Dear Henry,

Having read your excellent fix for a noisy alternator chain tensioner you said you would like to look deeper and further into the engine.
I can help here.
I have a small diameter endoscope with it's own light source and an articulating tip that is usually used to look inside small animals and humans.
It may be of use to you in your quest for further knowledge of the 1000 F engine.
I have used it to examine the internals of my old Moto Guzzi and it gives a clear enough image with a little practice you can get into the inner recesses of an engine.
Its only about 500 mm long so there are limits.
If you think this can help get it touch I'm not so far away.

 

Hi Henry,

Forget my last post ....... In my haste to be helpful I failed to read all of your posts and now discover you have replaced the alternator chain......
BOY DO I FEEL STUPID !
Great article anyway, I hope my chain dosen't need doing just yet. ( 47000 mls with only a slight rattle at tickover.)
Keep up the good work of expanding our collective knowledge

 

Hi Blue,
Stupidity works in mysterious ways, its wonders to perform! I'm sure that's what they taught me at Sunday school. Long time ago now, my memory may be a tad confused.
I love the idea of your endoscope. I'll look out for one on ebay or perhaps the medical journal classifieds.

As a little update to this post which you've suddenly resurrected I'm still riding the old girl every day and have 10K miles on her since the last major work. No alternator chain problems.
The only thing that needs sorting now is the strange ticking which started about 1000 miles after the first rebuild. I keep thinking I've found the culprit, the last exploration found a broken rocker spring but renewing it didn't make any difference. I now think of it as the engine noise that doesn't matter.
Cam chain tensioner has now gone the way of all others. Rattly!
You learn to live with the quirks and just enjoy the ride, every minute of every mile, every day.
ONe of these days I'll find the time to do the whole engine rebuild write up but time is the one thing I don't have these days.
Ah well, at least there's bread on the table.
Take care of yaself.