Head Plug Work Continues

I was all set to reassemble the Virgin Whore yesterday. First I cleaned up all the mating surfaces.

Here I am cleaning and flattening the head cover on a piece of wet and dry 400 grit on a granite slab (a sink cutout I got free from a countertop place; very useful for this work and sharpening my woodworking tools—ever hear of "scary sharp"?). This did a good job of removing any remnants of the old silicone and smoothed the surface. I tied up the rocker arms so they would not get ground down as I pushed this back and forth over the paper.

Next I cleaned the mating surfaces on the motor and installed a new plug with high temp red silicone.

So, I get ready to put the cover on. First I stuck the new bolts that were missing into their places on the cardboard so as not to loose track of what one is which one and which one is where, then put the special washers (rubber in the middle of the steel washer) on their respective bolts. Wait a minute, au contraire mon fraire! Suzuki shorted me two washers. Aggghhh. This always happens...and now Tuesday is the soonest I can get them, if they still have them in stock. I also had forgotten that one bolt came out with a nut for a spacer (yeah, I know, what were they thinkin'?), so obviously that was the wrong bolt. I can't cut it shorter as it is shouldered. I will also have to order the correct one for that spot (L55).

You can see the new bolts in L25 positions, just inside the tappet covers. I am missing special washers under S30 (This one is still on the cover; I will have to remove it and put on the new washer and then reinstall.) and L70. L55 is the bolt with the nut "washer/spacer" under it; you can kinda see the nut added under the bolt head.

Man, I hate this hurry up and wait syndrome I have with working on old bikes.

Oh well…c'est la vie…it's always something…Maybe by Thursday I can get back at it.

Road Dog

"Ride Your Own Ride"