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This week I wanted to replace the inlet valve springs as the R6\'s are known to have had a bad batch of weak springs. It seems that they are usually fine for road use, but when raced the initial batch hasn\'t been standing up to the stress.
Dave Cole has made a tool which allows him to get to the springs and replace them without the need to remove the head from the engine. This represents a substantial time saver, and as he has done several of these jobs so far this year already I took the bike down to him for this work.
Upon examining the springs, 4 of the inner inlet valve springs had broken. Along with this, the broken springs had damaged 3 of the valve guide seals. - One of these seals was completely missing. This particular valve guide was also showing signs of damage as the valve was reported to be moving roughly in the guide.
At this point it was determined to be a \'head off\' job. Dave is extremely busy currently, and could not allocate me any further time. (It was very good of him to squeeze in the initial work as it was.. Thanks Dave!)
Red Baron\'s workshop is particulary busy too right now, and they felt that they could not get the job done in the small amount of time left before we need to leave to travel down to Manfeild.
At this point, Phil at Moller Yamaha stepped in and offered to try to finish the job in time for us to go away this weekend.
He\'s examined the valve guide and agrees that it needs replacing, so we\'re waiting until tomorrow morning for some parts to arrive. Hopefully then the engine will be reassembled, and we can head down to Feilding tomorrow lunch time. - We miss unofficial practice, but that not a problem. - We\'re very gratful to Phil and Moller Yamaha for their help.
So far it\'s looked like we\'re not going racing, about 3 or 4 times this week. I\'m very grateful to everyone who has helped out.
I\'m wondering what more we could have done to make things go smoothly this year. It does somehow seem like we\'ve had things stacked against us.
Chris Wiltshire of Team NoHair
