I am in the middle of my winter maintenance. So far I have adjusted the valves: de-compression cable, raised the seat front, and fine tuned the carburation. Speaking of the carb, mine is a first year model so I can simply move the clip to one of three grooves in the jet needle instead of having to remove/file/rewasher the plastic spacer. Interestingly the spacer measures 2.7mm and the top and bottom grooves measure 1.9mm apart allowing for adjustment up to 2/3rds of the thickness of the plastic spacer.  The carbs leave the factory with the clip in the middle position so I moved mine down to richen the mixture. Black Betty rarely backfires but does fart after shutoff. Here's hoping this nasty habit comes to an end.
I am also changing the countershaft seal. Oil is leaking onto the drive belt and making a mess of everything from the belt guard to the battery box to the rear wheel. Plus PolarPilot from Bert's LS650 site had the same problem and on a long ride his motor went kablamo from oil loss. In the picture I am prying out the countershaft seal.

I love those blue rubber gloves

Can you work with them or are they only for the picture ???

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:


Check the easiest things first

I'm changing the O ring on the starter as well. After unbolting the starter from the right side cover does it slide right out and back in easily without interference from the starter clutch assembly?

bentwheel wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:


Yes, it does....


And under the starter is a drain hole that goes out near the front pulley.  Drains out water...and in my case oil.

Here is the starter seal that was reinstalled once too many times.  It made my bike leak in the parking lot, like a Harley  8)