Monday, Oct 2, 2006
Yeoh! It’s taken almost a year to put less than 1500 miles on the bike. Not surprising, I guess, as I typically put about 12K miles/year on my bikes and since I got my R1200GS I’m putting that much on that bike, alone. Oh well.
30 hoursr
13071 miles
Anyway, I’m at 13,071 miles and have 30 hours on the engine since last service. The CCCBBQ is this weekend so want to do the serice now, instead of 500 miles or so later.
tool roll in tank
The first step, as always, is to pull the tools out of the in-tank tool box. I try to do all of my normal maintenance using the on-bike tools. I will have to go to the tool-chest for things like torque wrenches and big hammers. I see that my cloth tool roll is beginning to fray in spots.
Front cover
points and magneto
The bike is cold so I’ll start with valves and timing.
The first thing I notices when I pulled off the front cover was a wear
spot where the clutch cable has apparently rubbed against the cover.
The second image shows that the clutch cable is held to the frame with a cable tie. There is also wear on the sheath of the cable just below the cable tie. Hmmm. Perhaps a second cable tie is needed.
Left head
Adjusting valves
The spark plug on the left was pretty black. The plug on the right was nearly as bad. The bike was idling for a minute or two to use up the gas in the carbs before shutting it off Saturday, so I suspect the idle air circuit is a bit rich. I look at the carb settings after valves and timing are done.
The left side valves were near perfect. I tweaked the exhaust because it was maybe 1/2 a thousand too tight; didn’t touch the left side intake valve. The right side, on the other hand, had both intake and exhaust valves quite tight. This is the same head that I did some work on last service. I re-torqued it for good measure and then set the valves.
Ready for part 2
That’s all I had time for today. I cleaned the plugs,
checked the gaps and put the plugs and valve covers back on the bike.
Tomorrow I’ll check timing, take a ride to warm up the bike to check the
carbs, and change the oil.
Tuesday, Oct 3, 2006
books and tools
I got out the tools and books that I might need to finish the service. The books are duplicates of what I keep in my “office”. These versions are kept in the toolbox and can get greasy.
static timing
at the S mark
Static timing was checked and found to be close. Close enough that I didn’t bother trying to tweak it. Instead I reconnected the coil and condenser and started the bike. At idle, about 750 RPM, the timing light clipped to the spark plug lead shows the line under the S mark to be in the middle of the window most of the time.
I’ve a touch if differential timing on this bike. It’s not enough to bother doing anything about it. I greased the points cam and closed the front cover.
Exhaust nut tool
I took of the exhaust nuts to apply some fresh anti-seize.
Ready for test ride
Twin max in use
The next task is the best part of a tune up: riding the bike to get it warm to adjust the carbs and drain the oil. I stopped for gas first, then put about 7 miles on the bike on a mixture of city streets, back roads, and freeway miles.
When back in my driveway I first adjusted the idle mixture, or at least attempted to adjust the idle mixture. The right side adjusts quite nice. The left doesn’t. I believe it’s always been that way since I put these carbs on the bike. Grumble.
After the idle air I used my twin-max to adjust the idle and off idle. I think carb stix are easier to use than the twin max, but the twin max is what I have. The idle was OK. The off idle needed a bit of adjustment.
speedo cable
Once the carb cables were adjusted correctly I applied some grease to the ends to help keep water out. I also greased up the speedo cable. The picture was taken before I wiped off the excess grease.
Oil drain
The engine was now warm, but cool enough to wheel into the garage and drain the oil without burning myself. The magnetic drain plug looked OK. My oil catch pan, on the other hand, wasn’t. I discovered that it had sprung a leak when I lifted the catch pan to drain the used oil into a container for recycling. I suspect that section of the garage floor is going to be quite slippery for a while.
Almost finished
After putting in fresh oil (castrol 20W-50) I started the bike to check for leaks. None. With that I reset the engine hour meter. Then I lubed cables, brake linkages, put back the timing hole plug, checked the lights, etc. The only thing I haven’t done is check tire pressure. I’ll do that before packing the bike for the weekend camp-out.
Charging the battery
Last thing was to put the battery on the charger. This service is done.