That locking flange nut against the body needs broken loose to adjust the bolt and it should be very tight against the boy. Once that locking flange nut is broken loose, the adjuster bolt will not be so tight as to require a wrench once the lock nut is loosened. On the other hand, jam nut should be tight against the allen nut to hold the allen nut, that is the only reason it is there.. That locking nut should be tight once the adjustment is made. That locking flange nut is what keeps the bolt from backing out. I am going to PM you my phone number. Call me, we can get this worked out. I see it is weeping a bit, you can back it out a fair amount and put a dab of silicon RTV in with the O-ring for a better seal when they pinch in.

If you take off the cam retainer be careful reinstalling it. You should not use the bolts to pull it down. When you reinstall it, fit it in place then tap it down with the handle of a screw driver or a very small plastic mallet to get it down flush against the head. Some people have cracked the retainer trying to tighten it down pulling the gap closed. It is a snug fit - and should be - but it will seat down properly with the light tapping. If it doesn't, figure out why. it is possible it may not be seating onto the guide dowels and trying to pull it down with the bolts is when it can crack.or break. Don't do it. Again, lightly tap it down, I use a screw driver handle so I don't overload it.

 

Hmmm after some more research im just more disheartened. Being that 3 out of 4 valve clearances are out of spec, and one has zero clearance, not knowing what condition the valve seats are in, so on and so on... I think i'm just going to take it to a dealer. I've dumped so much time into this bike already and free time is not something i have a lot of. It looks like the time sink will only suck faster until i get this sorted......

 

That is what I was going to say, you need to go in and reshim the valves. You are most of the way there, you just have to pull the cam caps, & you can realign the forward cam when you put it back together. Reshim everything to maximum clearance! If you are at TDC now, I agree that you should only do one tooth and see how it looks. I think 2 would be 2 much.
Having zero clearance isn't so bad if hit hasn't been there that long, everything could be ok. Why assume your valves are done? Did you do a compression test?
I would pull the plug and make sure you are at TDC, then adj the cams.
On the carb, everyone around here will want to open everything up, I didn't check your exhaust situation, but..... I am running a 33 and stock exhaust & I would recommend going down on everything if you are fouling plugs. or... fixing your needle and trying before going bigger.

 

Well I have no idea how long the valves have been like that, and with the performance im getting out of the bike i'm assuming the worst.

this is how i expect it would go:
i order a bunch of shim sizes, do the valve clearance process once so that i can get that one valve back to positive clearance, its still not in spec though, so do the process again. dont have the right shims so have to order more. put everything together, still running ****ty. get a compression tester, do a compression test, find out that valve seat is ****ed, have to take it apart to the head. dont know what to do from there, but thats already 2-3 weeks and many labor hours out.

and im a whiney bastard

if i had all the parts it wouldn't be a big deal, but im 1.5hr away from the closest dealership and they usually have to order parts anyway

 

I hear you... but, 1.5 hours away from dealership means it's better to get to work and learn how to work on your own bike.
You should be able to order the correct shims in one shot, if you measured them, then you need to take it apart, you can see what you need to order, then mail order them delivered.
Carb, I don't know. Chances are the dealer may not want to mess with your aftermarket carb. You need a carb man to figure out why you keep breaking needles.
Maybe you should get a .... HONDA! HEEHEA!

 

alright, alright, ill dial in the valves and see where that gets me

the carb should hopefully be solved. i replaced the slide which was worn and rattling against the body

thanks again for the help!

 

Call for some encouragement. Here are a couple thoughts.

You are in far enough the shimming isn't that difficult to do. You've done the worst of the disassembly work. For me the shims stuck up in the cap on disassembly, but be careful, don't want to drop one of those little boogers in the engine. If possible, stuff a rag in wherever to block any passage to the bottom should the shim slip out. In assembly there is a cup in the retainers to hold the shim when putting the cap back on. The hardest part is making sure to get the cams on the right place in the chain to have proper timing... if you're like me. Three tries and some choice swearing got 'er done.

You are going to need to have a base to start from, so pull the cams, then shim the one with zero clearance with some shim that should give you something, put the cam back in sitting so it is off the valve (no need for chain or anything to do this) hand rotate the cam back and forth a couple times to seat in the shim, and measure the clearance with that shim to get a base line to work from. Realize you may not have squished out all the lube, so it may be a thou to the thick side.

In my opinion, when you do the shimming go to the higher clearance side of the limits, better loose than too tight. Also don't forget that cam retainer needs to be fully down on the head before tightening the bolts. Again, tap it with a screwdriver handle if need be.

 

Roger that. I may give you a call for encouragement when ive pulled all my hair out and am ready to dial in chain tension

 

OP, I'm curious about something on your earlier carb woes. You mention the bike having 19-20K on the mileage. I'm wondering why the carb slide would be slap worn out in that time. I totally believe you and the fact that Bill rebuilt the carb only verifies it. What I'm su****ious of is how truthful the previous owner is/was about his reports to you on the bike. I wonder if the mileage is even correct. Just makes me wonder what's gone on with this bike prior to your ownership. Usually the only way a quality carb slide will wear out is with some decently high mileage or running without an air filter.

 

To make you even more su****ious, the previous owner said he did Bill's kit about 5k miles ago, so there should only be 5000 miles on that carb.

I've been emailing with the previous owner to see if i can get any more info out of him, he asked me to keep him posted with what Bill says about the carb. I told him Bill was pretty flabbergasted -- in the hundreds of carbs he's seen, hes never seen one that worn. And now i havent heard back from the guy (after a few days)..... I could be wrong, but i really don't think the dude was lying to me. One reason i was happy about buying the bike was that the guy seemed pretty active in the local riding community, he said "oh if you take that to so and so rally, people will recognize the bike", things like that. He had another bike in his garage with loads of tools, and gave me a lot of spare parts with the bike.... So i'm pretty bamboozled here...