What needs to be done..

[Guest]

The bike is a 1978 GS 1000, I'm not sure the model. When I got the bike it was torn apart to paint and the PO never finished, actually tore it apart and left it. The valve cover was off and the cam lobes aquired some rust. I polished them with a cloth buffer at a very low speed and removed it all. One of the journals were blue, is this normal? Ive sent out for valve shims to get my adjustments on point. Main question is what are the things I need to do to the rest of the engine to make sure it is okay to run. Can I check compression? Basically im a newb :-) thanks, Jim

[Morrison]

[cowboyup3371]

Have you been to Basscliff's site yet? (http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff) If not, read up on the information found here - http://members.dslextreme.com/users/..._Greeting.html and then search for the Top Ten Newbie Mistakes

[Morrison]

[hotrods316]

cams are off so you might as well pull the motor apart. a gasket set is cheap insurance over a blown up motor that sends oil on your only tire and you namesake yourself. these ohio roads are dangerous!!!!

As me how i know...

[chuck hahn]

To me, the cam journals look like they have been oil starved and gotten very hot. How about some pics of the head surfaces too. Take a magnet and pull the buckets and see how they look. Some wearing on the sides is normal but they shouldnt be discolored. Put each bucket back in the same hole too. When the buckets are out look at the tops of the valve stems for apparent damage.

Like was mentioned earlier, youve got it to the point that just a few more hrs and the head is off and valve stem seals changed.

[tkent02]

To me, the cam journals look like they have been oil starved and gotten very hot.

Me too, looks a lot like the 750 I took apart last month after it was run dry.

That one was a lot worse that this, but it looks kind of the same.

Its there a fine black dust all over everything? Kind of like graphite for locks?

[Morrison]

I dug around the engine more and the only spot that seems to be leaking oil is that side of the head (the side that the cams are blue) and the head nuts are loose. Exhaust side especially. I get more pics tomo.

[JTGS850GL]

Sounds to me like the PO was in the process of more then a paint job and gave up. Like others have said... It that far down you might as well freshen up the top end.

[Nessism]

Looks like you did a good job cleaning up the cams. Good job tending after the valve adjustment too.

As long as the bearing journals in the head look okay, I'd slam those cams back in.

Make sure you rewind the cam chain tensioner, set the lock screw before install, then release the set screw after the cams are installed.

Those cams seriously overheated. Could be as simple as the previous owner allowing the bike to idle too long without airflow, or could be a symptom of an air leak or jetting problem. I'd go though the carbs, update all the O-rings. including those on the intake boots, and check jetting straight away. Check my signature for the carb rebuild tutorial and Newbie Mistakes thread. Best have the info about common problems at hand, so you can avoid them.

Good luck

[Morrison]

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[Morrison]

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[Morrison]

The buckets didnt have much color to them at all. Id say the only discoloration was a slight bit of brown, maybe oil burning? I took my time getting the rust off (4 hours). I dont mind tearing the head off if you'll think its best. The carbs will most def be torn down as they sit now they are frozen and dont move.

[Nessism]

I've seen cams with color like that more than once. It's somewhat normal. No way I'd pull the head just because of that.

Sounds like you know what you are doing. Just keep going with the basic maintenance. You can always pull the head later if necessary, but I doubt you will have to.

[tkent02]

You didn't answer this:

Its there a fine black dust all over everything? Kind of like graphite for locks?

Depending on your answer, and on the engine's compression, I wouldn't tear it down any further. The compression test is first. Then run it 1,000 miles or so. Even if you do eventually need to tear it down for some reason, it would be nice to know how it runs first, to know if it makes any funny noises, to know the transmision shifts OK, etc. It would suck to do a top end rebuild and then discover the shift forks are bent or find something else that requires splitting the cases. For this reason I always try to test ride an engine first even if it barely runs, or if it leaks like a sieve.

The buckets are all kind of a brown color. Black is bad.


You may find the engine runs fine. I have bought several bikes for a song with "bad" engines that needed nothing more than a valve adjustment to be perfect, they ran many trouble free miles after that. Running one of those "Back from the dead" engines in my 550 now, it's doing just fine. There never was anything wrong with it other than tight valves and a bad owner.