snapped off a tappet cover...

[riverman]

so I was checking my valve clearance and king kong must have broken into this guys garage and tightened one of these covers because I snapped one clean off. I got the inside thread out and I didn't see any bits of metal fell inside.

do I remove the whole cover and make sure there aren't any bits of metal that fell inside? if so, do I need to replace the gasket?

/disclaimer, I didn't really want to do much to the engine this winter as I already have my hands full, want to have this on the road the second the snow clears, and have no experience working on engines.... sorry if this is a semi-retarded question

p.s. anybody have a spare tappet cover they want to sell me?

 

[Tim]

Which bike is this again?

 

[riverman]

cb750 k8

 

[Tim]

That's what I figured from your avatar pic but wanted to confirm.

Not sure if you know it or not, but you can't remove the valve cover without pulling the engine out of the bike entirely. So that will likely govern your decision on digging into the engine to check for metal bits unless you really think some metal got into the valve train.

Have a really good look around with a flash light etc. to see if you can spot anything, and carefully reassemble the parts of the tappet cover to confirm nothing is missing.

Also, check out forums.sohc4.net for all the definitive info on your Honda you'll ever want to know. You can also find the Honda service manual for your bike in the Manuals section of our site. It's a nice big PDF file.

My first bike was a '77 CB750K and I've owned/rebuilt a CB500 and CB550.

 

[riverman]

the engine is sitting on the floor of my apartment so that isn't the issue, I just don't know if you have to replace the gasket when you pop the cover off, both manuals I have don't say anything about it at all. I will have to skim through the soc4 forums, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Tim]

Ah - good then.

I don't recall the gasket on the valve cover of the CB750 - on the 550 it's an o-ring in a groove. If the gasket comes off clean, I'd say you don't need to replace and I would definitely consider popping it off to have a good look.

Otherwise, you could put a narrow nozzle from a vacuum into the tappet hole to suck any offending bits out. Too bad there's no magnet for aluminum