Hmmm, big clearance on one intake valve.

[Courtney]

If you have a guitar string, one that is wound on the outside, you can fish it through and around the valve stem twice. then move it back and forth with PB around the stem till the rust is gone, that will save your valve guild when you turn it over later, good luck with your bike

Dude, that is brilliant! Have you done this before? That is what I call an alternate thinker! Awesome idea!

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Dude, that is brilliant! Have you done this before? That is what I call an alternate thinker! Awesome idea!

Done something like it on car motors with emry cloth, you don't have that much room on an XS, then the wire will do the same thing. If you don't clean the rust from the stem 1st you will kill the valve guild, and that will cause a head remove. Good luck with your bike

[mack]

It doesn't

take long to pull a head, Typically when a bike is shut off, one cylinder will be open to the air. Where you are it is a high humidity environment so rust is almost a certainty if left sitting for a long time. The seal may or may not be ok. You won't know until you fire it up and see the smoke.
There are times when the long road turns out to be quicker. Give the suggestions a try but if it doesn't pop right back up, I'd pull the head and look at everything, buckets, shims, oil galleries and replace all the seals before I put it back together. That way you won't have to touch it again for another 10 years or so.

[LoHo]

Hey Court, if you get a roll of emery cloth, it is pretty easy to tear off a handy length, then tear it into long, skinny strips, to do the sawing action needed to knock that rust down. Hopefully, getting the rust off will leave the exposed stem a little under spec, but the part that goes through the seal will still be intact. They don't really move that much.

[Courtney]

No dice, gotta take the head off

Well, despite all the excellent advice, there is no way that valve is going to seat closed. You can see it open about a 1/32" and I have .022" gap which is huge. The stem seems clean, I think there is rust between the valve seat and valve itself. I've tried everything I can think of reaching down in there with; screwdriver tip to gently rub the edge of the valve and seat, pipe cleaner all around it (makes for great contortions), and I've tapped the hell out of the bucket/shim which will eventually let it close up to .015" gap, but next time around it's at .022" again unless I tap it. I think there is a piece of rust lodged between seat and valve, so it's gotta come apart. I'm outta ideas. I know it's not that big a deal to pull the head, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to. Time to do some reading in my manuals. I've read that re-using a headgasket is ok if it's in good shape, and painting it with aluminum or copper paint. Hmmm, never re-used a head gasket before, but if it can be done on a Ford 427 T-bolt Y-block then I might try it.

[Rasputin]

You might try pulling the valve seal and running a 50/50 mix of acetone and tranny fluid down the valve stem. That seems to be the best mix for removing rust and lubricating at the same time. It would be a very slow seep down to the problem area but if it works would save time in the end. JAT

[LoHo]

Are you sure it isn't a chunk of rust between the valve edge and the valve seat downstream in the cylinder?

[Courtney]

Thanks for the idea Rasputin, but I think it's some rust jammed between the valve seat and valve as LoHo said. I tried everything to remove it, but no dice. It has to come apart I think, because I've tried it all. So, next I guess I unbolt the sprockets, and pull the head. Not what I wanted to do, but gotta be. But before I do that, I'll mock the bike up to take it's pictures for my collector plates and send them in to the insurance company. After that I will redo that valve. I suspect all it will need is to be cleaned up and then lapped, which I can do. It ran fine 2-3yrs ago when I parked it, so it's all about the rust.

[CaptonZap]

Thanks for the idea Rasputin, but I think it's some rust jammed between the valve seat and valve as LoHo said. I tried everything to remove it, but no dice. It has to come apart I think, because I've tried it all. So, next I guess I unbolt the sprockets, and pull the head. Not what I wanted to do, but gotta be. But before I do that, I'll mock the bike up to take it's pictures for my collector plates and send them in to the insurance company. After that I will redo that valve. I suspect all it will need is to be cleaned up and then lapped, which I can do. It ran fine 2-3yrs ago when I parked it, so it's all about the rust.

I hesitate to suggest this, since there are going to be those that will think it is heresy, but before you take it apart, turn it over by hand to see if the valve hits, and if it doesn't, try to start it. If you can get the bike started, give it a few "blips", and it might cough up what ever is holding the valve open. Do not run it for more than a minute or two, and I don't think that you can do any additional damage to the valve or seat. If is is bent, it will still be bent, and if something is imbedded, it may or may not spit out. It is a gamble.



Others may disagree.


So feel free to ignore this advice.

CZ

[LoHo]

Court, I have been where you are, but since I knew the valve was bent, taking off the head was my only option. I would be tempted by Cap's idea of giving it a go, but I'd always worry where a chunk of rust that was able to hold a valve open had ended up...scraping the cylinder? holding the exhaust open?

Take your pictures, pull the head, and see what's really going on. Half measures will never get you where you want to be.

If you are a woodworker and want an idea on a valve compression tool, let me know.

[CaptonZap]

I would be tempted by Cap's idea of giving it a go, but I'd always worry where a chunk of rust that was able to hold a valve open had ended up...scraping the cylinder? holding the exhaust open?

.

Ahhh, the beauty of an exhaust valve is that all the air flow is out. I've seen some pretty strange stuff come out of an exhaust port. Some of it made a lot of noise before it came out, but I don't think a rust clump is that hard.
Anyway, let your conscience be your guide.

VZ

[LoHo]

Yeah, Zap, I was thinking along those lines as well...a few flakes of rust will just get pumped through and be gone. Who knows what kind of crap runs through the engine that we never know about? That little hesitation coming off the stop light near Barstow in the long run to Vegas? Could have been a thousand things.

But something able to hold a valve open gives me pause.

[LoHo]

By the way, I am seldom one to promote work over calculated risk, and I've got the non-op bikes to prove it....

[bikerphil]

Just think how many bikes have sat for years and have had a problem like this that was undiscovered, started up, and ended up running fine.

[Courtney]

Valve isn't bent, the bike was parked in a fine running condition; this is all about the rust. Right now, I am going to put the bike together for the photos it needs to be eligible for collector plates. They take about 6-8 weeks to get processed. Then I'm going to take the tank etc back off and get into this.
Plan A will be to turn the bike over with no plugs in it to let it cycle and see what happens. If no joy then;
Plan B will be to take the head off.

If anyone has removed a head before and has some good advice, please let me know. I guess my big question will be, how do you get the head off with the camchain running up the middle and not wanting to let it drop down off the crank gear? Do you raise the head up a bit and grab the chain underneath the head so it won't drop?? I get the part about removing the sprockets and cams without splitting the chain. Also, are there reassembly marks on the cams so when you pull them you have proper timing again with the crank TDC mark??