Boxerworks.com

I found a shop in Houston that has been doing heads on motorcycles since the mid 70s and highly recommended by BMW owners. He agreed with Duane's diagnosis method and also told me smoking on start-up (side-stand behavior notwithstanding) is also a sign of valve guides leaking. I smell smoke 'bout every time I start her and the right spark plug runs dirty. He said the compression ring could be doing its job but the scraper (if I recall the label he used) could be allowing oil past. I might buy the rings and replace them while I have the heads off for the valve guides.

Major Softie wrote:Then there's the water sprayed into the carb trick that is also supposed to aid in burning up the carbon in a cylinder. Never tried it myself, but a couple people here (in the past) have sworn it worked.

I never did the water thing on a bike, but I've used H2o, ATF and even rice on big bore (7K+cc) engines with good results,

I've ordered rings and valve guides. Will install the rings while the heads are at the shop. Will let ya'll know how it works out. I was happy to find a promotional coupon in my email archive for 15% off my next purchase from a big BMW dealer. Though it was two years old, they honored it.

The parts arrived today! Crankcase is draining. Plan is to take the heads to the shop on Monday (long lunch break) and replace the rings while the heads are having valve glides installed. Will follow SnowBum's advice regarding cleaning carbon buildup (SimpleGreen) on the pistons while the cylinders are off.

Short story: Left spark plug is nice and brown, right spark plug is fouled and black. Left head is pretty clean, piston appears to have carbon build-up on it. Right head is black and nasty, piston has carbon build-up on it. Tomorrow I will pull the cylinders and clean the pistons. While heads are in the shop, I will replace the rings and reinstall the cylinders.

Left head


Right head


Left piston


Right piston

Following Duane's counsel for installing rings, I was able to get both cylinders back in place with the new rings. I must admit it took me about as many minutes as Duane claims to have done in seconds Awaiting the heads.

Manfred wrote:Following Duane's counsel for installing rings, I was able to get both cylinders back in place with the new rings. I must admit it took me about as many minutes as Duane claims to have done in seconds

Well, my guess is that Duane didn't do it quite as fast the first time as he did after he'd practiced a bit.

No doubt, practice takes time off such tasks. I hope to not do this again - my fingers are very tired and sore. And there's a wee bit of blood on the compression ring on the left piston ...

Manfred wrote:No doubt, practice takes time off such tasks. I hope to not do this again - my fingers are very tired and sore. And there's a wee bit of blood on the compression ring on the left piston ...

Ah yes, but now you are a real Airhead rider.

An allusion to Veg's thread: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7998

Ken

Major Softie wrote:

Manfred wrote:Following Duane's counsel for installing rings, I was able to get both cylinders back in place with the new rings. I must admit it took me about as many minutes as Duane claims to have done in seconds

Well, my guess is that Duane didn't do it quite as fast the first time as he did after he'd practiced a bit.

It was so long ago that I don't remember. However, I would imagine that the several hundred that I installed helped me out a bit. Quite a bit.

I use my knee for the pusher and my very thick finger nails to stuff the rings into place. It really is very fast.