stripped valve cover

[Timothy]

I'm a bit dissapointed with the major changes. I've wanted a KLR650 for years now and just purchased an '07. I could have waited for the '08. It appears that most so-called improvements can be attained with after market parts and upgrades. The new fairing really turned me off. It took away from that mad-max look I've always envied. If I want to block wind, I'll have my wife ride up front. Anyone disagree? The new look just isn't what I wanted in a dual-sport. I had hoped that in 20 years Kawasaki would still be making the KLR the same way they have for the past 20 years. Oh well.

[Alan L Henderson]

One can always graft some pre 08 plastic on the front and keep the expensive bits for resale or sell them on ebay. Alan A13 Ia Timothy wrote:

> I'm a bit dissapointed with the major changes. I've wanted a KLR650 > for years now and just purchased an '07. I could have waited for > the '08. It appears that most so-called improvements can be attained > with after market parts and upgrades. The new fairing really turned me > off. It took away from that mad-max look I've always envied. If I want > to block wind, I'll have my wife ride up front. Anyone disagree? The > new look just isn't what I wanted in a dual-sport. I had hoped that in > 20 years Kawasaki would still be making the KLR the same way they have > for the past 20 years. Oh well. > >

[rustygreasy]

You might want to check out Timeserts they work very well in aluminum castings. http://www.timesert.com/

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Zachariah Mully wrote: > > Jim wrote: > > My brother discovered the hard way why not to have monkeys work on > > your bike. We have diagnosed a severe oil leak as stripped valve > > covers bolt holes, the two on the riders right (long ones). > > > > Now I know others have dealt with this problem as the torque values > > are 69 inch lbs. We intend to install a helicoil but want to know > > about any tricks and tips so we don't have to learn the hard way. > > Be very careful as the cast aluminum is extremely easy to break when > helicoiling or retapping. My A12 has the same problem except that the > posts in the head that the bolts thread into cracked, so no amount of > helicoiling was going to work. Instead a generous amount of gasket > sealer around the entire cover gasket did the trick. I then plugged up > the bolt holes in the cover with rubber corks. That was about 10,000 > miles ago and no leaks yet. Though I suppose with the amount of dirt and > nast on the bike I'd not know anyhow. > > Z >