You can leave the swingarm in place (put the bolt back through the frame) and have a rolling chassis. Here's a pic of mine some years back;
I've stripped more down than I originally planned for. My local plating company with zinc passivate all the bits on the bike, and my car engine for £30. So anything zinc has been stripped off. I'll also take the heads off to check and clean everything. A full gasket kit from MotoRapideo is £154inc Vat. So this is quickly becoming a full rebuild. I have a deadline of the end of Sept to have it done because my next project starts then.
Stripped the heads down and in total I have 6 worn cam openers. All closers look fine, as do the cams. I'm in 2 minds to send off all the openers so I won't have to do it again, and it may add value to the bike. But its another £90 which could be better spent, especially as my next project is looming and that won't be cheap.
I thought if they were good after 17years, they're ok. The chrome would of come off by now. Still in 2 minds.
That's how old the bike is and there is no history of them being changed. Thanks. Having slept on it, I'll send all 8 off to Newmans.
Well, you can never be sure what's original or what's been done on a bike bought used. I would definitely agree it's best to do all 8, apart from anything else the profile maybe slightly different to the originals? But especially on a 748 as the extra RPMs will give them a harder life - many say that to keep the valve train good it's best not to exceed 10,000rpm, that's easy enough on a 996 that peaks under 10k, not too hard on a 916 that peaks around 10k but trickier on a 748 that needs/wants more revs. In fact if I was doing mine again I'd also do the closers too, never had a problem with them but would be good to finally put the rocker issue to bed completely. If I ever get a flaker or have the heads apart for anything else I'll do them.
I'm making slow progress. Newman cams delivered a nice set of opening followers yesterday. I'm collecting some new collects from motorapide tomorrow so I can lap the valves in and start shimming. All the bolts, brackets, sprockets, have been replated and looking great. I'll post some photos soon. Only cost £20 along with some car bits, but they's lost a few bolts. So its cost me £30 for replacements. Engine has been painted and looks a bit too bright. Its not a 100% perfect job because I didn't want to split the engine casings, but its good enough. I'm still on target to get it done for the end of the month, ready to ride it.
What does the little water tank in the engine V do? Is it just a catch tank for the rad over flow. Mine is split and replacements are £30. It cold of been split for years because it doesn't have any water in it. Does it need replacing?
It is just a catch tank although as it feeds into the bottom, the header tank can also suck back the overflow if required. Mine broke where the pipe fits and I did get a new one but you could equally use any type of overflow bottle which can be had or devised (coke, red bull etc.) for significantly less than £30.
