Honda Shadow Forums : Shadow Motorcycle Forum - View Single Post - 84' VT700 Engine Tick Noise, Several Issues, Please Help!

Homeskillet · 04-26-2010, 08:15 AM

Ouch!
Some of those pictures look pretty rough!
Cam chain noise is generally more associated with higher RPM noise where the vibrations come into harmonic modes which don't exist at idle (at least in a good design).
I noticed that your rocker arm is leaving wear marks on the rocker housing, on both the exhaust rocker and one of the intake rockers (the other intake rocker wasn't shown in your pics - check it anyways!). Remove the rocker shafts and look for excessive wear to try to determine if it is worn shaft or a cracked casting that is causing the contact at that point. One of the two will need replacing. The rocker may not seem to make contact with the cam cover/rocker holder now, but when the HLAs and assist shafts and valve springs load the cam shaft, the situation could be very different! I would think the rocker arm hitting the cam cover/rocker holder would be more cause for your noise at idle. Your HLA's sound like they are good. I think the shop manual recommends you run kerosene through them to clean them out.
Bad luck about the cam chain too, they are expensive mothers if you get them new OEM and its always a guess on a part like that when you buy it from eBay, unless they were nice and took pictures of the wear indicator before they were removed.
BTW, i got a cylinder head gasket kit, called gasket set A, honda OEM, covers both cylinder head rebuilds, for $38 i think (but $18 to ship), not so bad if you throw in other parts you 'need'

04-26-2010, 08:15 AM	#4 (permalink)
Homeskillet Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Indiana Posts: 331	Ouch! Some of those pictures look pretty rough! Cam chain noise is generally more associated with higher RPM noise where the vibrations come into harmonic modes which don't exist at idle (at least in a good design). I noticed that your rocker arm is leaving wear marks on the rocker housing, on both the exhaust rocker and one of the intake rockers (the other intake rocker wasn't shown in your pics - check it anyways!). Remove the rocker shafts and look for excessive wear to try to determine if it is worn shaft or a cracked casting that is causing the contact at that point. One of the two will need replacing. The rocker may not seem to make contact with the cam cover/rocker holder now, but when the HLAs and assist shafts and valve springs load the cam shaft, the situation could be very different! I would think the rocker arm hitting the cam cover/rocker holder would be more cause for your noise at idle. Your HLA's sound like they are good. I think the shop manual recommends you run kerosene through them to clean them out. Bad luck about the cam chain too, they are expensive mothers if you get them new OEM and its always a guess on a part like that when you buy it from eBay, unless they were nice and took pictures of the wear indicator before they were removed. BTW, i got a cylinder head gasket kit, called gasket set A, honda OEM, covers both cylinder head rebuilds, for $38 i think (but $18 to ship), not so bad if you throw in other parts you 'need' __________________ 1983 Honda Shadow VT750C (currently still in pieces in my garage ) - for cruisin' 2006 Suzuki SV1000S - for the twisties ... that's not a contrast at all - is it?