Changing broken cylinder head, Is it worth the effort?

[arveejay]

When I bought my 1100e there was 2 busted cooling fins and then 2 bent cooling fins, they are on cylinder 4 and nobody has ever noticed it and said something about it yet. P.o. said it fell over onto a lawnmower and did the damage. It has zero effect on anything except the looks. I have found that I can change the head and be done with the problem. The bike has 13,000 miles on it and the thought of screwing something up is sickening. Just how big of a job would it be and what special tools would I need? OPTION 1. I assume everything would have to be removed from the newly aquired head and all the parts from the broken head would then be assembled on to the new head. This looks like a pretty complicated process, and being the paranoid type I imagine the worst. OPTION 2. It might be more logical to just rebuild the newly aquired head. OPTION 3. I am leaning more to just leaving it alone and just forgetting about it, after all, It is 24 years old.

[duaneage]

If it runs OK and there are no oil leaks just drive it. Keep the spare head in case circumstances change. your looking at a few days labor and quite a few bucks for the gaskets and other things you might need when you get into it, like exhaust gaskets and head studs.

as long as it is not overheating as a result of the missing fin I would just ride it.

[Jethro]

Will the head come to you complete with cams and valves in place? I bought a complete head with a supposed 8k miles on it and put it on in a night after work. It's basically what I have to do tomorrow night before this weekends ride to Maine. Pretty easy job, you need three gaskets at a minimum to do it right, the cam chain tens., valve cover and head gaskets. Take the valve cover and ignition cover off, and take the valve cover off. Put the motor in top dead center, and take the cam chain tens. off. With the cam chain loose, you can pull off the cams (loosen the bolts in sequence and only a few turns at a time), and pull the head. The real time consuming part is making sure the head and block surfaces are spotless (this has taken me 2 hours before). Putting it back together is quick too, just make sure the cams go on in the same position as you removed them, and check valve clearance and timing before buttoning it up.

I only bought the head beacuse I burnt an exhaust cam bearing. As stated above, if it 'aint leaking or gonna cause a problem, there is no need to change it out. If the bike is really clean, maybe it's worth it to you?

[earlfor]

Too much work for something that is cosmetic. A broken fin isnt going to make it overheat one bit. I would leave it alone.

Earl

[Jethro]

Too much work for something that is cosmetic. A broken fin isnt going to make it overheat one bit. I would leave it alone.

Yep.

I was mistaken about the advice- I thought we were just talking about the head. Don't touch the barrels unless you have to. No good will come of it. And it will take longer than an evening as duneage said- a couple of nights easy. And new rings, and $150 in gaskets alone, with the barrels, I gotta imagine you're looking at $400 minimum, if your lucky, and have the right tools already.

[arveejay]

I'm glad to get these answers, I didn't want to change it and it would be only for looks. The bike is very clean, but not THAT clean. Thanks again all, I'm just going to leave it.

[isaac]

I agree: don't touch anything. It'll run fine. After nearly a decade of messing with cars and now bikes, I've come to the conclusion that touching anything without it already being broken is just an invitation to disaster*.















*but that doesn't stop ME.

[arveejay]

I agree: don't touch anything. It'll run fine. After nearly a decade of messing with cars and now bikes, I've come to the conclusion that touching anything without it already being broken is just an invitation to disaster*.






That's what I'm thinking, I don't want to learn how on it. She's too proud to be down. I'm not willing to take a chance of destroying it for just an appearance update.

Thanks again for all the opinions.








*but that doesn't stop ME.