R80 RT 1982 - reluctant piston casing
 

Hi I've followed the advice of the Clymer manual regarding the removal of the outer piston casing but have been unable to remove either despite increasingly ungentle taps from a rubber hammer. I don't want to over do it as the alu casings can be easily damaged. I've obviously already removed the bolt and nut in the middle of the casing. Am I missing something that's not in the manual? Is the bolt the only thing holding the casing cover on? Can anyone advise on a better method for removing the outer casing? Thanks.

You mean the rocker-cover?
Retained by three (3) screws; front, rear and center.

Yes - those can stick pretty hard... get a pair of new gasketts... you're likely to need them...

Use a tire iron or screw-driver to bend gently between the head and rocker-cover; do not use a mallet not even rubber.

What has happened is that the heat from the heads have burnt the cork gasket to both surfaces (head and rocker cover) - so the cover is "glued" to the gasket...

Be careful when you bend. It will partly snapp off the gasket.

When re-installing do this:
- use good bearing grease; rub it into the gasket. The grease will soften the gasket, make it swell a little bit.
- the grease will aid the gasket to seal; and if there are no damages to either surfaces, it will seal.
- the grease makes next removal like a walk on the beach -:)
- the grease ensures that you probably will never need to buy a new rocker-cover-gasket -:)

However, you will have to meticulessly scrape off all gasket residues that are left on the metal surface first... this is pain staking work... if you grease the gasket as described above, you will probably never have to scrap these surface free of any gasket residue ever again -;)

Thanks Albert that was really helpful. One of the side bolts was well and truly rusted in place. Got the gaskets moved though and worked out a way to get enough leverage to get it moving without damaging the rocker cover. Took a while! New gaskets and bolts on order. Now I've got to work out a way to remove the old bolts...

:eek3: :thumbdown::nono:

Ok ok ok - NOT between the sealing surfaces - of cause! -:D
If one places any object in-between the sealing surfaces one will most likely cause sever damages to them, resulting in... non sealing... "extended/expanded lubrication and anti-corrosion"... a situation that is strongly adviced to avoid.

Use the cooling fins and lever points - needs to get enough torque to pull a "glued" gasket to splitt apart.:taz:

Far easier to use photos - but I fail to be able to up-load; keep getting "quota filled" blockage... so you need to bear with me in my attempts to get points across and to ask for elucidaiton/clarification when I miss... -;)

I have seen people attempt to jam screwdrivers between the mating surfaces with obvious results, I am guilty of levering between the fins, but only use a thin piece of wood,that is so if it is not going to budge the wood lever breaks before any fins break off or bend, my preferred method is to lightly tap all round with a rubber mallet, I once spent ages trying to remove a primary drive cover on an old Triumph Bonneville only to have a friend point out that under all the oil and road muck I'd had actually 'missed' one of the screws! :oops2: