The new Raptor petcock will have a filter/screen incorporated.  Make sure you remove the clear plastic protective cover tube before you install the Raptor petcock.

Your photos seem to indicate that the leak is coming from the infamous head plug.  The Verslagen plug should fix that.

Your spark plug didn't have a washer/gasket???   The new plug will come with a washer/gasket.

Your description of the 82 mph limit followed by a period of time where it barely runs is a classic description of a fuel delivery problem.  When you take it up to 82 mph the throttle is open almost all the way.  Under that condition, there is no manifold vacuum.  Manifold vacuum holds the stock petcock open.  No vacuum, no open, no fuel.  The float bowl runs dry, the engine slows down.  You then put around at slow speed for awhile and the manifold vacuum is high enough to open the petcock and the float bowl fills up and things go back to normal.  The Raptor petcock should solve that problem.

Dave, I'm confused about your comment regarding the "right rear stud".  The nut for that stud is within the confines of the rocker box.  You can't see it when the head cover is in place.  

those washers are generally reusable ,but you should anneal them before reuse , it softens the copper , and makes RTV an option. when pressed for a replacement ( if the copper is bent or kinked it forms a hard spot and may not seal) you can drill a penny and use it, but the penny must be dated before 1984 , when a penny was 97% copper and 3% zinc . After that date a penny was made mostly of zinc with a copper coating and won't work.
     That plug needs cleaning /and gapping , but can be reused.

Remember- unlike ferris metals, quench copper to maximize annealing.

DragBikeMike wrote on 10/27/19 at 11:14:48:


The first fellow to suffer from a leak in this area was Ralfyguy - it took a while for us to figure out the source of his leak, as he had replaced the famous plug and still had oil weeping and making the back of his head oily.


http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1463943729/0

Dave wrote on 10/26/19 at 09:32:34:


1) What should the cam lobes be lube with?  -just engine oil?

2) Maybe I’m looking right at it, but what/where is the exhaust valve access hole?   Is the referenced trough the cavity located directly under the infamous bolt plug?  Are you talking about squirting oil into the cavity next to the exhaust header?

The referenced trough is directly below the cam lobes.  Under normal operation, the trough fills with oil and the lobes dip into the oil as the cam rotates.  It is NOT the cavity directly underneath the "infamous bolt plug".  This is a picture of the trough.

So, head cap back on, Raptor installed, it's a new bike.   Used to choke out above 82 indicated, now I can peg out the speedometer with some throttle left.

Should just be happy, but-

It's still leaking oil.  It seems like it might be aspirating out the cavity on the engine head just to the right of the carb. (What’s it for, anyway? What’s it called?).   So, after getting the head cover in place, I filled the cam trough with oil using a tube fed in via the valve port.  This probably introduced too much oil.  The oil level was on the high side- might this account for the oil aspirated from the as-yet-unnamed orifice?

You can't over fill the trough, it would simply spill over to the valve spring area and drain back to the engine case ,it's normal return path.