I thought I’d give the T3 a service, as it is sounding a bit tappety, and even though it looked extremely well cared for when I bought it, a change of oil will do it no harm.
Start with the tappets on a cold engine, 15 mins to get the rocker covers off and adjust, over an hour so far trying to get the old gaskets off the rocker covers! I have never come across such stuck on gaskets before! Anybody got any useful tips, as at this rate I will be spending the rest of the day picking bits of gasket off, so that I can get the rocker covers back on - WHEN I SHOULD BE OUT RIDING (sorry for shouting, but I’m a bit frustrated…).
I spent about 2 hours on Saturday cleaning up a gasket on the Husqvarna, it’s a horrible job but worth doing properly otherwise you’ll be doing it again in a few weeks!
I had this years ago when I first did the V1000 I soaked the gasket with some WD40 and left it whilst I did the rockers each side then used a gasket screper and they lifted off , Due to using some sort of gasket compound I think. i may have heated it too. Nowadays I use some vaseline to hold a gasket in and do not often have to scrape anything.
Ah well, gasket scraped, rocker covers back on, out for a run. The bike sounds a bit better. Drained the oils - very clean looking! Never mind, at least I know now.
Best gasket scraper is an old fashioned single sided razor blade, still available from craft shops, mine are made in Germany, about £1.99 for a pack of 5. Also always grease the gaskets both sides with silicon grease, good for a dozen removals/refittings.Cheers, Gerry.
For gasket scraping use a 6 inch offcut of copper pipe, flatten the end in a vice or with a hammer then sharpen the edge with an oilstone or diamond sharpener. The softer copper will not score the aluminium unlike a steel blade.