Uh - Oh.......

[jetta90]

Need your advice on a problem I have just encountered please.............

Has to do with a 1983 GS 750E, 16 valve motor - 2nd generation I think they call it.
Just finished adjusting the valves and replaced the cam cover. Cam cover is held onto the head by 10 allen head bolts. They are a special fat head type.
Here is the problem ......... the allen head bolts screw into the cam retainers. The cam retainers hold the cam in the head of course. I have the bolt hole in one of the cam retainers where this "fat head" allen bolt goes into that has stripped and a second one that is pretty much on the way out.
So I can't bolt down the cam cover at 2 of the bolts.
I know the cam retainers are machined with the head to provide a specific clearance between the bearing surface of the retainer and the cam surface.
I have a spare engine i can pull the proper retainers out and install in my engine. That would be the easiest way to solve my problems.
What do you guys think.............can there be that much of a difference if I replace the 2 spare retainers from antoher engine into mine?

[Nessism]

Replacing the cam caps is a no-no since they are line bored with the head. Best to rework your old ones.

You can pull the cam caps and install helicoils to replace the stripped threads. Use a drill press if you have one to drill the pilot hole and tap the threads - this assures the holes are perpendicular. Pretty easy repair.

[MrZig]

If it comes down to it, can you put the entire head from the spare motor onto this one?

[chef1366]

If these are anything like the 1150 head drill, tap and heli-coil it.

[rapidray]

It is a 7.0 x 1.0 helicoil just so you know. Ray.

[jetta90]

Thank you all for your comments. I think I knew what was coming all along but wanted to hear it from you experts out there.
My tool box will look better with some helicoil bits anyway.............

It'll be the simplest and most accurate repair to go that way.

[jetta90]

ok, well I managed to bugger up this repair as well.............

The issue I have now is that I drilled too deep into the cam retainer bolt hole when drilling out for the helicoil and came out the other side!! The hole where the bolt screws into now has no bottom to it where before it did. The cam bearing surfaces on the underside of the cam retainer were not touched. The oil groove now connects with the bolt hole.
Let it go as is? Fill up with JB weld? ..........or, do I just deserve to be taken behind the barn and worked over with a 2x4?

[Billy Ricks]

It was a weak design on the cam caps. I had a couple where the raised portion that the bolt fits into crumbled and fell apart. You can probably seal it up well enough with some epoxy putty that is resistant to oil and fuel.