Hello. I'm going to be replacing the dinged up rocker/valve covers on my 86'R80RT and have purchased new OEM rocker covers and gaskets. I'm just starting to learn to wrench on my bike but this seems like a fairly easy job. According to the original manual- Unscrew and remove the central cap nut on the Rocker cover, remove the old cover and gasket, replace with new cover and gasket and tighten central nut. Just want to make sure there's not more to it than that before I get the Rocker cover off. Also, the original manual says to use the 13mm socket (that came with the original tool kit, which I have), but does not mention torque specs to tighten, although the 13mm socket from the tool kit has no torque specs on it. Does anyone happen to know the torque spec for the Rocker cover cap nut? Thanks in advance for your time.
Scot- thanks so much for the reply and insight. Just completed the first one and all seemed to go well. Although as soon as I loosened the small nuts (10 mm) some oiled started to seep out. Imagine that's normal?
Hey, welcome aboard !
• All 3 fasteners have wave washers under them, so new owners often find those missing. Metric flat washers from the hardware store will suffice.
• There is a torque spec on the larger middle nut of 15ft-lbs max. The studs are known to pull out of the head if you get too "ham fisted" so be very careful.
• Yes, it is very normal for the cover to retain a tablespoon of oil.
• Lastly, the valve cover gaskets are very good material and last through several valve cover removals. Therefore it is important to replace the cover just as it came off to help the re-sealing process. If you look carefully, you will see an "L" or an "R" molded into the cover, in the rounded area that sits under the spark plug cap. Typically, those marks are placed on the top of the respective Left and Right sides to help with consistent valve cover placement.
Hope this helps.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
Wobbly, thank you! Appreciate the detailed feedback. Thanks to you and Scot I was able to complete.
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