I Botched My Valve Adjustment!

 The Lizard screwed the pooch!

http://blog.dtashley.com/?pS9

I'm not especially annoyed ... I would normally just order a new left
crankcase cover and access ports ($120 or so) and replace it all, and keep
the old ones as spares, removing the stripped access port at my leisure.

But I'm just too lazy.  I'll let the dealership do it.  I don't want to
drain oil and so on.

 e:

I suspect that it was the engineers at Honda who screwed the pooch and
set you up for failure...

I've been hearing about such things as rounded off hexes on Honda oil
filter castings and rounded off hexes on Honda valve adjustment caps
for decades no.

But Triumph and other old British motorcycles had access port plugs
with large screw slots on the side of the primary cases years ago.

Why didn't those slots strip out?

I suspect it's because the parts were made of *sand cast* aluminum,
which is a lot tougher than the butter-soft die cast aluminum parts
used on Hondas and other Japanese motorcycles.

I have four motorcycles, but there is only *one* such inspection port
plug on any of them. It's a place to hook up an oil pressure gauge if
a mechanic suspects oil pump problems.

And I *never* plan to remove that port plug.

 
I don't think so here.  One of the ports came off as expected.

The other one, I inserted the hex key to what I believed was the bottom, and
ripped out a bunch of material.

I looked at it carefully and realized that the hole was deeper, so I used
something to bang the hex key in.  It was a strange stackup of tolerances
between the hole and the key ... it wouldn't go in easily.

Then I promptly stripped out the inner part.

My best guess is that if I had had the hex key all the way in the hole from
the start, it would have come off.

I ripped out the material in two passes.

I don't think this was Honda's problem.  In a worst case, the hex hole was a
bit smaller than it should have been.  My bad.

I don't care, anyway.  Wish I had time.  I would just order a new cover and
ports, then use the method you suggested in your other post.  If it comes
out, I'd just replace the port.  If it doesn't, I'd replace everything and
save the parts.

No time.  My day job is calling me.

Besides, I need to establish my reputation at the dealership as a top
earning customer.  Maybe I'll get a Christmas card or something.

 

I think you'd be better off with a T handle w/ a hex socket attachment.
At least you could get the torque on it from the center and not from the
side, which tends to strip those screws pretty easily.


--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Squiddo

 
You'd be surprised how much force I put on that thing before it stripped.  I
almost suspect it wan't lubed or was overtightened from the previous owner.

The amount of force I used would be unattainable with a T-handle.

When I put the right port cover back on, I used a little assembly lube with
moly (the shop manual called for moly grease) and tightened it to the
recommended 11 ft-lbs.

Even now, when I get it back from the dealership, first thing I'll do is
remove the port covers and lube them and be sure they aren't overtorqued.  I
don't want to play this game again in a couple years.