Here's what I did for the paint. Auto-air colors and Omni AU clearcoat.
POR15 raw metal finish for the forks. I may clear them, or not. I like the texture and color but don't know how I will like cleaning them.
So here's where the arggh comes in.
While the engine is out, I decide to check the valves. It will never be easier than now, so I line up the T mark on the engine and look at the valves and they make no sense. A quick persual of the shop manual leads to me check the valve timing and it is off by a tooth or 2 on the exhaust side, then found the 28 pin mark on tooth 26. After correcting that and actually engaging the cam cahin tensioner, I get the lobes to line up and find that #1 exhaust has .03mm, most of the rest have 0.0mm and #2 intake has all the clearance in the world. Juast to satisfy my curiousity, I decide it's time to pull the head.
The white stuff appears to be silicone bathtub caulk. And it is all over in the head and bores.
Check out the lovely job done on the base gaskets. Put down the (caulking) gun and walk away slowly!
And the fun doesn't stop there. The reason that #2 intake has so much clearance is that it is missing the shim!
This picture generated a bit on controversy on another forum. Here's the deal. At first glance I thought there was a shim and for some reason the valve wasn't coming up. Nope. There is no shim. The cam appears to have hit the edge of the tappet, leaving some nasty scars. The cam looks fine but the tappet will need to be replaced
All 7 remainig shims are .245mm. All of them. All too tight. Oh wrenching wretardation!