Wednesday, Apr 5 2001
Time for 2400 mile service
Well, I’m about 140 miles short of 2400, but I just got back from a short ride and figure I’ll change the oil now that the engine is nice and warm. An oil change is the primary task for this service, anyway.
drain plug
used oil
BMW 10w/40 oil
There was a little fuzz on the magnetic drain plug and the oil was quite dark. I replaced it with BMW 10w/40. This is the first after restoration time I ran over 1000 miles between oil changes. I’ll compare this to the next oil change.
Transmission oil check
The brake and clutch linkages were just checked and oiled last week — something I do whenever I wash the bike. I checked the level of oil in the transmission. No change: it comes right up to the bottom thread.
TDC
Rocker arm end play
Only one more thing to do – check the end play on my problematic rocker arm assembly (right exhaust). The engine was brought to TDC and I pulled the valve cover off the right side. You can see the gap/end play. I backed off the head bolts, used a clamp to set the end play, and re-torqued the head bolts.
Experience says this will hold for another 300-500 miles. After setting the end play I waited until the bike cooled some more and then checked and set the valves on that side.
The bike is still harder to start when warm or on warm days than when cold. The coil has been replaced. After discussing this with some of the local experts we figure that the mixture might be too rich. I’ll get the bike good and hot then check/set the carburation next week.