Putting the engine back together so I can sell the bike. Got the cylinder and head back on and now I'm struggling with the timing chain. I'm trying to find top dead center and completely lost. I saw on various forums that some gears behind the clutch basket should have marks indicating TDC, but after taking the cover off, I wasn't able to find them anywhere. Does anyone have any tips for me? Thanks for reading. Oh, and as a side note, that screw in the middle of the clutch basket is a total mystery to me. I can't seem to tighten it.
I am not aware of any timing marks on the gears behind the clutch cover. The attached page from the manual demonstrates how to set the camshaft, with the piston at TDC. From your pics, it looks like your cam is about 90 degrees off - the cam sprocket mounting bolts should be even with the surface of the head. Also, that screw in the center of your clutch basket is an adjustment for the free play. It looks like you are missing the lock nut, which threads onto the outside of that screw. The screw itself does not "tighten". You screw the adjuster in or out, until you have the proper free play at the clutch lever, then tighten up the lock nut to hold the adjustment screw in that position.
Ah ok, thanks! Do you know how to get the piston at TDC on compression stroke? I was just turning it over by hand-cranking the kick start lever and looking through the spark plug hole. What I couldn't figure out though is what difference the compression versus exhaust TDC is for everything below the head. Does it just have to do with wear patterns? Or ignition timing? Another discrepancy I found in the manual is that my camshaft gear bolts aren't accessible. They are partially behind a bearing. As far as I could tell, the bearing wasn't easily removable. Is there a section in the manual for determining free play of clutch? I was thumbing through it, but thats one damn long manual. I suppose I could just go get a locknut from any hardware store. Update: Actually looks like I found clutch adjustment page! Looks like page 23 of the manual. Thanks!
If both cam lobes are pointing down it will be the compression stroke. The ignition fires every revolution.
Ahh I see. So in this case the only thing that determines compression TDC is your initial setting of the camshaft, assuming the piston is at TDC. Thanks!
I'm not OP, but thanks for all the info fellas. I'm going to be reassembling my engine next week and I had the same questions as MEGA_MAX. Looks like it should be a pretty straightforward job after reading though this thread. Now time to figure out the cable routing...
