Did a bunch of maintenance and checking stuff today.
Adjusted valves to .005" intake and .007" exhaust. If that proves to be too clacky when I go for a drive tomorrow, I will tighten the adjustment up a little. When I initially checked the clearance, both were much tighter than .005". I had misplaced my better set of feeler gauges and fell back on my older set, which had .005" as its smallest gauge. I since found the other set--right where I had put it, of course. On Youtube there is a guy who did the adjustment on an Xpect, and advised removing the gas tank and motor mount. I merely removed the rear gas tank bolt and propped the tank up on a small piece of 2x4 for clearance. Getting the valve cover out was pretty easy.
I used a short 1/4" drive 10mm socket with this very useful Harbor Freight ratchet:
https://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-...het-67994.html
It's great for tight spaces.
I cut four square holes in the top of the airbox intake horn, which is soft rubber. This more than doubles the amount of air the airbox can access. I expect the EFI will compensate for it. I do something similar on every vehicle I own, to improve breathing at higher RPMs. Sometimes the improvement is quite obvious. No effect at lower RPMs, or on gas mileage when driving normally.
Removed the canister between the airbox and the battery (carbon canister?). Connected the hose going to it with the one going back to the motor. This is an experiment. If it goes OK, I have a little extra space under the seat for tools etc.
Checked all fasteners for tightness. A few were a little loose. One screw missing, which I replaced from my stash of automotive screws. Used blue Lok-tite here and there.
For pulling the plastic trim pieces, I have a 5mm hex-head socket to use with a ratchet. Speeds the process up a lot! I wish they had designed it so you could remove the seat without removing the side plastic, but not a big deal I guess.
Started it up to check out how the canister removal might affect things. No obvious change, but we'll see when I ride it. Warmed up the oil and changed it, using the bottom plug. After 34 miles it was an opaque green/yellow color; not reassuring. Replaced it with 10W40 Valvoline dino motorcycle oil. Will replace again at 300 and 700 with the same oil. At 1000 I will go full synthetic. Only about 800+ml came out, and I just put in a quart, not the extra 2 ounces you supposedly need. The level looked good.
Tomorrow I will just do city riding, for break-in purposes. It got a bit late to do it today; I would have been in rush-hour traffic. Yesterday, my ride home from the dealership was great--all back roads and two-lane highways, and a good portion twisty. A great re-introduction to motorcycling after 25 years!