Tick Tick Tick Tick!!!!!

[steve02392]

Hi all, am hoping someone can kinda help. well here the story goes........

I picked up my vtr about a month ago, she is high mileage (52k) but one owner who seemed to look after her. The MOT was just done and had an advisery on a blown header pipe....well it didnt last so managed to get hold of another set and fitted them thinking all was cool.......Started to get the cough and fart on over run so just had it all in bits guessing air is getting in, would seem i was right as one of the link pipes just almost fell off when inspected!! Oops... So sealed it all up and all back together, it runs a bit better (not giving people heart attacks) but still a little splutter. Is this normal? Or should i be looking at a carb ballance? (i guess the latter). This doesnt worry me much but what does is a new engine sound that appeared today when the engine got to about half temp.............it sounds like a ticking.............am sure most people will say CCT and thats what im thinking too but service history shows it had them done 4k ago..........Any ideas anyone? Any ideas or thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Steve

[benny hedges]

i'd suggest have a look at valve clearances...
might just want shimming.
were oem ccts fitted last time or manuals? who by?
carb balance would make it splutter - and i'm sure i heard someone say it causes the clutch bearings to ratle??? correct me if im wrong!

52k isnt much to be concerned about if it's been looked after - for the engine anyway.
but the rolling gear has also done 52k - like the swing arm bushes, headstock bearings, wheel bearings, shock linkage, fork seals & chrome and stuff...
if all that is in good nick then it definately has been well maintained.

[steve02392]

Cheers Benny,

I only have a reciept for CCT's i dont really know much more than that so i guess it may be an open up and look time?

Its funny you say about clutch rattle as have noticed a slight knock coming from clutch....stops when lever is pulled.

I think the guy i got it from had no idea about mechanics or anything i think it just got looked after for him....all the service stuff and the like, stacks of reciepts.

I got the bike at the right price and she doesnt look too bad for her age so am happy even if a bit got to be spent on it.

Anyway, cheers for the response

Steve.

[steve02392]

ill dig out the reciept for CCTs tommorow and see if i can work anything out from that

[tony.mon]

Ignore the clutch rattle, most Hondas do that to some degree.

Ticking noise is most likely valve clearances or just possibly CCT's not adjusting up properly.
Even when they've been recently replaced they're still a suspect item in my experience

Check the CCT's by taking off the little 8mm end bolt and putting a small screwdriver down the end (airbox off for the front one) and check that there's still spring tension. Don't worry about resetting them, standard ones are automatic.

If you can't feel spring pressure when undoing them, then it's failed, and needs sorting immediately.

But that aside, valve clearances aren't difficult, but again you'll need to pull off the tank, airbox, and to make access to the front cylinder easier, take off the carbs (leave then hanging on the cables if you want, you can work round them) and the plastic heat shield underneath the carbs.
Then you can get to both cylinders quite easily.
Follow the instructions in the Workshop Knowledgebase.

Any other ticking noise means you have wear or a loose part somewhere, you need to try to identify where it's coming form and disassemble to identify and rectify.

Or your analogue bar-mounted clock is on it's way out.
Damn that Gerald Ratner

[steve02392]

Cheers Tony, got a little bike run in the morning for charity but i know what ill be doing tomorrow afternoon now!!! Very much appreciated for the hints and tips......fairly new to the VTR but loving it and its faults if that makes sense!!

Steve

[tony.mon]

You'll need shims in order to re-adjust your valve clearances- while you're there measuring them you might as well just do the job and re-adjust, assuming they aren't perfect.
Which means getting to a Honda dealer to order the shims you need.
The Haynes manual covers this quite well, and gives the calculations for deciding what shims you need.

So if you need the bike to get to work Monday morning you might want to leave it until the dealer's open- check with them first as not all have a good range of shims in stock, and ordering them in takes a day or two.

While you're there, unless they're already done, you might want to fit the take-off points for a carb balancer. Even if you don't balance the carbs this time you have access, and it makes it a lot simpler to do it when you do want to.
See the threads in Workshop about this if you don't know what's involved.
Good luck!