A bike mechanic friend of mine came round the garage yesterday and we go to talking about my plans for the engine. Truth be told I'm a bit polarized about what do to, what with the engine having such good compression (165psi across all four). Common sense would suggest leaving well enough alone - if it ain't broke don't fix it kind of thing. However there are a couple of motivating situations that would make pulling the head make sense. I'm totally 50/50 on what to do, but figure there's no wrong decision really. Here's the skinny -
Vote for pulling the head -
- have a stripped spark plug thread, helicoiling that mofo would be much easier plus no danger of shit falling into the cylinder
- I could change the valve seals. As far as I could tell before the tear-down the bike's not smoking, and I can't see any oil on the valve stems when I look into the exhaust ports. But if they haven't been changed in 35 years then now could be a good time to do it
- would make painting the engine easier
- I'm in no huge hurry to get the bike finished
- need a gasket kit anyway ($90) which has the seals included
- learn new skills. Because, skills
Vote against -
- compression's excellent, why go looking for problems
- see above
- see above
Maybe this isn't the engine to learn on - but if it starts smoking a few months down the line because the valve seals are cracked then maybe it was.
Pondering with intent.