cam timing question

Bicycle Lee wrote:

I actually didn't have George work on them. He just told me what my jetting should be for pods and 4-1 and the elevation I live at.
My brother adjusted my floats today so after we sort out this leaky head gasket thing we'll give her another go. One thing it COULD be is that we used RTV on the head gasket and afterwards I read that you aren't supposed to do that. It could have created a gap large enough for oil to escape. So step one for this weekend is tear it down to the block and get that gasket situated correctly.
Once the oil leak is cured I can tinker with the carbs til they're dialed... I just don't really want to run the motor if the head is still leaking....

just reading this post now.....bad monkey..:laugh:
if its a 1000, dry base gasket with some goop around the 4 rear cyl studs underneath gasket, put cylinders (jugs)on,use a one pc head gasket and fill void in center where o ring used to reside
with high temp rtv gasket crap....i filled mine a 1/16th to an 1/8th over level so the squash factor would seal....if you have the dough and the time, remove stock studs and put in ape hd jobs.....stock studs clamp down at 20 ft/lbs....you can clamp down on ape studs and ape nuts something like 42 ft/lbs....makes a significantly tighter sandwhich and can overcome
some of the little things that can lead to leaks...just my take.....this is all advice i got here and it worked.....cam chain parts are another chapter.........good luck......keih

alright, so here's what happened today...
tore down the top end and scraped the rtv off of the head gasket. Made sure the channel where the rubber o ring sits was clean and clear and reassembled the top end.
Tried firing the engine and it wouldn't start without starter fluid which was strange because it did last time.
The idle was lower but very sporadic. Hooked up my tach and tried to get it stable at 1500rpm. It would idle for a second and then die.
We fiddled with the float levels on the carbs, tinkered with the mixture screws and BAM... it started without help and idled well.
Not to mention NO MORE SMOKE and.... only a TINY TINY little oil leak from that previous spot.
I'm still searching for a set of 28mm carbs but I have these ones dialed in pretty good right now it seems. So my next step is gonna be getting new head gaskets and a new o ring (just for the shits an giggles).
I have to say, I'm rather befuddled with why the float level being a little low would effect idle and starting so much... I know this isn't the carb section, but I just wanted to mention that... I thought it was strange.

another "funny" part about today was taking off the valve cover and finding my missing rubber damper from the chain guide sprocket broken into about six pieces under the camshaft.... must have found it's way into the crankcase somehow... luckily it was soft and breakable... haha

The float level is indeed very important,as u found out.This is normal.it will affect mid range as well.
the rubber cam damper cannot have come up from the sump.it will not fit through the oil pump, screen, or filter.it must have been missplaceed some how during the build? did u find it was missing when u took the head off? maybe it came off when u put on the head and the chain grabed it and through it to the top of the cam cover and then down towards the cams? i allways put a dab of ATV silione on them, to hold them in place.

the only way that the float level can change is if it has been monkeyed with or the springs in the float needles have become weak over time then in that case they should be replaced.the cam chain could have carried the rubber piece from the bottom end up to the head.

I'm just stoked to get the motor running.... I'm looking to get new carbs anyway, so all the time spent on these will be somewhat wasted, but oh well.... now comes the expensive stuff: paint and powdercoat

Bicycle Lee wrote:

I'm just stoked to get the motor running.... I'm looking to get new carbs anyway, so all the time spent on these will be somewhat wasted, but oh well.... now comes the expensive stuff: paint and powdercoat

congrats....sounds like you are on it..!!!!

thanks...
and thanks everyone for the feedback and help...
I'll certainly be posting pics when the bike is together... probably won't be for a while, but it'll happen.