Valve Cover Removal

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Valve Cover

1. Remove the breather hose using needle nose pliers.
2. Remove the heads oil line from the right side of the motor (careful with the 2 washers on each bolt, and the allen head bolt holding the line to the front of the cylinder, I put these back in after the line is removed, see the top picture to the right.
3. Loosen every allenhead bolt only 1/4 at a time (see picture to the right), be sure not to miss the 2 allen bolts that are next to the intake valves, or the one that is recessed into the valve cover. (1/4 turn at a time prevents any kind of warpage)
4. Loosen the cam end cap (see top of picture with arrow pointing left) and remove it (it may need some coaxing to get out, I used a block of wood and lightly tapped from the top
5. Remove all the allen head bolts and set aside in some sort of order so you know how they go, if not possible at least group them together (hint - 2 of them will have clean heads, they were from inside the intake valve cover, and one other is chromed, this bolt sits in the recess in the center of the valve cover - its chromed so it doesn't corrode. When reinstalling sit all the bolts in the holes but don't thread them in, they should all have the same length showing so its not too important to mark them).
6. Grab a small block of wood and a light hammer and lightly tap in an upward direction near the seem of the head and valve cover. If it doesn't come loose please re-inspect for missed bolts, if forced the valve cover will break.
   

Cylinder Head

1. With the valve cover removed we are able to see the internals of the cylinder head and the cam gear. (As pictured - the 3 arrows are pointing to the timing marks we will cover during reassembly, one is hidden by the keeper
2. Use an 18mm wrench and release the automatic cam chain adjust located to the left rear of the cylinder (see the red arrow) remove the guts (a bolt and spring) then remove the base for it using the 2 allen screws. Now reassemble it and set it aside (the adjuster will push out but we will put it back in when reinstalling it.)
3. Remove the allen head bolt securing the head to the cylinder (located above the cam chain adjuster see the green arrow)

 

I had a little trouble with this allen head (green arrow) which turned out about 5 turns then promptly seized up, this is pretty common when using steel bolts and threaded into aluminum. Luckily I could use a hacksaw on it, since I had loosened it enough to get one in there and cut the head off it. When the head is lifted the rest of the bolt will be exposed, I then used vice-grips to remove the remains. The threads may need re-chased with a tap to clean them up - some of the aluminum was welded to the bolt when it was removed.