reed valves ???

I bought a valve cover on e-bay, and had it sent out to get chromed,it didnt have reed valves.and am having trouble getting them out of my original cover without damaging them. question is,,are they needed, when the way my mechanic has it set up, is with ajust a hose going from the right side to the left side I guess {blocked off}?......this is on a 1980 LTD 1000.thanks for any oppinions on this subject ..as my mechanic left the state with no forwarding #..Pete

Reed valves? On a 1980? Sure you don't have a J motor? Either way, don'tneed them. APE sells block off plates for those.

The 1980 has emissions so they have reed valves.and you shouldnt need them as long as you keep your hose hooked to each other.The bike came stock with a factory air box and all the emmision setup was hooked thru it. when you remove the airbox it makes the emssions setup not work properly either. If you left the hoses routed like stock it will pop and backfire on deceleration. So by routing the two together you are basicly just plugging it off. Nice bike by the way!!!

On the 550's, the reed valves have the rubber seal for the small covers. Without the reed cages, the covers won't seal. You 'll have to make some paper gaskets or use sealant.

Many times the reed cages will break before coming out. They are very brittle and weak.

thanks for all the info,...was finaly able to get them out,& install them in the chrome cover

If you don't use the reed valves BUT do run the stock reed valve covers with a hose connecting the 2 covers, then you need to plug the holes leading from the exhaust port up into the valve cover where the reeds were.

Without the reed valves, it's a path for hot exhaust gas to rise up there.

If you just run block off plates you're good to go.

And the reed valves started in 1979 models.

I was able to get the reed valve out of the original valve cover & everything went in to place perfectly..thanks for your info !!!!Pete