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ES2 and valve stem seals

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We are rebuilding my ES2 engine, and a local well-respected engine guy, whilst checking the bore and piston advised that we should put a couple of o-rings on the valve stems when we reassemble.

Has anyone done this, or even fitted proper valve stem oil seals from a more modern bike? What are your experiences and opinions?

Cheers!

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Hi Grant,

Probably not a good idea, in my opinion, the guides probably rely on that bit of oil mist for lubrication, these engines do use a bit of oil but not excessively so. I wouldn't bother.

Cheers,

Niall

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Here is something to try. I do a lot of work on early Ferrari heads with hairpin springs where there is no room to fit a seal. With the guides installed in the head it is possible with some pretty simple tooling to machine a sharp edge on the top of the guide which will act as a sort of scraper to keep the oil from running down the guide. Works better than nothing and won't cause any unintended consequences.

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My ES2, with a loose inlet guide, used 1l of oil on a recent 1600km trip which i was pretty happy with. Mostly 60MPH on the flat and as fast as it would go on the hills (50-55 mph) so working hard most of the way. It smokes a bit on overrun but by the look of the back wheel I suspect more oil came out of the breather and other misc exits than was burnt. So my thinking is don't worry about valve seals.

 

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