Valve cover clearance question

[BlackBike]

Valve cover clearrence?
I don't have clearance to get the valve cover off, it's hitting top frame can't move the top in any way to get it off. Do I have to drop the motor?
5642

[Azhule]

Can you turn it slightly 'clockwise'? I know this is the "Storm" model in this video but it has a tight space and is shown removing the cover around the 3 min mark :tup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnpI9ObYYVo

[Mudflap]

Try turning the crankshaft so the rockers move into a different position.

[mq1991]

Mine required a little fanagaling, but it came out without much trouble. Try pulling it out towards you and rotating it down, it should come out. Ill try and get a video of mine tonight.

[SpudRider]

Try turning the crankshaft so the rockers move into a different position.

Mine required a little fanagaling, but it came out without much trouble. Try pulling it out towards you and rotating it down, it should come out. Ill try and get a video of mine tonight.

I agree with these two gentlemen. ;) Turn the crankshaft to TDC on the compression stroke; this will release any pressure from the camshaft on the valve rockers. Then pull and rotate the valve cover until it comes free.

[BlackBike]

Yes, I didn't think of this, I was going fast and needed to attend a vfd meeting.

Tomorrow, will turn the crank and twist and turn it every which way to Sunday to get it off. There must be a solution since this is a common procedure needed. It would be crazy if they designed it this way. yes, will pull the plug first!

[bogieboy]

on my roketa to drop the valve cover, i have to pull the front bolts out of the engeine from the frame so the whole assembly can drop down an inch to get it out....

[pistolclass]

Do you recommend doing this before you start you hawk for the first time? Is it OK to do on a cold engine?

[Azhule]

Do you recommend doing this before you start you hawk for the first time? Is it OK to do on a cold engine?

Yes and yes.

Check and set the valves before you start/ride the bike for the first time.

Adjusting the valves on a "Cold" engine, I let the engine 'cool' overnight and set them in the morning when it's nice and cold :tup:

[2LZ]

Man....I've never seen a Hondoid so tight. My X-Moto is virtually identical to your bike and I can wiggle it out of there. I'd drop the front bolt, as suggested and let it drop down a little. This will be a good excuse to check every motor mount for tightness when you're done.

[BlackBike]

Man....I've never seen a Hondoid so tight. My X-Moto is virtually identical to your bike and I can wiggle it out of there. I'd drop the front bolt, as suggested and let it drop down a little. This will be a good excuse to check every motor mount for tightness when you're done.

Will get to this later today hopefully here is another pic of the entire motor on this Bashan blaze. I am just posting this because this may be a bike to stray from is this is a real maintenance issue.
5647

[2LZ]

Didn't realize you had a balance shaft motor! Cool!
I took my plastic louvers off and tossed them on the shelf, years ago. The little rods never did fit correctly with the tank shroud and buzzed like hell. If yours fit, may as well keep 'em. I wasn't sure if they were for aesthetics more than any actual cooling value.

[BlackBike]

Didn't realize you had a balance shaft motor! Cool!
I took my plastic louvers off and tossed them on the shelf, years ago. The little rods never did fit correctly with the tank shroud and buzzed like hell. If yours fit, may as well keep 'em. I wasn't sure if they were for aesthetics more than any actual cooling value.

Balancer or not, pising me off will have to drop motor for cover removal. Then do will grind everything to make clearence. What a pain

Also the clip mod did not have notches . If you fly out tonight sacramento to San Antonio flight will pick up at airport haha only 5hrs flight

Hopefully will have help here in a bit

[2LZ]

Balancer or not, pising me off will have to drop motor for cover removal. Then do will grind everything to make clearence. What a pain

Also the clip mod did not have notches . If you fly out tonight sacramento to San Antonio flight will pick up at airport haha only 5hrs flight

Hopefully will have help here in a bit

Dropping a bolt shouldn't be to bad. Lord knows some are probably loose anyway! ;-)

If your needle has no extra notches, just put a small washer or two under the c-clip to shim up the needle a tad. That works also.

[BlackBike]

Dropping a bolt shouldn't be to bad. Lord knows some are probably loose anyway! ;-)

If your needle has no extra notches, just put a small washer or two under the c-clip to shim up the needle a tad. That works also.

