I've been hearing a squeak off and on around 3000 rpm since I got the bike. I finally decided to locate it with the old tube to the ear trick.
My conclusion is that the noise is coming from the back left corner of the front jug where the head bolts to the cylinder.
Blown head gasket? loose head bolt?
Not sure what I need to do here.
Any suggestions?

 

Could be both.....you need to get it running at 3K rpm and hold a cigarette paper in some tweezers and move it around the jugs by the head gasket and see if it blows the paper...you can usually see a blown gasket because it leaves what looks like gunshot residue on the fins.

 

Dang Spanners, where do you come up with this good stuff???
I don't smoke, but I drink, so i'll pick up some papers next time i'm at the liquor store.
I did look for residue around the head gasket area but looks clean. Shoved a rag in between the fins and not much on it.
Am I askin for trouble if I check the head bolt torque?
Thanks.

 

Ok, after looking up the torque specs in the service manual I see there isn't a final torque value. Just the 1/4 turn then your done deal.
Guess I can't really check the torque.

 

Well, the heads are angle-torqued if using a stock head gasket so its difficult to check but if you set a torque wrench to 42ft/lbs then any bolt that turned before it clicked would be suspect and you'd be wanting to pull the heads.

However, the chirping would show up with the paper test....the other cause of chirping can be exhaust gaskets or exhaust heat shields.

I wouldn't go fiddling with the head torque just yet.

 

I'll do the paper test first. If it pass's that I might just pull all the heat shields for a short run just to eliminate that. I've suspected them because they look really close in some areas.
I guess I can do the paper test around the exhaust flanges also.
Thanks.

 

The heat shield brackets, the ones that the hose clamps go through, are prone to cracking, so give them a thorough examination.

 

Removed all the heat shields and found that the noise is amplified by the shields. I plan to put them on one at a time in hopes to find which one is the amplifier.
It passed the paper test. Couldn't get any movement around the head gaskets or the exhaust pipe joints.
I think I'll do a leak down test just to be sure on the cylinders.
So the search continues.

Plan on getting loader pipes at the swap meet next weekend, maybe that will fix it.