84 EVO no oil to heads

A buddy of mine is doing his own top end rebuild. On reassembly he noticed no oil being pumped up push rod tubes to the heads. Filter and sending unit are getting oil. He's thinking he may have installed tappet blocks incorrectly. Also how long should it take for oil to pump into heads while only crankin the starter? ANyone with experience give me a few pointers to relay to him. He seems to think that tappet blocks were removed in reverse order. He re-installed with front to front and back to back. He says thats not the way they came off though. Anyone? Thanks in advance. MIke

1. The tappet blocks cannot be installed backwards, the bolt holes won't line up.
2. A tappet block alignment tool MUST be used whenever installing tappet blocks! This insures that the oil feed holes between the engine case and tappet blocks are properly aligned. Use no gasket sealer on the tappet block gaskets. If you really must do so, insure that the sealant will not squish out and clog said oil feed holes! NEVER use silicone!!!
3. Turning the engine over with the starter motor will not spin it fast enough to develop much oil volume or pressure. It can take 5 or more minutes to fill up the lifters and pushrod tubes before you get any oil to the rockers.
4. Clean out the tappet screen whenever any top end work is done. It is cheap insurance.
5. I hope this info helps out your friend.

dls8

Thanks for the info...I will forward this info to him this morning. MIke

[94flhtcu]

Tell ya what makes a good cheap alignment tool... 1/4 bolt and the tiny little ferrell out of a 1/4 compression union used to join copper line. This way, You can easily afford a couple of 'em. Just make sure the bolt has enuff unthreaded shoulder for the ferrel, and doesn't bottom on the first thread.

One thing... you have to use a bolt with a shoulder for the ferrel, otherwise it's not exactly centered.

Thanks 94 for the input. What he didnt tell me was he installed brand new lifters which I'm guessing would require a little more time to pump up and get things flowing. Thanks again to all for the help. Mike

[94flhtcu]

Yeah, I try to soak the new lifters overnite when I can. Hang on to that idea, though...works good for 5/16 and 3/8 as well.

Hey guys

Maybe you can help out once again. I just got call from my buddy and he checked his lifter alignment and such and all is good but now he mixed up the pushrods. You cant make this stuff up..... The colors are worn off the pushrods...Soooo....can someone confirm if the front jug or the rear jug has the shorter set of pushrods. Thanks. Mike

I believe the push rods are Shorter on the intake and longer on the Exhaust. Someone wanna back me up. I am tired and dont feel like looking it up.

Botz your Buddy have the Service/Repair Manual??? If he dont find one that will tell you. Especially if he plane on keeping the bike awhile.

If he installed new lifters I would suggest some new rods. Course thats only me.

Hey JC.... He is replacing the pushrods but the new ones arent color coded so he's trying to match them up with the old ones. Unfortunately, the old ones are no longer color coded due to age I guess. Im gonna try and get over there this weekend. Trying to help a bro on the phone and internet is always interseting wihtout seeing anything in front of ya. He has the repair manual which only states the color code which doesnt help in this situation. Bottom line......he should have been more careful when he removed them to check the tappet blocks. Lesson learned...I hope!!! Thanks for your time. Botz

[94flhtcu]

Botz, looking from the right of the bike, I'm pretty sure the longest is in the front, which is exhaust, and the shortest is the rear cyl. exhaust. So, rear cyl. has the shorts. Time for some fast times adjustable pushrods!