I have a problem with the bike. I did the CCT no problems, but I ****ed up the valve adjustment. Riding along the bike was fine at 1st then the valve noise got noisier. When I got home I had discovered the one of the locknuts for the valve adjustment hadn't been done up tight enough and has come off and dissapeared.

I pulled the sump off the engine and the nut isnt in there. So where the hell is it?

Do I know have to split the cases and find it or hope that it wont make its way to a moving part of the engine and just put a new nut in?

***SEE Post down below***

 

A very hard question. If the nut has found its way down to the oil tray it is probably safe. But, if it for example hits and lock the cam chain the complete engine will most certainly be ruined. I would at least remove the oil tray and see if it is there, and if not, go on and strip the engine to locate the nut. One can easily imagine what could happen if the engine locks in a high speed corner and dont want to be on the bike in a situation like that.

 

To leave the top of the cylinderhead, doesn't the nut have to go down the cam chain tunnel? I would look in the CCT first.

 

it was the Exhaust locknut closest to the hole down the centre of the engine. Unfortuately it could have only gone down inside.

 

Have you tried putting oil down the top to try and wash it out

 

I am sorry to hear about your mishap! It may not be as bad as it seems. Let's hope that with some sleep and deep thought that a reasonable solution will present itself.

 

Do a thorough check on top of the head. You would be amazed how well a nut can hide in among the parts up there. When pulling the head off my 1000F a nut dropped onto the head and disappeared. It took some time to find it hiding under an adjacent adjuster. I suppose it's possible for the nut to go down the cam chain passage and miss all moving parts, but when I pulled the head off my 1000F a nut and a clip made it past my hand and down the hole. Both hung up on the cam chain and were snaked out with a magnet. As mentioned above, check on the CCT. Use a bright flashlight and probe around with a magnet, one of the magnets on a wand used to snag nuts and bolts. Before tearing the engine apart you might pull the CCT and check down the cam chain tunnel with the flashlight and magnet.

If you can't find it that way though, you really should tear whatever you need to apart to find it. Running the engine with a nut loose in there could result in major damage.

 

Sorry to hear that one. I'd be fishing with a magnet. One of the telescoping ones might be handy. Especially around the spring pockets in the head and maybe also down in that cam chain galley. If I recall, there's a bit of a ledge down in there that might catch something.

 

Any progress reports, Trips? Hope it's working out for you.

 

I was going to tell you that I had left lots of swarf/metal in the engine after it consumed the cam chain tensioner and it was a bit noisy but still working, however I was young and stupid and very lucky to get away with it.
Was the nut aluminium? Is there no way into the engine apart through the top ? is it easier to drop out the engine and turn it up side down and give it a shake ?
can you flush the nut out.
I heard from an old bike buddy that he used to deal with this sort of problem by tieing a magnet to a bit of string and dropping it into the engine and after a few hours "fishing" the lost bolt/nut is normally picked up.