[Jakek250]

Hey guys, any thoughts and help would be appreciated. So I got the bike used, and it just does not like to start cold, here in ct the weathers starting to get warmer but nope that didn't help. I checked for spark, have it. I cleaned the carb out and adjusted the jets to the stock specs, it will run if pop started but kicking it is a hell of a time. I took it apart yesterday to check my valve clearences suspecting to find the intakes zeroed. But the right intake is IN SPEC. .005" as for the left I could get .008" in... Now this confuses me. The right exhaust was in spec, .011" and the left was down to about .008"... Would this cause a hard start? Because it runs good when the engines already at runnin temp. Which would cause the valves to expand and create less of a clearance..if I adjust these valves back to spec I'm afraid it still won't run.. I need some feedback please I'm ready to throw this thing off a cliff lol

[Jakek250]

Also, I came across another issue that scares me, the flywheelmark does not line up with the arrow on the case when the cams timing marks line up even with the head on the compression stroke with the intake lobes facing the rear of the bike..could this be from trying to pop start it and shearing the key from the flywheel??:/ could this also be why it doesn't start? any responses will be appreciated thanks

[JimDirt]

When your checking the valves are you doing it by the marks on the cam sprocket or by the flywheel marks ??

If the marks are not lining up then it is possible your timing chain tensioner is bad , OR your timing chain has stretched or both , also have you made sure the cam tower is tightened properly ? if it backed loose even a little it will throw the gap of quite a bit (more gap as your experiencing) , people have a tendency of over tightening the tower not torquing it properly , it will strip the threads in the tower support (aluminum)and cause the tower to not seat and the gap will increase when you check the valve lash

Any of these issues will cause hard starting , so start by elimination , you need to find out WHY the timing is off , this will be the first step

[Jakek250]

Well what I did was turn the engine over until it was on the compression stroke and both of the marks on the cam gear lined up with the surface of the head, also I made sure the piston.was at TDC, but the little Mark on the crank gear did not line up with the arrow on the case.. but I don't understand why because the piston was where it's supposed to be and so are the timing marks on the cam.. And the rockers were torqued down correctly when I checked the valve clearances yes

[JimDirt]

What about the mark on the RIGHT side of the case where the balancer gear is , i use that mark first , then the crank mark then the cam marks , all 3 should line up

As long as the cam mark is level with the case and the lobes facing back then the valve lash should be correct , have you checked the spring keepers for wear ?? , if they are allowing the valve to drop down because the keeper is worn , that will give a larger gap

Your limited to what it can be , its either a stretched valve (kind of unlikely) , a bad keeper (possible) , or it is even possible that whomever did the valve adjustment just put in the wrong shims and did not recheck the gap after torquing the cam tower down , since it seems odd that the same side Intake and Exhaust both had a incorrect gap , that would lead me back to the tower not seating as a guess , and since the clearance is IN: 0.12 ± 0.03 mm (0.005 ± 0.001 in)
EX: 0.28 ± 0.03 mm (0.011 ± 0.001 in) you have ,some, leeway but not as much as you had , since its sometimes hard to get the exact size shim needed to get the correct gap , but usually you go slightly smaller not larger

[Jakek250]

Yes the mark on the right side, the balancer gear mark does not line up with the arrow on the right side of the case. The mark sits at "12 o'clock" and it's supposed to be at 3'oclock per say. Just picture that. But the cam marks are where they are supposed to be. And the intake lobes are facing the rear, but the clearances were not correct. Thinking about getting a valve kit and cam tensioner, and timing chain. Or possibly going through the whole engine..

[JimDirt]

Yea if its that far off i would definitely not try to start it anymore till you find the cause , its either the timing chain or the tensioner , with everything aligned up it should start right up , but all 3 marks (left side,right side,cam lines) all should be where they are supposed to be