I made a valve spring compressor. It was kinda a pain in the as* until I got a good system going.
All my old valves were cupped and wasted so I replaced them all. I dipped the valves I bought in Berrymans and used a wire brush drill bit attachment and they cleaned up really good. The combustions side of the head was built up with carbon so I used Berrymans again with a stainless steel scrubber and it cleaned up well also.
I lapped the valves with some Permatex lapping compound. Instead of using a lapping dowel I used a piece of vacuum line and attached it to the valve stem and worked it back and forth in the palm of my hands while pulling up. (Thanks Kris V) Popped in the new seals. What a piece of cake! They just popped right on. Got all the keepers back and turned the head over and did a leak down test. I had to relap one of the intake valves but the rest were good.
Put the head on and followed the tightening sequence with a torque wrench. Don't drop those little copper washers in the engine because magnets won't pick them up so I put a rag in the chain channel and used a screwdriver to guide the washers on the head studs.
When you put the top end back on I learned that you can only put the cam caps on the exhaust cam first and put in the intake cam without the cam caps. Then you put on the cam chain tensioner. If you put the intake cam caps on first your chain will bind. I couldn't figure out why the tensioner wouldn't disengage. Well because the chain was bound and the timing jumped a couple of teeth. Oh well, did it right and spun the crank a couple of times to make sure the timing stayed true.
Adjusted the valve clearance, Popped on the valve cover, tach cable, carbs (no airbox, thank god!), exhaust with new gaskets and tank. Oiled her up, primed the carbs and VROOM it started right up.
Decided to break her in so I took a little ride to Hart Park. It was running great and I was feeling fine when BAM I lost my front sprocket. Second time for this. Suzuki had this bright idea not to put a lock washer on my model. Lucky for me the chain wax was thick and sticky so the counter sprocket nut wasn't lost. I had to walk three miles to find a phone to call my wife. It was quick and easy roadside fix. I just ordered the tab lock washer for my sprocket. I'm NOT going through this again.
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