I bought a set of paddock stands with the very same idea in mind. I put the bike in 6th, but turning the wheel by hand proved to be difficult and inaccurate as the wheel doesn't rotate at a consistent speed (I assume due to the movement of the pistons). It would hit a sticking point, then I would turn it a little harder, then it would jump and often miss the timing mark. Am I doing it correctly?Jazzscot wrote:There was a guy on here did the very same thing as you and he set the bike in 6th gear and rotated the engine by using the wheel. A risky proposition imho but doable.
If I decide to just remove the alternator cover, do I have to drain the engine oil beforehand (I'm going to change it soon anyway)? Neither the Haynes nor service manual says to. I want to avoid this if possible as I don't want to spend money on clutch slave and alternator gaskets (could I use gasket goo and re-use the old ones?) I've left it for now. The alternator cap is a mess so manual CCT's will have to wait.
Earlier today I put everything back together and it fired up without a hitch. I haven't been out for a proper ride yet (only up and down the 50 metres outside my house), but so far the throttle seems much more responsive (revs also come down quicker). The front wheel is definitely coming up now
Still a hint of popping when the revs come down from 5K+ so I'm going to check for air leaks in the new pipes. Also connected my new Carbtune only to find the carbs were almost perfectly balanced. I wanted to see if my new flexible screwdriver attachment would work for balancing so I used it to unbalance the carbs and then re-balance them. Although I raised the tank before doing this, it was completely unnecessary and the carbs can now be balanced without removing a single thing 
As my long term goal is to have a near showroom condition Firestorm for the road, my next job will be overhauling the fork internals and re-painting the lowers.