More clutch related woes and engine concerns

[benny hedges]

also the long pushrod is different on each end and should only go in one way.
the longer bit goes to the left, toward the front sprocket.
you will know what i mean when you look at it.

are the metal plates blue at all??? mine are! theyre fkt, warped to buggery.
over a period of 2-3 weeks the clutch got progressively worse, slipping all the time, with a (sort of) bite point right at the end of the lever travel (away from the bars) so just a slight touch would slip it.

go it all apart atm so hoping it will be better for tomorrow!

[billbofagends]

Counted the clutch plates and discs when they were out, all there according to the service book and all within tolerance.

Clutch places looked OK too, no signs overheating with blue burns in the metal either.

Waiting for a lever to come up and then I can prove my theory.

[billbofagends]

Well haven't got the clutch lever yet but I have had a set of manual CCTs turn up. Got them wacked in this afternoon and roughly at the right tension. I have had a scan of past posts for advice on the correct tension but I was hoping somebody could clarify the procedure. Can I do it while the bike is running? I don't need to take anything off the old ones to put on the manuals do I?

It's got rid of the rattle on the front cylinder - I found the cause of that. The spring in the CCT hadn't gone - when I did the stopper mod the roll pin that holds the plunger head on got a bit chewed up as I didn't have a pin punch small enough to knock it out. So it was a bit sloppier than it should have been

I didn't have the gaskets either so I made my own out of some thin card. hehe.

[tony.mon]

Re: pin punch- a pop rivet works fine!

Tension- if you take the cam boxes off, and then remove the guard over the chain run (just one bolt from each cam clamp, leave the other three done up) - and don't drop the little one on the side down the chain tunnel!
Stuff a clean rag down there before undoing it.

APE reckon about 5mm free play in the chain run between the cams.

If it's already back together and running and you don't want to faff about, you can adjust by ear.
Loosen the locknut,then undo the bolt a flat at a time, blipping the engine each time. Wait until you get to the rattle as the engine revs slow.
Then wind it back in until you feel some tension on the adjuster.
If you find that the engine tickover is slowing slightly due to the tension, or you get a squealing noise, you've gone too far.
Now you have your range of adjustment. (too loose to too tight).
I'd advise that you leave it about a third of the way along that range of adjustment, nearer the "too loose" end.

Hopefully this makes sense!

If you want to make a double-check, then you can easily try the adjustment method above, then get to the rear cam box, have a look at the chain slack there, and see how close you were.
If you're happy with the second method of adjustment giving you a good result, then do it to the front one.

My thinking is that the front one is a bugger to get to, taking off the carbs and plastic shield is quickest and easier than trying to get in under the fairing.

HTH

[billbofagends]

Cheers Tony. Got it sorted in the end. I took the cam cover off on the rear cylinder in the end just because I wanted to be sure. I'd say its difficult to get the 5mm of free play, chains being chains, you get tight and slack spots which seems to be further complicated depending on whether the cams are under pressure from the valves spring to turn.

In the end I just turned the crank over a bit each time and made sure it wasn't too tight anywhere. My advice to anyone doing the manual CCTs conversion is to lock the autos off when removing and set up the manuals up at the same length and then wind out a 1/4 of a turn to allow for any tight spots. Then turn it over a few times by hand to make sure nothing is bad about to happen and then fire up.

So, next job... clutch lever, oh and then the brake fluid wants draining (uh oh) and I want to do grease that rear linkage too! Then maybe some

[billbofagends]

The clutch lever arrived couple days go but only got round to trying it tonight thanks to a random arm infection that has taken me out of action for the last 5 days. Well the news isn't great. Firstly, thanks to the wonders of ebay bike breakers selling on cack, I've ended up with a bent clutch lever with an obvious drop mark on the end that they failed to mention in the auction. Grr. More annoyingly, it hasn't cured the problem and not because it's bent either.

That really leaves only one thing left to change - the m/c push rod. These are another £12 from David Silver spares so before I go chucking more money at this, could someone do me a favour and measure the length of the push rod please?

[sirch345]

I'd say its difficult to get the 5mm of free play, chains being chains, you get tight and slack spots which seems to be further complicated depending on whether the cams are under pressure from the valves spring to turn.

In the end I just turned the crank over a bit each time and made sure it wasn't too tight anywhere.

Billbo,
Just to add, you're meant to be getting around 5mm of free play (I believe Ape actually recommend between 1/4" and 3/8" deflection) between the two cam sprockets (with the chain guide removed) when the engine rotation is set in the correct position (TDC on the compression stroke) for each cylinder.

See link below for correct engine position, it's exactly the same for renewing the CCT's.

At this position there is absolutely no load on the cam chain

http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=8326

Chris.