So far , removed all mount bolts except the bottom xmember were the pegs are mounted to pivot motor from. Loosen rear wheel for drive chain slack. Remove header bolts for wiggle. Remove skid plate bolts . Motorpivotforward and down 1.5 inch from top motor mount position to finally remove cover. Can't grind cover or frame enough to allow clearance for next time either.

Would have spend extra couple hundred bucks on the Bashar storm instead of this Bashar blaze hado I know this situation existed on this model. Total with rebuild, probably 3 to 4 hrs being a greenhorn

Don't buy Bashan blaze unless you love doing this everytime, can't see anyway around it
5661

[SpudRider]

I'm sorry to hear of this issue. :tdown: Thanks for warning future potential buyers. ;)

[BlackBike]

Update... my feeler g. set didn't go down to the book specified .05mm so I spent most of the day driving to 3 different towns finally found http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/autocraft-26-blades-feeler-gauge-ac545-w80528/9020756-P in corpus christi tx. This set is not exact but close enough to the paper thin tolerance called for.

Couple of questions left.

Is the intake valve on the carburetor side , and exhaust valve on the header side ?

Do I measure the gaps when the tops of both rocker arms are in the up most position at tdc?

Been a long day :zzz:

[SpudRider]

Update... my feeler g. set didn't go down to the book specified .05mm so I spent most of the day driving to 3 different towns finally found http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/autocraft-26-blades-feeler-gauge-ac545-w80528/9020756-P in corpus christi tx. This set is not exact but close enough to the paper thin tolerance called for...

Here is the Harbor Freight, feeler gauge set I use for all my motorcycles. :tup:

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=feeler+gauges

...Couple of questions left.

Is the intake valve on the carburetor side , and exhaust valve on the header side ?...

Yes. :)

Do I measure the gaps when the tops of both rocker arms are in the up most position at tdc?...

Which side do you consider the "top?" :hmm:

You want to adjust the valve lash when both rocker arms are loose, and not contacting the valve tappets. This will occur when both pushrods are at the lowest position.

[BlackBike]

Spud said..."You want to adjust the valve lash when both rocker arms are loose, and not contacting the valve tappets. This will occur when both pushrods are at the lowest position."

Ok, so that is the opposite of what I thought. So it is when the rocker arms are all the way down (meaning plunging down into the cylinder)? Thanks


Also, I looked at that set on line but the specs only showed inch specs so I passed. That was the one I should have got. I seem to remember you posting that in the past now too. :cry:

[SpudRider]

Spud said..."You want to adjust the valve lash when both rocker arms are loose, and not contacting the valve tappets. This will occur when both pushrods are at the lowest position."

Ok, so that is the opposite of what I thought. So it is when the rocker arms are all the way down (meaning plunging down into the cylinder)? Thanks...

No, you don't way the rocker arms plunging down on the valves, forcing them into the cylinder. You want both rocker arms loose, and not contacting the top of the valves.

[Mudflap]

I've noticed a difference in valve cover design on my CG engines. The Zongshen and Taotao have tall and squared off covers while my Lifans are shorter and taper down on the sides. Yours looks tall and squarish like the Zongshen. I wonder if a Lifan cover would fit and give you clearance to remove it without dropping the engine down.

Just measured clearance between the frame and valve cover on the Lifan, 5/8 inch. The cover can be removed without lowering the engine.

[BlackBike]

I've noticed a difference in valve cover design on my CG engines. The Zongshen and Taotao have tall and squared off covers while my Lifans are shorter and taper down on the sides. Yours looks tall and squarish like the Zongshen. I wonder if a Lifan cover would fit and give you clearance to remove it without dropping the engine down.

Just measured clearance between the frame and valve cover on the Lifan, 5/8 inch. The cover can be removed without lowering the engine.

Thanks, this is a Lifan engine. I need to look for covers to see if it would help.

[Mudflap]

It's quite possible the 250 needs the larger valve cover for rocker arm clearance.

[FastDoc]

Sorry to hear about your woes. Looks like a design flaw made a pretty simple job pretty aggravating.

At least now that you knoe the 'secret handshake' it will only take half as long next time, and these motors hold their clearances quite a while.

