Thanks for the tip! I will definitely keep that in mind.

 

I agree.

When you take it back apart, inspect everything thoroughly, any little flaw can cause a leak. A flaw can be a small gouge, a bur or old O ring material.

Another thing you can do is clean everything up then put a very light film of white grease on both surfaces (block and cylinder) then put the O ring in place and install the cylinder and apply pressure. Now remove cylinder and carefully remove O ring and inspect grease for contact pattern.

 

Yup. Stay clear of bandaids. Almost always have an unwanted side effect, some serious. Either leave it be or get to the bottom of the issue and eliminate it on the next round. Also, you were right to follow Cometic's torque procedure with their headgaskets.

 

Thanks to all and I WILL take your advice. I truly appreciate all the help from everyone and it has all be consistent which makes me believe you all know what you are talking about.

My oil pressure is still higher than it was before all of this happened a month ago when the leak first developed. Around 40psi instead of 32psi. I wonder if something is plugged up somewhere that I couldn't get to? I cleaned that top end and all the passages I could get to. Ran something through the passages, blew them out, carb cleaner, wiped with alcohol, ect. Every bolt was wire wheeled to get the previous loctite off of it so I could torque correctly.

Where else can I look for something that is blocked? I just changed to oil filter yesterday (another K&N) as an FYI. I don't know if it's when I did the seafoam/water trick a while ago or when I switched over to the DK breather bypass for my big sucker intake or if I got bad fuel. There is plenty of air pushing out of both sides of the heads but when you get on the throttle it starts sucking in air gently. I assume this is normal?

When picking up parts at Harley one of the head guys and old time builders just happened to be at the counter. He and I were talking and said he though my crank case venting got blocked which caused all of this so I really make sure I cleaned everything out as best I could. Don't know.

 

I agree with the "don't use an oversize o-ring" comment; it can break out the side of the case.

If the leak bothers you, just carry some carb cleaner on your trip and clean things up at the end of a day's ride. If the o-ring is not sealing, that would point me to the case surface and the bottom of the cylinder surface not being parallel. When you return from you trip, pull the cylinder and have .010" trimmed off the bottom to true up the bottom of the cylinder and use a .010" Cometic base gasket with an application of Permatex Copper Coat on both sides of the gasket; no oring required. I use .010" but check deck height and use that as a guide for the cut on the bottom of the cylinder to allow the use of a .010" base gasket to set deck height at 0.00". Good time to re-ring as well. You now know the drill and it won't take long at all to solve the problem.

Sounds like the bike is running good with no issues, so forget the base leak it's not life threatening. So don't sweat the small stuff and enjoy the trip.

 

Thanks. I've never had good luck with the cooper stuff as it never seems to set up. Would Yamabond be okay to use instead on the gasket surfaces as well as the bottom of the cylinder and case? That is what I was originally going to do along with the large o-ring but several people guarded me against that.

 

Yamabond or Threebond will also work; copper is just cleaner and less mess. Hang the gaskets up, spray a light coat, let dry and install. I have used Threebond with no base gasket with no issues.

 

Thanks.