Adventures in exhaust replacement

[doctorgonzo]

I did a search looking for info on exhaust head bolts and oil and this thread came up - hope you don't mind it being pulled back out. I was chasing an oil leak that I thought was a head or valve cover gasket. It turned out the first exhaust head bolt on the ignition side of the motor was pushing oil past the bolt. In reading your thread, it rang similarly, I think the bolt had previously been tapped - the bolt is a little looser than the others - and had backed out some.

Is it normal for there to be oil pressure on the back of that bolt or do I have a head problem? The bike runs pretty well - even with the oil spray. I pulled the bolt, put some high temp RTV (orange) and some mild strength loctite on the bolt - seems to be ok on the oil leak.

I'm leaning toward the studs option too or drilling and wiring all the exhaust bolts - and fyi - www.mcmaster.com/ is an excellent source for hardware of all kinds - use them all the time on my racecar.

Just learning my way around the GS motor - oh yeah - '79 GS850G.

Thanks,
Jason.

There is an oil passageway that passes under the valve bucket. On the exhaust side it gets very close to the bolt hole, close enough that drilling too deep in the process of putting in an insert can make a hole in it. That's where the oil is coming from. I'm living with my leak for the time being as I rebuild a salvaged head (with all good bolt holes) that I'm going to swap out.

[timelapseracing]

There is an oil passageway that passes under the valve bucket. On the exhaust side it gets very close to the bolt hole, close enough that drilling too deep in the process of putting in an insert can make a hole in it. That's where the oil is coming from. I'm living with my leak for the time being as I rebuild a salvaged head (with all good bolt holes) that I'm going to swap out.

Thanks - that was my guess - tho' I couldn't find a manual diagram in enough detail to see. I'm going keep an eye out for parts - but as long as oil isn't coming out I'll probably just watch plugs for a while. I'm not sure I want to put engine rebuild effort into this bike right now - but we'll see.

Cheers,
Jason.

[doctorgonzo]

Thanks - that was my guess - tho' I couldn't find a manual diagram in enough detail to see. I'm going keep an eye out for parts - but as long as oil isn't coming out I'll probably just watch plugs for a while. I'm not sure I want to put engine rebuild effort into this bike right now - but we'll see.

Cheers,
Jason.

If it's not leaking you are probably fine. Mine had multiple other issues.