WINGOVATIONS
PARTS AND ADVICE FOR YOUR 'OLDEN GOLDIE'
An online source dedicated to Honda's amazing four cylinder Goldwings!
cams and rockers
Well, don't just sit there looking all pleased with yourself!
Time to assemble the darned things.
Exhaust rockers go into the carrier on the side with the cam oil hole or slots in.
Most Important!
You must coat the cam lobes, pads and journals with a moly grease or Assembly lube and oil the oil seal lips on assembly.
No ifs, buts or maybe's !!!
In the above picture you will notice a red ring around one of the bolt holes This orifice is the pressure feed hole for the oil to the rockers, shafts and cams. The oilways also run round all the carrier bolts.
We don't want to loose any pressure to these so apply a smear of sealer (only a smear or you run the risk of blocking up one or more of the small oil holes in the shafts. It only takes a microscopic amount of sealer to seal between two machined surfaces) on the carrier pedestals and also around the outer diameter of the new ( they are, of course, new, aren't they?) cam oil seal(s) before bolting the the cam carrier down.
CAMS AND ROCKERS
WinGovations Copyright 2010
J G Evans
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 GoldWing 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
This information applies to all Honda goldwing GL1000, GL1100 and GL1200. The owners of GL1200 can ignore the section on refacing the lash adjusters as they have the hydraulic adjusters which don't require it.
The CYLINDER HEADS are where all your power is made.
The rest of the engine just transmits it, the carbs and ignition system that you've carefully overhauled and got just right enable the head to make the power but if your valves and valve train along with pistons and rings aren't up to scratch all your hard work is for nothing.
Like Randakk says on his site 'Everything affects everything'
Very important. If you need to change or renew cams, you must also used the rockers that came with that cam and make sure that each rocker goes with the cam lobe it came from!
There is very good reason for this.
This is because the cams and followers wear into one another.
The cams are only rough sand castings before being machined and not very accurate castings at that!
If you look carefully at this brand new cam and the way the rocker sits on it you will see what I mean. (I know, poor photo I'm sorry.)
That cam lobe will wear with a ridge left on the right side. You can imagine the damage if that cam was put with a rocker that sat on the ridge!
The problem is compounded by the need to keep the tappet adjuster screw almost centred on the tip of the valve stem so, even if shims were available, you can't just move the rocker over to compensate.
It is neither necessary or a good idea to change the cam carrier as well as the rockers.
There is no separate part number for the cam carrier, meaning that the cam carrier and head are machined together and should be considered as one unit.
I know Honda's legendary reputation for quality control, so in most cases the parts will interchange without a problem, but why take the chance?
If you are forced into using the original rockers, it is imperative that all wear marks on them from the old cam are removed first.
The pads appear to be faced with something extremely hard, probably Stellite, so doing this takes a bit of effort but it's well worth it if you don't want your new cams wrecked in the first few minutes of running.
Using something flat, perhaps an old worn Smooth file, wrap some 600 emery paper or cloth round it and gently remove any ridges or depressions on each pad. Follow up in the same manner by polishing with Crocus cloth until they look like this;
Well, we're getting there. What other remedial work can be done?
Due to the need to have a gap between the rocker tappet and the valve stem tip to compensate for expansion differences, the tappet is adjustable.
Unfortunately perhaps!
Very rarely do you find that the gap has been set accurately ( by the Previous Owner of course!). This could be due to a number of things;
lack of attention, inexperience of whoever is doing it or more likely, some wear .
The valve tip can become dimpled by the hammering action of the tappet adjuster. This dimple will usually be bigger than the point of contact of the adjuster. This is because the adjuster POC (Point of Contact) is often very slightly offset on the valve tip. When the engine is running this offset imparts a rotation to the valve which evens up wear of the tip, stem, valve guide and valve seat.
The correct way is to have the tip lightly reground but the home solution is as above for the pads with a couple of exceptions.
I find it easier to do with the valves held in the bare head ie. just placed in the guides without any springs, cam etc. either both inlets or both exhausts. If the head is held down on the bench they are then easy to work on.
When doing your polishing keep square to the stem and do it like the points of a compass, not all in one direction!! And remove as little material as possible
Obviously it's necessary to ensure that no particles off the emery are left so give the heads and valves a good wash off when you're done.
Yeah! ! ! Finished with emery etc.!
Ah...............Nope! You've forgotten the adjusters themselves!
The Honda adjusters have a slight dome on the contact face resulting in a very small POC.. Obviously, with the adjuster being held in one position, a flat will develop at that point over time.
Next time you do an adjustment you could wonder why it's taking forever to get it right.
Two choices; if they look real bad, replace the them. Cost about $5 each.
My way.
I set up the Dremel in the stand and dressed up a fine stone to a radius that looked approximately right. I don't believe the radius to be all that critical.
Each adjuster was then chucked up in a drill and with the Dremel and the drill on was very gently touched to the stone. And I do mean very, very gently. Incredibly easy to remove a whole lot of material that way.
Ask me how I know; go on, you know you want too!!! :oops: :oops:
With the adjuster still in the drill, give it a final polish with the Crocus cloth.
Now you can put away all the emery, drills etc.
