I love that engine, but really appreciate the modern hydraulic lifters..
I feel your pain. When I adjusted the valves on my C14 about 4 years ago it was a true stressor and took a lot of time. At 28k miles, 13 out of 16 valves were slightly out of spec; adjusted them all to the high side of spec range. I am not a mechanic and this was at the limit of my mechanical abilities. But at least when it was done I was certain that all valves were adjusted properly. I was fearful of what would happen when it came time to start the engine, or if the engine would even start. It was a great relief when it started and ran well. But I will never adjust the valves on this bike again. Never. Ever. Best wishes for getting the job done.
Yeah, this is just a ridiculous amount of work for a "maintenance" item, at least on a bike this complicated and packed with stuff. This makes me want an electric motorcycle even more (if we can just get the battery technology there- we have a pretty long way to go, still).
Shims should be here Wednesday. We are still trying to figure out how to fix the engine mount. The attempt to drill out the bolt has failed- it is impossible to center the hole due to the bold surface being so uneven. My friend has some ideas still. And we are both still very sore.
get a hand grinder and grind the end of the broken bolt down flat, then use a center punch, to make a good "divvet" in the end, drill the sucker
and use easy-out to remove...
then, while the bike is "sans-tank", remove and replace that gacked up fuel filter... trust me, it's gacked up now... and will haunt you later............
Unfortunately, it is broken further in, so it can't be ground flat... yet. My friend is making some kind of jig to see if we can get a straight shot with an end-mill type thing to make it flat enough.
WOW...I have done valve adjusts on every bike I have owned that needed it over the last 50 years but I will never do one on my C14. I rode mine to Texas (1,300 miles each way) and had Fred Harmon do mine and it was so worth it....especially when I see your pictures. You are a better man than I am. Mine was done at 46,000 miles and he replaced 12 shims to get them all at center but if I remember correctly only 4 were out of spec. 16,000 miles later no leaks or problems of any kind and runs perfect....my wallet is a little lighter though. Two days in a hotel watching TV seemed like more fun than taking on that job. JMOFred was my solution as well, Great guy to work with. However I hauled my track bike up to Mountain Home along with the C14 and rode some of the best roads in Arkansas while he did the work.
.........I rode mine to Texas (1,300 miles each way) and had Fred Harmon do mine and it was so worth it....especially when I see your pictures. ....my wallet is a little lighter though. Two days in a hotel watching TV seemed like more fun than taking on that job. JMO
Fred was my solution as well, Great guy to work with. However I hauled my track bike up to Mountain Home along with the C14 and rode some of the best roads in Arkansas while he did the work.
Just for clarity on these two posts, between these two above quoted valve jobs, Fred Harmon moved from 15 minutes from my house (Texas) to 8 hours from my house (Arkansas) .
He is indeed now living in the Mountain Home Arkansas area.
OK, back to max's story....
Only two pages so far...Come on Max!
OK but you are not the reason he moved, right? At least not the main reason..... ?
Brian
No, I only went to his house 4 times. Two of the times was to drop off the bike and the other two were to drop off money, so I don't think that was the reason. If my local presence was the reason he moved I'm sure he would have moved much further away than only 8 hours. Besides the wind pattern from my house to his wasn't a problem (however I've noticed a lot of houses on the market to the north of me...hmmmmm.
If we ever are close, I'll ride upwind and far ahead..