TOPIC:

so the old girl is running pretty sweet
but there is a little bit of a ticking noise coming from the top right side i was thinking maybe the oil was too thin or re shimming which i realy dont want to do myself
last time i had it reshimed my buddy who was the owner of z1 city back in blighty did it for me while i watched the shop for him ahh good ole days anyway what do you think guys needs shimmage let me know...

Could it be a exhaust leak?? If not warm her up and pull the cam cover off with feeler gauges in hand,time to get busy checking clearances.IF you have a shim under bucket it can be a pain in the azz.If not it wont be too bad to do if you have the spring compressor to colapse the springs to get the shims out.(shim over style)

is it sitting on kickstand idling when you here the noise?if so it could be the oil running away from that side of head.

Never hurts to make sure there's no *shimmy in 'yer shimmage*...

...but...

A couple of thought come to mind:

You didn't mention if this is a full time condition, or is most noticeable after a cold start and fades as the motor warms up.

For a motor that has scads of everything, one item they're a bit short on is oil pressure...

I didn't take a close look at your pics, but it looks like your bike spends most of its off-hours sitting on the kickstand - leaning to the left.

In that position, oil will tend to drain away from the right side of the cam troughs.

After starting, it takes awhile for the motor to pump enough 'erl up there to get things good and slimy again, and the ticking will either reduce in volume or go away entirely. If such is the case, it's generally not that big an issue.

Just an observation...

yeh it spent the last 10 yrs on its side stand which couldnt of helped.
center stand was about the only part other than a gpz1100b1 frame that i used as doner that i left oh and the but ugly wheels,you should have seen the wifes face when we went to get the bike and my tea chests from customs full of old bike parts she said do you realy need all these old parts! well i said you never know lol.

when i get the plates and my learner licence "dont laugh" lol ill see if it go,s away if not ill bit the bullet and try to re shim her as the bike shop mechanic here on the island and i dont see eye to eye since i told him what i thought of harleys lol.
well he started it with the usual "little rice burner" jibe.

exhaust donsnt seem to be leaking but i do have a spare set of copper ring gaskets which ill use when i pull exhaust off to get to my oil filter, after a run in period as she sat for hmm could be 10 yrs or dam close to it.

turns out the far right exhaust clamp needed a pinch up
and lol behold no more ticking sweetness thanx for your help ppl id be lost without this community!