Scary scene under timing covers

[slkid2000]

The relay is bad. Ordered a new one. When I jumped the relay, the started turned weakly.

 

[slkid2000]

I looked over some more electrical. The fan works, the stator checks out (no connections to ground and 0.4 ohms a-b, b-c, c-b). Rectifier looks ok- the one on the battery box. Is there no black wire off the rectifier? I think I checked these things out as much as I can without running the motor. So far everything electrical seems ok except that the buzzer doesn’t buzz when the turn signals are switched on.

 

[saganaga]

Glad to see you are replacing the stem seals since you already have the heads off.

I'm curious about the corrosion shown by the timing belts. Do you know what happened?

 

[slkid2000]

The most reasonable explanation is that the bike was underwater, but I haven’t seen evidence of submersion in other areas of the bike like the starter, final drive, points, etc. someone posited that it could have been a chemically induced corrosion from an alkaline cleaning solution or something. I’m just hoping that, whatever caused the damage there hasn’t caused problems elsewhere on the bike.

 

[Randy Yocum]

I’m waiting for gaskets and stem seals. No sign of bent valves. While waiting, I checked the electrical system on this bike. Once I reconnected the ground wire in the headlight, everything lit up. Horn works, high beam indicator (no lights on the bike now), oil light. No blown fuses or any signs of wiring having been wet. What else electrical should I check? I didn’t try the starter. Heads are off and I don’t know if it’s bad to use starter when the motor is disassembled.

I’m really happy that some of the electrical stuff works. I don’t see anywhere on the wiring harness where it looks like it had been submerged.

Thanks for everyone’s help on this.

Carbs look good also. No dried mud like you’d expect after a Mississippi flood.

It wont hurt a thing to spin the motor with the heads off,its a good time to check the function of the starter motor,If the motor spins freely it may not need attention ,but if seems slow in spinning you may want to remove it and see how it looks inside.I found that its hard to get the starter out ,someone on this forum suggested removing the headers and that corner header mount stud ,I used 2 nuts tightened and locked together, and with the help of a propane torch and some penetratingly oil I backed the stud out .That made removal of the starter motor easy. My bike had 30,000 miles on it,my starter motor was full of carbon dust from the brushes,I also added new grease to the reduction gearing up front.It really helped the performance of the starter.

 

[saganaga]

The most reasonable explanation is that the bike was underwater, but I haven’t seen evidence of submersion in other areas of the bike like the starter, final drive, points, etc. someone posited that it could have been a chemically induced corrosion from an alkaline cleaning solution or something. I’m just hoping that, whatever caused the damage there hasn’t caused problems elsewhere on the bike.

If you aren't seeing corrosion in other areas, I doubt it.

If the gasket is still on the timing belt covers, I'd take a look at them. There should be a little spot on the bottom of each gasket cover. My only guess is that someone clogged it with gasket sealer. I could see a moisture problem resulting, but again, it's only a guess.

Else my only other guess is that they lived near the ocean.

 

[slkid2000]

Cylinder head back on. Took me a long time , but I was being extra careful. Thank you Dan Filipi for the thorough YouTube video. Subscribed.

 

[ChickenWing]

I got his bike a few weeks ago. I haven’t tried to start it or use electric started. I DID use the kickstarter though. The first kick had some resistance and I felt a pop right when the motor turned. I kicked it 3 more times CD with no pop (or snap).
I just got new belts and removed radiator and then timing covers. You can see the nightmare in the photos. Both belts snapped but essentially in place.
Where to start??
Maybe the belts snapped on that first kickstart kick?
View attachment 48267

You have got a hand full to do, especially cleaning this area, but in the future take the timing covers off and rotate the engine by hand via the crank bolt in a clockwise rotation as you face the engine, I believe the crank bolt is a 19mm.