I think I screwed up my cam bearing oil clearance

I've been having a hell of a time scraping off the old valve cover gasket. After two days of soaking in CRC gasket removal spray, I was able to get the big chunks off with an Xacto knife and razor blade. The surface gasket still had some black gasket material on it that I was unable to remove with the razor blade, as seen here:



I proceeded to use 400 grit sandpaper on a sanding block to remove the remaining gasket material from the cylinder head. Without realizing what I was doing, I also ran the sandpaper over the cylinder head's mating surface for the cam caps. 30 minutes later I had a huge "oh shit" moment when I realized I probably took off some microscopic amount of material from the cylinder head that would cause the cam caps to sit lower, thus throwing off the camshaft bearing oil clearance. The only affected areas are the surfaces for the two exhaust cam caps above the #1 and #2 cylinders.



1. Can I use plastigage to measure the oil clearance with the head still on the engine?

2. What should my next steps be to rectify my carelessness? Performing a few valve clearances is the extent of experience I have with working on the internals of an engine, but I'm willing to learn.

I need to get this bike going before I start grad school (not for engineering, lol) on May 26.

Thank you for the help.

Edit: One other question, what's a better way to remove that caked on gasket?

Update: Bike has been started and runs great. There appears to be no damage.

I still see some staining from the gasket. You may not have a problem. Put a little oil on the bearing surfaces, put it together, turn it over by hand and see if there's restriction. If not, you're good to go. If it would make you feel better, you can Plasti Gauge it.
Steve

with 400 paper, you would have REALLY had to work at it to take off enough material to screw it up. Plastiguage it and see, but I doubt it unless you went crazy on it.

I installed the camshafts today, and the engine easily turns over by hand. I might still use Plastigage to see where I'm at with the clearance beneath the cam caps.

Thank you everyone who had input.

I wouldn't bother.
Steve

swest wrote: I wouldn't bother.
Steve

I shouldn't have. Both the clearances measured between 0.076 and 0.102 mm, closer to 0.102. I should be all good!



Time to address my wrenching-induced neurosis :silly: