WOW did we dodge a bullet!!

Not long ago my son and I repaired the cam chain tensioners on his 85 vf500f which helped quite the motor down a bit but after a week or so a different noise, similar but not the same popped up in the front cyls and my son also noticed a slight drop in power. Basically one of those things were you think to yourself "Hmmm, sumtin aint right here" so my son pulled the front valve cover off to take a look after which he came in the house saying "Dad you need to come out and look at this" and he said it in a way that I knew it was urgent. Apparently whenever he set the valve lash after I had gotten the CCT installed, he had forgotten to tighten down the lock nut on the valve lash screw on 1 of the intake valves on the #2 cyl which allowed both the nut and screw to come completely out of the rocker arm. The only reason that cyl was still firing was because the other valve lash screw on that rocker arm for the other intake valve was still in place while the valve with the screw missing had about 3/16" worth of lash. Needless to say that bike wasn't going no where till we found both the screw and nut, even if it meant a complete tear down of the motor. We got lucky though because I found the screw laying near the exhaust valve springs on the #2 cyl and my son spotted the nut deeper in the engine with a flashlight and was able to retrieve it with a magnet. The really good news was that neither the nut or screw showed any signs of damage, if either did show damage that of course would have meant something else in the motor would've gotten chewed up too. My son put it all back together making sure everything was tight this time, even checked all the other valves to make sure, fired up the engine and all was well. Afterwards my son grabbed a soda, I got a cup of coffee and we both sat around like we were both drinking a beer telling each other how lucky we were.

 

Finally, a good VF500 story!

 

No kidding, was aboot time for one.

 

Nice Ending :smile: coulda been a disaster...

 

thanks for blaming it on me when we both were not sure who had adjusted the valve =]

 

Good deal and great perspective.

+1 on the above, it is nice to read a positive 500 story. Most often all this takes is what you and your son have demonstrated. Patience and a willingness to put in the time. Kudos!

 

Thats what dads are for!!

 

Ha ha ha. Who's bike is it? Just like a captain of a ship or airplane has the final authority or gets the blame. Smart dad. So give it up.:whiteflag:

 

Good job on preventing a disaster!

 

Well one of these days the local police are going to bust my kid and I big time because when we ride together we don't mess around and my cb550-4 gets a serious workout just keeping up with him and when I get his older bro's 750 together, it's just going to get worse. The scariest part of that scenario isn't getting nailed by the cops or getting our bikes put in a pound, it's the thought of having to call my wife to get us out and then coming up with an excuse as to why her husband and 2 sons got busted in the first place with all of us pointing fingers at each other saying "it was his idea". The family that rides together stays together.:smile:

 

I can see it now:

LEO: Son, does your Dad know what you were doing?
Sjna2011: No sir, he couldn't keep up.

All three later, still pointing fingers: YOU can bail out, I'm staying where it's safe!

 

That reminded me my adventure back in the day...

While being a student I had a GSX400E which I pampered in a daily basis. I had reached the point of disassembling and reassembling the motor just for cleaning the interiors. Problem was I had no money at all so I postponed the change of one valve lash adjusting screw-lock nut which had some thread sticking problem.
Of course I didn't have any proper tool so I used a pair of pliers to keep the bolt while tightening the lock nut.
I hated this method as it wasn't giving me the *precision* I wanted so I developed a different one. I was removing the "set" screw-lock nut from the rocker, turning just a bit the lock nut and placing it back on the rocker.
WOW that was precision... who needs special tools... those are not for smart guys like myself! :humble:

Did the method some times and I was close to get that last 0.01mm when the screw-lock nut left my fingers and got lost somewhere in the head!!! :censored::frusty: :frusty:

Spent next hour trying to find it when another bright idea crossed my mind. I had removed the oil so let's use gravity!!
All I needed was a few more helpers and... there was.. four people were holding a motorcycle up side down on air rocking it back an forth :loco:
After some minutes we did get good audience but no luck in finding the "set". Thank God one said:"why don't we try to move the crank a bit maybe it is stuck in the chain".
So we did and there was finally light!

PS. NO there was no youtube back on the day otherwise I would be famous and YES I used the same screw-lock nut, I just got a bit more tolerant in precise lash adjustment!

:focus:

 

Found the same thing on the dying 500 that became my project bike last year. Glad it ended up good for you two.