To be specific, I meant remove the cover and turn the crankshaft several times while watching the action of the valve gear. At some point, the cause of the noise should have been obvious. I might add that no valve should have any clearance. One with clearance would be the source of the noise. Observation is a great part of diagnosis. In truth, I'm a lazy sod. I don't take anything apart unless I REALLY have to. And then, only as much as needed. I wouldn't remove the head unless I knew I had a bent valve. How do you know ? That's the one that doesn't return up all the way... Did it start to miss when all this started ?
--- On Fri, 7/31/09, Creative Residential Designs <[email protected]> wrote: From: Creative Residential Designs <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Broken valve spring... To: [email protected] Date: Friday, July 31, 2009, 12:39 AM Oh yeah...there's problems. I don't think you can watch for the unusual things that are broken in the top end of your motor...I do think that you can hear 'em though! At least it's not the KNOCK KNOCK of an engine that's too far gone. I won't know more until tomorrow with the top end removal. At least I salvaged the cam cover gasket. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dennis Hammerl To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:35 PM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Broken valve spring... Before you started to take it down, did you turn the motor over and watch for unusual things happening ? I would have expected to hear or see something. I'd hate for you to have to do more than what is needed. --- On Thu, 7/30/09, Creative Residential Designs <[email protected]> wrote: From: Creative Residential Designs <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Broken valve spring... To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, July 30, 2009, 4:23 PM Hey Dennis...I took everything off of the top of the engine that I could without removing the whole top end so far. I have found nothing yet so I'll keep you informed. I'm trying to eat enough bologna to keep me going until I get it all apart. I was able to save the cam cover gasket. When I replaced the cam cover gasket last year I put High-Tac on the bottom side of the gasket and silicone ("snot") on the top side. Bob recommended this and now I know why. I took a razor knife gently around the gasket on the top side so that the gasket stayed stuck to the engine itself. The High-Tac glued the gasket firmly to the engine and the silicone released it from the top side. I will post some pictures of the disassembly later. I wrapped the cams in saran wrap and marked each one. I have some more tips that I will share with the group later that work well. HotrodMamma. ----- Original Message ----- From: Creative Residential Designs To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 7:51 AM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Broken valve spring... I'll let you know. I do have a parts bike with a good top end. I was weighing the idea of just swapping the whole top end. If nothing I do have parts but I hate to take that cam cover off. I'll have to try and save it if I can. HotrodMamma. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dennis Hammerl To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:31 PM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Broken valve spring... Let me know what you find. A broken valve spring would be a first for me. Other than the faulty hydraulic adjuster problem, I've never seen a cylinder head failure of any sort. If it didn't drop a cylinder at time of noise, I'd bet on a cam follower. Sure be easier to repair than a valve. Good luck. --- On Wed, 7/29/09, Creative Residential Designs <[email protected]> wrote: From: Creative Residential Designs <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Broken valve spring... To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 11:58 PM I went for a ride on my '83 650 Nighthawk today. It was about 170 miles round trip. Coming back home I heard a noise in my top end. Lucky me, I was at a town only 20 miles from home. It was a tap, tap, tap. I put some oil in even though I put some oil in before I left home as it was a bit low still. I rode it slow for about a block. There was no noise until I put it under load...tap, tap, tap but not real loud. And then...PING! ping ping ping. I think I broke a valve spring. I pulled it over. I was riding with Bob so I jumped on the back of his bike (ARRGGG! I hate the back seat!) and we came back and got the trailer. I am pulling the cam cover off tomorrow to have a look-see. Now I have 3 bikes and nothing to ride! My old Harley needs a clutch and I'm waiting for the clutch lever that was donated to me by a very nice member of this forum. ;) for the Nighthawk Nightmare project. Between the generous donation of a tank and that clutch lever from members of this forum I should at least have one bike to ride again soon! Thanks to the generous members of this forum for helping me to get a bike on the road again. HotrodMamma. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
