Ivy: Leaks Finally Fixed!

Probably let this go for way too long... but happy to report that Ivy's oil leaks seem finally fixed.  And even if she does start to drip again a bit, at least it's not the rivers of oil that were there before.

Glad I took the whole top end apart because it turned out there were a few surprises.  Guess I felt like her top end was still "fresh" when in reality it's been more than three years since she got put together.

My main goals had been to change the gasket going from jug to head, as well as to swap out the broken cylinder stud.

But as soon as I got down to the stud, I realized the problem: there was only a tiny bit of thread showing past the crankcase and what little was showing was badly corroded and would never hold a nut anyway.  So that was pretty much a non-starter.

But once I had the jug off I found the first of a few missing gaskets.  I realized that there was nothing between the jug and the crankcase.  Wonder why I never added that in the first place?  Very odd, considering how paranoid I must have been about gaskets...

Added that one in then swapped out the copper ring at base of the cylinder.  Dabbed a bit of grease on one side to hold it in place.

Then the head gasket looked a bit tired so replaced that and had to do a fair bit of scraping to get it off.

With everything back together, I found the valve clearance on the exhaust had changed so had to dial it out a bit to get to .002.

Also replaced the alternator cover gasket which seemed to have bunched up causing a slow drip.

Started her up and bingo!  No more leaks.  At least not the steady drip that had been the norm for all these years.  Really should have done this sooner!

 She sounded a bit odd, though, and I could feel puffs of air from around the exhaust port.  Checked and realized there was no gasket there!  Again, not sure why I would not have added one in the first place.  Added in one of the asbestos gaskets.

Started up again and let her idle for quite awhile to check for leaks.  Nothing dripping, but once she was warmed up, I noticed a lot of smoke coming from the exhaust port.  Realized it was burning oil coming from a leak at the rocker cover.

So swapped also changed that gasket and ran her again and seemed fine.  But will need to keep an eye on it.

She seems no worse for wear with the one stud missing, so hopefully job done!