Hard Starting and Bad Engine Noise

[allanrps]

My bike had been misfiring and generally riding quite rough, so I decided to try to dial in the ignition timing. After setting my ignition timing statically, which in my specific situation led to concerns about having slightly bent a valve from sticking stuff down the spark plug hole, I tried starting the bike. I couldn't get it start without some starter fluid, and when it did start I was hearing a pretty loud clicking noise coming from what I remember to be the right cylinder. After a long busy spell where I couldn't work on it, I finally got the engine out yesterday and took a look at the valves, just to find that everything looked perfectly fine. I'm pretty baffled as I don't know what else could be the problem. Here's a video of the bike running, in which you can kind of hear the problem, and pictures of the valves. Thanks for the help!

Video

 

[drewpy]

sounds like a dry top end, you got oil splashing around in there?
open a valve cover and it should generally spray around

 

[allanrps]

The top end was dripping wet when I took it off, so I don't think that's the issue. I forgot to add that I checked the valve clearances multiple times. Thanks for the help!

 

[xschris]

Sound like the valve lashes are off. Make sure you set them in the proper order and don't let the crank move backwards while moving it to TDC.

 

[drewpy]

Sound like the valve lashes are off. Make sure you set them in the proper order and don't let the crank move backwards while moving it to TDC.

I have to lock my crank using a 5L container under the wrench. takes a while to set up

 

[allanrps]

Great, that makes sense to me. I'll look into how to set those and get back with my results.

 

[allanrps]

In my ignorance I did not realize that setting the valve lash is the same as setting the valve gap, I thought lash was at the cam. I did already set the gap multiple times, making sure the valve was in top position, but it is possible I messed that up. It is also possible that I might have set my ignition timing inaccurately as I am not using the stock flywheel, and perhaps that could exasperate the issue. I'll just toss the thing together, gap the valves again, and hope all is well.