Valve adjustment gone wrong

[Guest]

I have an '82 GS1100EZ.

While checking up on a weeping valve-cover gasket I discovered two of my valve adjuster bolts and nuts are missing. They're both missing from the intake side on cylinder one.

This poses a few questions:

1. Where could they have gone? I checked the cylinder and oil pan thinking they were the two places that it might have landed to find nothing.

2. What now? Should I seek until I find or just replace them? Does anyone know where I could get some new ones?

3. Is there anything that would have been damaged from riding the bike like this? I definitely rode it a good 100 miles or so in this condition.

Many thanks.

[rapidray]

They are in the cylinder head somewhere or down in the bottom of the cam chain tunnel & you are LUCKY they didn't get between the chain & the gear on the crank!!!!
Ray.

[sharpy]

Wouldnt there be a 3rd question. How the hell didnt you hear the rattle?

[tkent02]

Some folks just don't listen.

[Nessism]

Wow! This isn't some chopped exhaust bike is it? Trying to understand how you didn't hear the valve train thrashing like crazy.

[hjfisk]

Actually did it even run

[phydeauxmutt]

I'll just copy and paste your questions and insert my comments.

1. Where could they have gone? I checked the cylinder and oil pan thinking they were the two places that it might have landed to find nothing.
The space directly under the crank can hold some hardware without letting it pass through to the oil pan. If you have the pan off, try waving a flexible magnet under the crank or go fishing with some baling wire to see if you can drag them to where you can reach them.

2. What now? Should I seek until I find or just replace them? Does anyone know where I could get some new ones?
Definitely try to find them. There might be something holding them above a moving part that can let it go at a rather inopportune moment. Whether you should re-use the ones you find will be up to you. Definitely examine them for damage.

3. Is there anything that would have been damaged from riding the bike like this? I definitely rode it a good 100 miles or so in this condition.
I don't think that 100 miles in that condition can be called a "good" 100 miles, hope the bike survived. Without adjusters, the rockers would definitely be bouncing around, so definitely examine the cam lobes. The tips of the rockers might have bounced against the valves, so check the ends where the adjusters are supposed to be.

As others have commented, there would have been a LOT of racket with those missing parts, just wondering how that could have been overlooked, let alone for 100 miles.

[tkent02]

I have bought a couple of nearly dead bikes with loose or missing adjusters. In all of them the ends of the valves were mushroomed, the rockers were ruined, and they sounded like a paint shaker with a bolt in the can instead of paint but they still ran. The easiest fix may well be a replacement head, but find the missing parts!