replaced valve cover gasket, oh the horror!

[rmriggin]

So I ordered a real gaskets valve cover gasket for my 81' GS750 and while the fit was perfect the valve-train underneath was far from it!
The cam cap and journals on cylinder 1 are shot! What's odd is I have put over 400 miles on the bike since getting it reliable enough to ride and asside from some carb issues the ride has been fine.
A brief history on the bike is that I bought it for dirt cheap from a friend. THe friend said it would need a head but I didn't think too much of it. I decided the running issues were related to a cracked airbox and all sorts of crap in the tank.
So I rebuilt the carbs, shimmed the needles, and bumped up the jet sizes and put some pod filters on her. Fired right up and aside from some leaking from the cam plugs on the valve cover, and a slight surging while at cruising speeds, I figured I was on easy street.
I decided it was time to fix the valve cover leak after I wore shorts for a ride and got sick of hot oil drips spraying on my legs. When I removed the valve cover my heart dropped when I saw the intake cam journal for cylinder #1. I removed the cap and saw all sorts of damage/grooving... check it out!
What are my options?!

[sparki]

cheapest option imho would be a decent 2nd hand head.... if it's grooved and looks like in the pics then i'd replace it... are the other caps the same or just the one? could be that a PO replaced a cap as a temp fix without getting it looked at. never good to mix n match caps but like ya say, your friend mentioned the head needed replacement anyway

may be cheaper to source an entire 2nd hand motor... not sure on prices in your neck of the woods but 750's in the uk go for £100-£150 if that.

[rmriggin]

the caps weren't mixed and matched fortunately, but in this case I don't think it would matter. If that cap and cam are that horribly grooved I can only imagine how bad the journal is also without removing the rest of the caps. Unfortunately these bikes aren't just like a typical engine where I could just replace that cam, repair the bore and replace the bearing and cap.
Looks like its time to source a head. Oddly enough though the engine still runs and idles fine and doesn't have bad vibration or really any noise. Better safe than stranded I suppose, better get on the lookout for a replacement.

[Larry D]

First off. The RealGasket may not work too well on that engine. The tach gear resides in the valve cover gasket and there have been reports of the increased thickness of the RealGasket does not allow the gear to seat properly and destroys it.

Second, I had a top end oil problem and ruined my #1 intake cam journal and cam shaft........I'm in search of a "new" engine.

[rmriggin]

dang yours looks fine and dandy compared to my #1 intake cam, cap, and journal LOL! I am guessing engine replacement might be best bet for me also. Unless I can be sure that oil flow is fine, makes me wonder what caused that to happen in the first place. There is less than 17k on my bike.
I'm very new to the motorcycle side of things, been working on 4 wheeled vehicles for a while.

[Sunburn]

I had the same thing happen to the same motor back in 1990. Started making crazy noise on the way home. Almost did not make it home. Never ran again sold it to my brother in law for $400.


New complete head with everything is the best way to go, or new complete motor.

[hikermikem]

I had the same thing happen to the same motor back in 1990. Started making crazy noise on the way home. Almost did not make it home. Never ran again sold it to my brother in law for $400.


New complete head with everything is the best way to go, or new complete motor.

I'm guessing you don't like your brother in-law much...

[Sunburn]

I'm guessing you don't like your brother in-law much...

I paid $900 for the bike with 1800 miles on it

He got a free head from someone what can I say?


He also bought my crashed GPZ750 and my 89 GSXF750.