A Better Slotted Cam Sprocket Bolt

[lecroy]

Man Ray, your sockets look like they fit perfect. What sort of torque wrench are you using to get that close to the cam with and miss the cap?

If I get the junk bike close enough to try and run it, I'll drop the cams in and recheck it.

[rapidray]

Mark, I use Snap On torque wrenches but the KEY is to use a long enough extension to get the torque wrench to the OUTSIDE of the head. I also rotate the cam to where i can get the extension & socket BETWEEN the spark plug galleys & the caps. It works EVERY time! I'll go out to the garage in a few minutes & take a picture of the way I do it so you can see exactly what I mean. Ray.

[lecroy]

This would help. I saw the extensions but no swivel. Are you doing it without the inside caps on? I'll wait for the picture.... All these years of bottled up intense animosity towards these bolts, maybe there is a cure or at least a way to ease the pain.

[rapidray]

Mark, I just sent 2 pics, & no, I don't have to use a swivel. If you want give me a call at 714-356-7845 & we can talk about it. I would also like to tell you about Don & that BS on Dragbike.com. Ray.

[lecroy]

Pictures have not came across yet. Could it be that simple. Seems not but I am open to anything. I have a ground down wrench that I keep with the degree wheel that I use to snug the bolts when I adjust them. Don't like using an open end for this. Crazy stuff. May need to drag some parts out and have a look to refresh my memory. Maybe I just need to get a snap on 10 and wrench.

Don is always the center of some sort of BS. He's always dishing it out or getting trashed by someone. Funny stuff. I doubt I will ever meet him or work with him on anything so it really doesn't matter to me. Just entertainment.

[rapidray]

Mark, I sent the pics again. Did you get them this time? Ray.

[lecroy]

Nada, zip. I blew away the last one and also tried to send a message back.

[rapidray]

Ok, I'll send again! Ray.

[lecroy]

Both made it! Sure looks easy on that head. I'm sure you know the inside cam caps are about double on the older heads. I was thinking that the lip was wider too. I take it you were showing the newer cams as well.

I saved the pictures to compare against once I get to that point.

[rapidray]

It's the same deal on the GS heads. Ask Posplayer, he watched me degree his cams & use the same tools. And if you look at that cam, it was a GS intake cam from Cam Motion. They use all GS blanks to make all the GSXR cams too. Ray.

[posplayr]

I had the valve cover off today

Stock GS1100ED (83) with 340 Webcams. I used Craftsman 10 mm 3/8 drive and 1/4 drive and neither would go all the way onto the bolt head. There appear to be marks on the cam bolt head that are closer to the end than is possible with my wrenches.

Ray, could it be the Snap on are more thin walled sockets?

Posplayr

[TheCafeKid]

You guys are talking about the bolts that hold the cam sprockets on correct? Why would you NOT use an allen head or torx bolt on these? Would it not be easier to get to? Ive only played with one 1100 16v motor recently but i dont recall there being a problem in getting to these bolts, however it was on an 81 head. Never had an ED head open before so i couldnt say. The thought of using a GRADE 8 bolt however, is a bit disconcerting, as rather than simply bending and throwing your cam timing out of whack, causing the bike to run like crap obviously, a GRADE 8 WONT bend, but snap, and that would be MEGA bad news.

[lecroy]

Why not use an allen or torx?, well, find me a 7mm X 13 with the same hardness and sholder. I had looked for them in the past and turned up nothing. When you find this part, please post it here!!!


I broke down and opened some boxes to refresh my memory. Putfile seems to be having problems and this site limits the picture size to 19K. So forgive the poor quality of the pictures....

I use TRW tools, if anyone remembers that far back. I also use some old Craftsman and Easco tools from the 60 - 70s.

We only get one dickey azz picture/post.

First picture, just to show the parts I use. The Schnitz parts are OEM bolts. Nothing new here.

[lecroy]

Put the parts together and you can see that Suzuki in all its wisdom has that bolt right up against the cam. Why, we will never know. The cam company could have relieved this area to help but they don't. So, this is the problem I am talking about. Can we fit a socket onto it.....

[lecroy]

Here I am showing my favorite 10mm Easco wrench that I modified just for these stupid cams. No, I don't torqe the bolts with it. I just snug them while I adjust the cams. Notice that there is no where near enough clearance for the wrench to fit.