400 general observions and questions.

[johnD]

Hi all.
Spent the last week or so cleaning up and making good. With only 10k on the odometer, its in very clean condition so only weathering to deal with.
Had a bit of an issue with the replacement gasket for the L/H side case that I removed to do the timing. Very thin, unlike the O/E which is quite a thick item. There is a gallery at the bottom that appears to be the oil return from the crank area, anyway, its under pressure, so any weakness allows a good dribble of oil onto the garage floor. Its sealed, but I caught a drop or two this morning, might have to make up a decent gasket, see how it goes. Same with the cam box gasket, two go's to get that seated properly, (coolant drop, hoses out, note to self, do the job properly first time!).
Anyway. Started up to do some final carb balance, airscrew setup. Now, I had presumed that this would be a quiet engine. This one has quite noticable tappet noise. I've set inlets at 006 and exhausts at 008, I'm presuming these are the correct clearances?
Next wrestle was connecting the tank tap to the fuel line, talk about awkward!
I'm waiting on the speedo overlay to fit that, wheels will be off for cleaning up and polishing the alloy. Hopefully another week and she'll be ready for an MOT, unless the cold gets to me and I wrap it up for the winter.
Cheers.

[fossie]

I'm not sure where you got the clearance from and they didn't look correct , so I checked with the spec sheet on the introduction to the sword of the water area of this forum , and yep 0.10 and 0.15 are the correct values.
Reference weeping gaskets can't help When I had mine in 160.000 Kms never had to move either side cover , did the valves a couple of times but used genuine gasket .

[Uncle Bob]

I took covers off both side as left side had a small puncture hole they needed welding and I got them vapour blasted and polished.

I tend to buy original gaskets and then use them as a pattern to make ones from 0.5mm Flexiod gasket paper. I always use Wellseal on the gaskets as well. Both sides have been leak free.

UB

[Smallkat]

Gasket -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362769521905 ... cgEALw_wcB
Does it look right? I've never taken mine off.

Just had Smallkat's valves done (to Fossie's specs) and she's as quiet as a mouse.

Fuel tap to hose - what a complete pain in the arse job. I daren't make the hose longer as it might kink. But mainly the spigot is just at an awkward angle and it's a tight fit under the tank.

You have the patience of a saint John!