Rear valve cover removal

In the Shed
1

G’day! New VF1000 owner here, bought an '86 VF1000R in November. Only 14.3k miles, but since I don’t know its history I’m pulling a full service on it.

Doing the valve gap check requires fairly major disassembly, of course. After pulling the bodywork, tank and airbox, for getting at the rear cylinders the factory manual reads thus:

  • Remove the ignition coils from the air chamber.
  • Remove the hose clamp and disconnect the breather tubes.
  • Remove the rear cylinder head cover.

Oh, how the service manual writers must have laughed over that last line! [:(!]

VF1000R owners, what’s the trick for getting the valve cover out past the frame rails, short of pulling the engine first?

I’ve folded the cable/hose restraining tabs as far over towards the rails as I can, short of beating on them with a hammer. The one on the left, which I don’t even recall restraining anything, seems to be interfering particularly badly with getting the head cover out. I’m about to put a cutoff wheel in my dremel and make it go away. [8]

I’ve left the gasket attached to the valve cover for the moment, as it looks like the cam gears will bite into the cover if I don’t (not enough clearance even if I pull the gasket off). Is that where I’m going wrong?

TIA,

2

Hi denizen224, yes they would have had a laugh, however it will come out
Holding your tongue in the correct position helps, some appropriate cuss words, a little sweat, some paint off the cam covers but it will come out.
However, my bike is a VF1000FF with chains instead of gears, whilst they very similar I don’t know if the cam gears interfere more or less.
Good luck, Tony

3

Sorry, I forgot the skinned knuckles! If I recall correctly, I disconnected the fuel line, radiator overflow bottle hose, and disconnected the wiring loom on the battery side frame rail as well.

4

Well, with the help of a former VF1000R friend I managed to find the magic gyrations to get it back in without too much drama. I suspect it may have helped that I pulled the gasket off the cover first. I simply could NOT get it out of the groove when I was trying to remove the cover. I suspect that extra 1/8 inch (~3mm) probably did come into play.

Now to find some matching hi-temp gloss black paint to touch up the scars it got coming out. [:(]

5

Don’t forget to allow for touch up once it is fitted, since you are bound to add some new scars refitting it!