Did I screw up?

[Skinner]

I'm working on restoring my 1981 650GL. I removed the carbs, and in the process of doing so, removed the cam chain tensioner to give me more room to work. To make a long story short, I manually turned the engine a few times before I realized I hadn't put the tensioner back in. Did I mess anything up by doing this? If so, I assume it would be the timing. Let me know, because I want to take care of it before moving on to other things.

Thanks!
K

[Brendan W]

Unlikely. If you had forced the crank past a stiff point you could have touched a valve with a piston - it's standard procedure double checking timing to manually turn the motor over feeling for contact. The chain may have jumped a tooth so the valve timing will need rechecking and maybe resetting.

[tom203]

Probably not- did you just turn it clockwise (right side, signal coils side) ? But this is a good time to check, cuz it might have been off before. Thanks to Nessism for this link!

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=2038614&postcount=14

Make sure you understand correct method of reinstalling tensioner and releasing it.

[Nessism]

If you turned the engine over without the tensioner the timing almost certainly jumped. Check your manual to make sure you time the cams properly. Don't relay on the post above I made because your bike may have a different pin count between the two cams. The part about setting 1-4T and aligning the exhaust cam 1 mark is same for all models though.

[hikermikem]

Timing chain should be 20 pin count between the #2 mark (exhaust) and the #3 mark (intake) for the 650G & GL.

[tkent02]

If you heard a fairly loud snap/click/pop kind of noise from the top end as you turned the engine that was the chain jumping a tooth. Even if you didn't hear it, check the cam timing, it's just too important.

[Skinner]

I removed the valve cover and checked the cams. At TDC everything looks good, but I'm a rookie so I've posted some pics for the experts to chime in on. There are 20 pins between each sprocket per spec. Please let me know if anything looks out of place.


TDC


Camshafts lined up & 20 pins between.

Cheers!
K

[TeamDar]

I think you are OK. The notches in the end of the camshafts even look correct.

[hikermikem]

Is it just the way the picture looks, or is the #1 mark not flush with the valve cover gasket surface? The picture looks like it's 1 tooth off.

With VC gasket off, that #1 mark needs to be dead nuts flush with the surface when at TDC.

[Nessism]

That 1 mark can be tricky. It's usually pointing either a little up or down. Rarely perfectly aligned the way it should. It's typically a little down though, so I agree with Mike that it's best to check. As the cam chain wears the 1 will drift upward so consider that too.

[chef1366]

Are the notches facing each other at the end of the cam shafts?

[TeamDar]

I think you are OK. The notches in the end of the camshafts even look correct.

That's what I said

[chef1366]

That's what I said

Sorry, I got caught up in folks saying it was wrong and was trying to point the person in the right direction.

[TeamDar]

No Problem. Just glad to see someone else realize that the notches tell the tale.

[Skinner]

Here are some closeup pics of the camshaft ends. They look good to me.

Intake:


Exhaust:


Thoughts?