Dave wrote on 07/03/13 at 11:17:54:I think maybe there is some confusion.
The crankshaft is the part of the engine that rotates and has an offset pin and bearing in the center porton that the rod and piston are connected to.
The head cover (top cover) bolts on top of the cylinder head, and it also has the rocker arms installed in it and it acts as the upper bearing surface for the camshaft.
The Cylinder head bolts on top of the cylinder and has the valves, intake and exhaust ports cast into it. The cylinder head has the spark plug threaded into it.
If you remove the spark plug from the cylinder head, it is easier to turn the crankshaft with a 17mm socket on the left side of the crank. If you have the clutch cover off, you can also use the right side of the crankshaft to rotate the crankshaft which will move the cam chain and camshaft.
Do you have a workshop manual?
What are you up to? We started at the belt pulley in this thread, and now the engine is out and the head cover is off!
Thank you for the explanation, I do have a workshop manual, but it wasn't clear how to do it.
I'm taking the cilinderhead off to place helicoils in the threads underneath. The previous owner put too much tension on those threads and damaged them. As a result I had some big oil leakage when I started the bike. (I did the plug-cap sealant before, didn't help) So thats why I had to take of the belt pulley, since I have to take the engine out for the placement of the helicoils.
I'm going to read this again tomorrow, and trying to fully understand what I have to do.