Smoke, valves and rings

[Mal S7]

On this glorious day I'm doing post-autumn-rally work on my bike.

1) Charlie thought it was a bit loud in the tappets when I pulled into camp. I just checked the clearances and they were all spot-on. But ahh yes, too much end-float on 3 of the four rocker shafts, I have the later shim adjusted type though and its a PITA to get them spot-on. By the time you take the support blocks off and change shims and retorque it ends up too tight or still too loose. They can wait til I have to get the heads off, and that may be soon-ish ....

2) Its developed a drinking problem. In 2400kms the bike slurped 1250ml of oil! Blue smoke from the exhaust when backing off, I was told. Apart from that it ran OK, it got great fuel economy, pinged a bit under load, haven't checked timing yet but it might be due to carbon build-up. The right plug looks OK but the left one is crusty so I think that's the problem side.

I am off to autobarn now to buy a compression tester to try and assess how much work it might need. Its got second-hand R100S heads and pistons that I just bolted on a year ago. Didn't do much at the time but clean the carbon off and lightly lap the valves. Apart from some small chips in the valve seats everything looked OK, there wasn't excessive play in the guides, not that I spent much time assessing that. I was in a hurry to get back on the road.

I figure if compression is OK then I may just get away with new guides. If compression is low on either side, then the next step (help me here) is a leak down test?

cheers
Mal

[Mal S7]

I got 160psi on the RHS and 170 on the LHS.

Close enough side to side but perhaps a bit high?

[ME 109]

Close enough side to side but perhaps a bit high?

Try it again when you mellow out a bit Mal?

[Mal S7]

Try it again when you mellow out a bit Mal?

So Jeff, do you recommend going to the Dubbo show and having a Dagwood Dog for dinner?
Will that fix it?

[ME 109]

Try it again when you mellow out a bit Mal?

So Jeff, do you recommend going to the Dubbo show and having a Dagwood Dog for dinner?
Will that fix it?

Dubbo show? Geez, you guys just had the JJJ one night stand. What's on next weekend, climb the greased giraffe's neck?

[DucatiPete]

G'day Mal, once you get off the greased giraffe's neck it sounds like you're gonna be a bit busy.

What was the ring end gap like on those old S pistons?... did they get new rings?

That's were I'd be looking, but I'm no mechanic.

[ME 109]

Not much help about Mal. Looks like pull it down and start measuring things. There's another thread on adv re smokin' etc.
Maybe that will provide some clues.

[Mal S7]

Yeah I will end up pulling it down to check all the specs. Just wanted to see how far I can get with diagnosis on an intact motor. Measurements are one thing but the reality check is best, and it gets along OK at the moment. Maybe i should do what Ken said and set up an oil bottle with a drip feed into the motor. 1 cc per km.

Steve of Orange is getting his heads done up with new unleaded seats and valves etc. He got a suspiciously good quote on the work. I might see how he gets on.

[Mal S7]

What was the ring end gap like on those old S pistons?... did they get new rings?

Gday Pete
No I didnt check gaps or replace rings. Do you recall which pipe I was smoking from on back off?

How did you get on with your front wheel spacer?

Cheers
Mal

[ME 109]

Do you recall which pipe I was smoking from on back off?

You had a lend of mine Mal. Don't you remember?

Edit, I'll have to consult my gopro footage taken when I was behind you on the way out of Wee Jasper. Tonight.