End covers

[officerbill]

Ever have something fall off and not know it? I lost one of the cam shaft end covers. Two questions; Are these things hard to come by? And, is it real necessary to have them on? I don’t see any oil leaking, just what do these things do? Make it pretty? Well, in my case it is sort of like mammary glands on a box car.
Thanks,
bill

[Agemax]

they are purely cosmetic. dont serve any purpose than to look pretty. you can easily run without them but if you want to replace it they are readily available on ebay etc

[bwringer]

They're maybe $12 - $15 new, but they'll be chromed like the ones on the later models. I think your '79 had polished and clear coated end covers, which look slightly different.

I've got a stack of these covers -- they're all fairly grungy, but they polish up quickly enough on a polishing wheel. One of my chrome ones fell off years ago, so I replaced it with a polished one, and you have to look close to see the difference.

[officerbill]

lost

Thanks for the input. I travel the same road daily and one would think I would have noticed a big hunk of stuff falling off, or that I would spot it on one of my trips to and fro. Glad to know it isn't all that required. If I ever pull the Windjammer off I might need to replace it.
bill

[waterman]

Be thankful that you have cam covers that bolt on from the outside. The round 650 covers bolt on from underneath and are nearly impossible to replace without pulling the valve cover off.

I had one of these fall off and land on my right boot. Try reaching down to grab it while doing the double nickle. Thankfully I got it wedged between my foot and the clutch cover before it fell off into neverland. I use a little bit of lock tite to prevent them loosening.

[tkent02]

I have dozens of those if you want one PM me.