Oil leaking out of exhaust headers...

[Shuriken]

My valve seals must be getting worse all the time. When I start the bike it smokes up the block for 5 or 6 minutes until it burns out all the oil that drained down past the valves.

I just noticed today however that there is some oil leaking out of the exhaust header (between the exhaust pipe and the where it mates to the head). Is there *that* much oil leaking past the seals?

My front fork seals are starting to leak again too. They lasted a year or two since last time. Forks are a bit pitted. Is it worth changing the forks or just doing the seals again?

I would really like to install the big bore kit.

Little cash means I have to get creative. Anybody want to chime in on the cheapest location for cylinder boring? It *might* be cheaper for me to ship the jug somewhere and back than have it bored locally.....

Ben

[rover]

Well, one benefit of burning oil, it should keep the inside of the exhaust pipes from rusting, and make them last longer. As for your forks, I just changed the seals in mine, and I noticed some pitting where the seals travel. On very close examination, I saw that around each pit was a sharp but small outline that was sharp as a razor. So I chucked the tubes in a lathe, and turned them holding a green scotch-brite pad on them, then finishing up with crocus cloth. I did not remove all of the pits, just got rid of those sharp edges. I did not want to cut through the plating. This can also be done by hand. I am going to spray the forks periodically with silicon spray, especially after getting them wet, and see if the seals will last. The one I just did has 56,000 on it, and both seals were leaking. I will have to see if what I did will help the seals to last a while. Fork tubes are NOT in my budget.
My other XS has over 96,000, and still has the original fork seals, and they are not leaking. For the past 15 years, I have sprayed them with silicon after wiping off the dirt, and they are lasting quite well.