More Wrenching – Walnut, CA – 16 June 2018

16 June 2018 – Mary’s leaving today. She’s collecting up all her carry-on luggage etc. etc. As soon as she’s ready we will be leaving for John Wayne Airport. My brother prefers this airport over Los Angeles Airport because of travel times to get there, parking and traffic. He has talked about taking 5 hours to get to LAX while his guests sat there waiting his arrival. There was no joy in that trip. Anyway, we're on the road to the airport and the traffic is flowing smoothly. Mary and I said our goodbyes. I also told her my plans are to be home before or on the 30 of June. She popped out of the car and we waited till she was inside the airport before we left. I was sad to see her leave. 

I still have hours of work to perform before my Kawasaki is ready to ride and roam. When we got back to the house, I started work on my bike. First, I took pictures of the location of all the cables and all the wire ties that hold them in place. Those pictures are handy when it comes to putting everything back in place. I went into my top box because I have a detailed set of instructions on what to remove and what not to remove. It’s the best I’ve ever seen. First, I remove the fan, time the engine correctly, reposition any electrical wires and cables out of the way, remove the top engine mounting bracket and remove the coil. I also cleaned as much dirt as possible off the valve cover and surrounding area. I don’t want any dirt falling into the open engine if possible. I remove the four valve cover bolts. I wiggle the valve cover off the top of the engine. It was a struggle like it always is but we removed it.

I got out my feeler gauges to check the spacing on the valves. I checked the intake valves first. The spacing on those were exactly the same as when I checked them in October 2017. I checked the exhaust valves. One valve spacing never moved but the second valve had changed by .002 in. / .0508 mm. It looks like I have only one exhaust valve to adjust. I will clean up the valve cover and all the bolts / fasteners so they will be ready when I complete the valve adjustment. I will also clean up the gasket surfaces on the head so it’s spotless, and fill all the opening with rags where small parts could fall in to the crankcase. You just don’t want that to happen. Then I covered up the engine to keep the dust out. I washed all the parts and the valve cover up. I wrapped them up in clean towels to keep them dust free.  

I texted Mary to see if she made it home ok. She said she did and Little Hiss is just fine. We talked some and then called it a night.