The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: ambrose78 on August 09, 2009, 01:21:44 AM
-
How do you guys remove the valve covers to adjust the valves.
I got as far as removing the nuts but try as I might the covers wouldn't come off. Seems the gaskets have really bonded to the aluminium
Cheers
-
How do you guys remove the valve covers to adjust the valves.
I got as far as removing the nuts but try as I might the covers wouldn't come off. Seems the gaskets have really bonded to the aluminium
Cheers
I had this problem the first time i tried to remove mine,i used a hot air gun and gently warmed up the cover,after a few gentle taps with a wooden mallet the seal broke and the covers came off,good luck.
-
Tap the ends of the covers, applying force in a fore and aft direction. Forgive me for asking but you did remove the two semi-hidden small nuts at the front and rear of the covers? Monte
-
Tap the ends of the covers, applying force in a fore and aft direction. Forgive me for asking but you did remove the two semi-hidden small nuts at the front and rear of the covers? Monte
ah ha. There are hidden nuts. I didn't find those. I'll have a look for them later.
Cheers
-
Yep there are 3 points of attachment
1) the center nipple nut
2)there are 2 studs each have 1 washer and 1 nut one is on the top side
3)the other stud is on the opposite bottom of the first stud.
You may still need to gently tap it to get it to breake loose.
If you dont damage the gasket you can reuse it.
When you put it back on go as gently as you can ...dont worry about torque values here as long as it doesnt leak oil you are goo to go.
If it does leak gently tighten a little more.
-
The center acorn nut is not to be tightly torqued down - the left/right "hidden" nuts&washers do most of the work at holding the cover on tight enough to prevent leaking. The center nut should only be tightened to about 10 or 12 foot-lbs at most or you risk stripping a stud. Some folks even ride without these center nuts on at all, though I think that is just not right.
-
And... the rocker box covers are "handed" meaning there's one for the left and one for the right side.
The valley in the cover outside the sparkplug usually has an "L" and an "R" cast in place. It's even possible to put the correct side cover on upside down so note that these go up.
Monte
-
And ... while I'm on a roll here with complaints (see another thread of mine), why couldn't BMW have added a guide lip to either of the faces we're talking about here to keep the gasket aligned? You can use all the care in the world, you can use some adhesive, you can leave adhesive out, you can use the finest OEM gaskets money can buy, you can torque fasteners to spec with a snap-on torque wrench, and you can STILL have a section of this gasket suck in or expand out to the point where sizeable leaks occur. It's a rather large figure eight, with three fastening points and acres of flat space for the material to deform and shift. The design seems almost an afterthought. And no doubt I'll now be informed that noone on earth except poor ol me has ever experienced anything like I'm talking about.
-
[smiley=ROTFLMAO.gif] [smiley=lolk.gif] [smiley=Norton.gif]
S-u-r-e. . . It's just you! I never have evil thoughts about the BMW engineers. Monte
-
At least on the paper gaskets, put a thin 'skin' of automotive rtv type sealer/adhesive on the valve cover put the gasket on, and let it cure, and the gasket stays put during installation .
-
"during installation" is not a problem is the gasket is sufficiently rigid (like the oem ones are). It's the shifting a squeezing over time that opens up a gap at some point causing the headaches. Oh well.
-
The gasket is hard and rigid enough that I've never seen it a problem like you might have with a cork gasket...
-
The OEM gasket issue is also cussed and discussed in Chit Chat's "$valve cover gaskets".
I had the deformed OEM gaskets on both the '81 and the '83 R65s. They are a thick, hard, paper-like material -much stronger than cork but both bikes experienced this deforming issue.
Silicone gaskets are getting good press. To me, the red color is a little disturbing...
Monte
-
There is a company out west that does EXTREMELY expensive, but very cool, overhauls of helicopter engines. They've blueprinted cnc data for major makes and can dismantle, cnc route oring channel in all gasket surfaces and reassemble. Weeping is kept to a bare minimum compared to the previous paper/fiber gaskets. Overhauls are a relative breeze with no more scraping/polishing/damaging sealing surfaces. It's passed all A/P testing and certifications. Oring dimensions are standardized to allow just a few gauges needed and cutting rings to fit and joining with special cyanoacrylate is a very simple process.
The company has, for those with deep pockets like Jay Leno, done this to a few cars and motorcycles. Funny thing is that it's not state of the art technology. The repeatablilty of cnc data driven machining has made it commercially possible as an aftermarket service, but just the idea of designing in oring channel to mating parts is probably not utilized nearly enough. On our older designs it might have reflected the relative scarcity of oring 'in the field' for future maintenance, but I don't see why paper/fiber could not be used as a stand in to get a machine running even IF oring was not available. Properly machined, the oring should depress 10 to 15 percent of its original dimension to form a seal.
It wouldn't be worth the effort to apply this trick to our R65 valve covers. I'm just sayin. There are sooooooooo many better ways than this original design. Even four more mounting studs to bring the total to seven (six along with the center stud) would have been preferrable. That big figure eight would have seven guide holes stamped into it instead of three and there, problem pretty much solved. Takes five more minutes once every two years or so to remove for valve maintenance. Big deal.
-
Sorry for the repeat - this was mentioned inthe other message group on valve cover gaskets. Thinking of the mention of helicopter gaskets.
If you don't mind the red color - realgaskets.com - aircraft grade silicone and reuseable. The silicone is flexible enough to seal over scratches and iregularities. they also make the oil pan gasket.
Just a satisfied user.
-
Very Very happy with the realgaskets valve cover gaskets, I even like the red!
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m70/mrridden/P1010001.jpg?t=1250202061
-
Wow - thanks for all the responses.
Those 2 hidden nuts will be what foiled me last weekend. Now you've mentioned them I can't beleive I didn't see them before.
The oring machining would be good. ...One day when I have a machine shop.... maybe......
Those red gaskets look trick. Might place an order for a set.