Ok, I ran into a problem earlier today...

I was replaced my cct with a manual cct. Being the risk taker, I chose not to bother cranking my engine to tdc. Stupid me, I forgot to even tighten the darn cct and I was cranking the engine with the starter while the tensioner was super loose. I noticed quickly that it wasn't starting so I stopped. I followed the steps to tension properly. Now the bike has trouble starting with the choke on... I actually have to give it light throttle to start it from a cold start. However once the engine starts, she runs fine with no unusual sounds or backfires. Basically, before I replaced the cam tensioner, the bike started up in less than a second. Now, it takes a good 3 second to start it. The engine sounds absolutely normal to me. Am I just being too superstitious? Should I worry if I skipped one tooth? and how would I know??

 

Only way to know for sure is to pull the valve cover & check cam timing

 

That's what I was planning on doing. However, I've never taken the valve cover off my bike. Do I have to drop the engine in order to do so? Or could I leave it in?

 

No you dont have to drop the engine. You can get the cover off with the engine still in the bike.

 

Alright, I'll try taking the cover off today. I'll let you guys know what the problem was tonight

 

i changed my cct without the motor being tdc.

 

HUGE relief. Pulled the valve cover off, checked the timing and it's fine. I guess I need to be more cautious next time. I still have to figure out why it's harder to start. I'm going to go ahead and clean the carbs since I had to take em off. Spark plugs are fine. So I'm guessing it must be the carbs.

 

Always tighten the cct till it starts getting tight and loosen it a 1/2 to 2/3rds of a turn back and loctite it. It will be fine with never a worry after that.