Hi all, I have had a bird (1997) for a couple of years now, bought after a near fatal on a Bandit, but...... anyways it stood for two years, starting it regularly etc, but then when I came to mot it and get it roadworthy there were a few bits wrong with it, fork seals, brakes binding, downpipes rotten etc. These were fixed and the bird was back on the road, however after 400 miles I noticed a pretty bad oil leak, stripped off the plastics and found a large amount of oil / water in a puddle near the top of the lump, on further inspection it looked like there was a leak from the head gasket, where it joins the top crank case.

The engine I have stripped, but there seems to be no damage to the gasket, or any cracks in the head itself, so confusing me as to whether this is infact the actual problem, the water was a very cloudy mess when I drained it, again suggesting head gasket problems but......

Also further to this, I have been, advised that by having the head skimmed I may have a problem with valve clearances, even by taking as little as 2000th off, any advice on this.....?

Please

Cheers

Ian