Head Gasket Heartache

[thekid]

It all started last year after I took a little spill on my Vis.  Instead of looking at the tail on the car ahead of me, i was looking at the tail walking down the sidewalk to my right ;) Well, the tail ahead of me stopped and I promptly hit it. luckily I peeled my eyes away from the girl just in time to lock up my rear brake  :-\ and slow myself down to about 10 mph before I hit.  Anyway, cracked my front fender, bent my forks, went over the bars and cracked my windscreen,too.  Thank God I was at least smart enough to put on my protective gear before I left the house.(no injuries, besides a few bruises and a damaged ego. The girl just walked right by!!! >:()
     Long story short, the bike hasn't run right since. I figured I had knocked something loose in the carbs, so I removed them and disassembled them completely, cleaned them, and put them back on.  No improvement. The bike became hard to start, and when it warmed up to operating temp, would start running on one cylinder. ??? I replaced my plug wires as well, to  no avail.
     Finally I started her up this week and was about to begin adjusting the carbs, when I looked on the Idle speed adjustment side of the engine and saw....dun dun dunnnnn. COOLANT weeping out of the rear cylinder head gasket!!!! This blew me away as a previous compression check had turned out normal results and i had seen no white smoke out of the exhaust at all.
     This weekend I plan on replacing the rear head gasket. the part just came in today.  Apart from hopefully being informative, the purpose of this post is to ask if anyone has any advice on the subject. I have the Haynes manual to guide me, but i figured with all the hundreds of years of combined Vision experience on this site, It wouldn't hurt to ask!....Oh, and keep your eyes on the road!! ::)-thekid

[h2olawyer]

First - glad you weren't seriously hurt.  Second, I wish I had some pertinent info, but I've never had to tear down a Vision engine that far - valve covers is as far as I've gone.  Third, your description sounds like it was made for Nationwide's advertising campaign!   ;)

Good luck on the project.  I hope the tail that distracted you was memorable!  (Better check your forks, too.)

H₂O

[zore]

If i may suggest remove all the bolts that connect the cyl head to the frame first.  Start it up and see if things improve.  I had a head gasket leak when I only remove half the mounts, which went away while riding.  I had oil and coolant all over my boots and it rad really bad.  At anyrate, if removeing just the head to frame connections resolves the issue, you may have a bent frame.

[louthepou]

Is the leak on the interior side? (i.e. on the intake side, not the exhaust)

I'd look first at the possibility of having a crack in the 90 degree connecting thingy that brings the coolant from the chromed tubes into the cylinder head. They are very near the head gaskets and they are cracking at the slightest knock. It would make for an easier repair, if it could only be that.

Lou

[thekid]

H2O- maybe I have a carreer waiting for me in advertising! I hear ad execs make more than carpenters. ;D
Lou- Definitely not the chrome coolant return pipes. saw a leak coming right out of the seam of the hea gasket. thanks tho.
Zore- I'll try that, thanks.