

The tool kits that come with the newer BMWs are not as impressive.
That one (in the picture) is a beauty!!
Rob, what's the allen key FOR?

[Garnet]

For comparison, my CBR250R came with a 6mm allen key and a cable for hanging my helmet on the side of the bike.
And a small book.

You was robbed Rob. My 125 came with a couple of open end wrenches, a spark plug socket, an axle nut wrench, a screw driver and that 6mm allen key........ even though 5mm is the most needed.
Oh ya, and the little book with a 1-800 number directing me to the nearest authorized dealer.