liv2day
Platinum Level Site Supporter
I don't know if this will help anyone else, but figured it was worth posting as I'm essentially an armchair mechanic and only get into this kind of trouble (lol) on the weekends in the garage 
First, need to thank firffighter for the steps and description on what to do. I might have been able to figure it out by looking things over, but that doesn't do much on the confidence front.
I didn't take pictures of getting the bike to what's seen in the first shot, but I removed the seat, shrouds, and fuel tank. This gets you initial access to the head bolts, spark plug, and coolant line (water tree).
Loosened the clamp on the coolant line and then pulled off - be ready for a gush of coolant and it will not go where you think...lol.
I attempted to do the same thing on the other radiator, but couldn't get enough "leverage" on the coolant line with the pipe in the way. So, I pulled the pipe off the bike too - more room is better for those of us mechanically challenged (lol).
Back to the head and remove the spark plug; I took a picture of what it looks like...a bit on the rich side I think.
With the spark plug out of the way, remove the two bolts for the coolant lines and soak up any drips of coolant with a rag. I ended up using a zip tie (to the frame) to hold the lines up and out of the way.
I thought it would be a simple matter of removing the head bolts as well as connection bolt to the frame (at the "top" of the head - red arrows), but I ran into a couple issues.
First, my standard 3/8" 12mm socket would not fit on the bolt head immediately to the right of the water tree connection; and I couldn't get an wrench on it either. I ended up getting a thin-walled 1/4" 12mm deep socket and that was the ticket. If you don't have one of those around, then the other suggestion I heard was to grind a standard socket down.
Second, I couldn't remove the frame connection bolt; there wasn't enough clearance with the radiator attached. So, I just removed the bolts for both radiators for ease of access.
At this point, it's a simple process to remove all the head bolts and pull the head. This is what mine looked like upon removal.
Using the directions on Ron's site (http://www.rb-designs.com/), I did the squish test. Here's what it looked like with the solder on the top of the piston.
One thing I didn't take a picture of was removing the flywheel cover (need to do this to move the piston) It's a simple matter of pulling the 8mm bolts from the cover seen in the 2nd shot (with the clamp removed from the coolant line). Use a socket to move the piston to TDC a couple of times once you have the solder in place.
Aside from the socket issue, a very easy thing to do. I cannot wait to get the head back from Ron's shop and report on the difference. I'm hoping it helps with fuel efficiency, but really can't wait to see what it does for the power delivery.
Did I miss anything? If so, please feel free to add and I'll edit the original post.
First, need to thank firffighter for the steps and description on what to do. I might have been able to figure it out by looking things over, but that doesn't do much on the confidence front.
I didn't take pictures of getting the bike to what's seen in the first shot, but I removed the seat, shrouds, and fuel tank. This gets you initial access to the head bolts, spark plug, and coolant line (water tree).
Loosened the clamp on the coolant line and then pulled off - be ready for a gush of coolant and it will not go where you think...lol.
I attempted to do the same thing on the other radiator, but couldn't get enough "leverage" on the coolant line with the pipe in the way. So, I pulled the pipe off the bike too - more room is better for those of us mechanically challenged (lol).
Back to the head and remove the spark plug; I took a picture of what it looks like...a bit on the rich side I think.
With the spark plug out of the way, remove the two bolts for the coolant lines and soak up any drips of coolant with a rag. I ended up using a zip tie (to the frame) to hold the lines up and out of the way.
I thought it would be a simple matter of removing the head bolts as well as connection bolt to the frame (at the "top" of the head - red arrows), but I ran into a couple issues.
First, my standard 3/8" 12mm socket would not fit on the bolt head immediately to the right of the water tree connection; and I couldn't get an wrench on it either. I ended up getting a thin-walled 1/4" 12mm deep socket and that was the ticket. If you don't have one of those around, then the other suggestion I heard was to grind a standard socket down.
Second, I couldn't remove the frame connection bolt; there wasn't enough clearance with the radiator attached. So, I just removed the bolts for both radiators for ease of access.
At this point, it's a simple process to remove all the head bolts and pull the head. This is what mine looked like upon removal.
Using the directions on Ron's site (http://www.rb-designs.com/), I did the squish test. Here's what it looked like with the solder on the top of the piston.
One thing I didn't take a picture of was removing the flywheel cover (need to do this to move the piston) It's a simple matter of pulling the 8mm bolts from the cover seen in the 2nd shot (with the clamp removed from the coolant line). Use a socket to move the piston to TDC a couple of times once you have the solder in place.
Aside from the socket issue, a very easy thing to do. I cannot wait to get the head back from Ron's shop and report on the difference. I'm hoping it helps with fuel efficiency, but really can't wait to see what it does for the power delivery.
Did I miss anything? If so, please feel free to add and I'll edit the original post.