[Weldangrind]

I've noticed a difference in valve cover design on my CG engines. The Zongshen and Taotao have tall and squared off covers while my Lifans are shorter and taper down on the sides. Yours looks tall and squarish like the Zongshen. I wonder if a Lifan cover would fit and give you clearance to remove it without dropping the engine down.

Just measured clearance between the frame and valve cover on the Lifan, 5/8 inch. The cover can be removed without lowering the engine.

Exactly what I was thinking. I posted pics of both types a few years ago, but I can't remember where.

[BlackBike]

Well folks after a marathon session I decided I may as well address the valve cover clearance issue now while I have the motor dropped. This has been a real learning rxperience (not one I wanted so soon however). I cut out that top frame weld seam line which was causing the clearance issue and also ground off the cooling fins of the valve cover. The fins were removed from the left to help removal to the right side. I used a Dewalt metal cutting blade on a reciprocating saw and went at it. Didnt look so nice after this was done but I continued on with the welding. One time, somone said said something about the steel quality on these bikes was not so good. I just think it was due to the steel being thin, and went threw several settings on my wire feed welder till I got it dialed in. Basically had to set it down to lowest setting and used daube and move technique similar to auto body welding. And upside down welding is never fun.

After I finished welding , repainted with rust converter primer and heavy brush coat of satin BBQ black paint I had on hand. Valve cover was ground down as much as possible without damaging that top oil channel. Painted with life fitness platinum metallic spray and over coated everything with clear gloss spray. I wanted to make sure to try to stop any rust as much as possible in our humid climate.

Spud, I appreciate your patience with me concerning my value clearance questions. My intake was set correctly at around .05mm but my exhaust was at .0mm. Hence this was the tapping sound I always reported hearing since it was new, just not from the exhaust valve. I read everything I could and especially the csc blog on the subject and figured it out. I set the exhaust valve at about .07mm.

I put everything back together and decided not to try the carb. Mod. Didn't want to chase multiple issues in case I got the valve clearance wrong. Then I wouldn't know what was causing the problem, carb or valves.

All back together and started right up no harm no foul. Seems to run the same but may be breathing better with correct exhaust clearence. Top speed has gained mabey 2 MPHbut not sure if that was just because it was a good high pressure atmosphere day we are having now (noticed how atmosphere effects how it runs)

So,,, according to number 1, first rule of China rider forum (it didn't happen if no pics), here are the compressed pics (found a pic compressor app)
5702

5703

5704

5705

5706

[BlackBike]

5707

5708

5709

5710

5711

Ps, I didn't test removing the cover after I reinstalled the motor to see if I solved the frame clearence issue. I had already installed the value cover and was already on the way back together with everything. If it didn't solve the clearence problem for next time, there was nothing else that can be done about it but drop the motor again anyway......

Glad thats over, now back to riding . Have my riders safety course this weekend. Don't tell anyone I have already put over 1000 miles on my bike .:hi:

[BlackBike]

Exactly what I was thinking. I posted pics of both types a few years ago, but I can't remember where.

Thanks for your input. I sure tried six ways to Sunday to get that cover off but was blocked at every orientation. Mabey I was missing something but I could see no way forward without lowering the engine. :shrug:

[BlackBike]

Sorry to hear about your woes. Looks like a design flaw made a pretty simple job pretty aggravating.

At least now that you knoe the 'secret handshake' it will only take half as long next time, and these motors hold their clearances quite a while.

Thanks doc,

I did skin my middle finger with the grinder a bit. Since it was my middle finger, this was a fitting tribute to who ever decided to put this Lifan in this frame (it's a super nice balanced motor however).

Now,Someone will probably come out and say, "all you had to do was..." :doh:

[2LZ]

Nice to see you got it done! There's some good clearance there now.....

[SpudRider]

Nice to see you got it done! There's some good clearance there now.....

X2; you made a major improvement. :)

[simonjester]

Black bike, I feel for you, bud. It looks like you have the same kind of luck I have when it comes to stuff like this. :ohno:>:

[BlackBike]

Luck, haha , I always joke about that because of my lack of it. I'm always prepared for the worst :lmao:

[Weldangrind]

Nice work. That was a good solution to the problem.

[Merlin]

Wish i had found this thread BEFORE I bought my Blaze. Ill sale this bike before I go through this!