I currently have my exhaust off to do a cam swap. This would be the time to consider relieving the bottom of the transmission outer side cover to facilitate re&re of the side cover without having to loosen or remove exhaust. For those who have done this, my questions are:

Would you recommend that it be relived the smallest amount so that it would clear the pipe, but the heat shield would still have to be removed?

Or,,, would you recommend relieving it even further so that the heat shield would not have to be removed? I would prefer this route, but I would like this mod to be semi-discrete. I'm not sure how obvious (or ugly) this would be vs relieving it the lesser amount.

If you have pictures (either way) handy. it would be appreciated.
Thanks, Steve

 

I haven't heard that guys were doing this. Removing exhaust is annoying but not that big of a deal in my mind. (I haven't pulled the exhaust from any model M8 as of yet, maybe it's somehow much tougher than a twin cam...?...). In any event, opening up the transmission is hopefully an extremely rare thing to do, like once in 100k miles or so, maybe longer. I don't plan to remove any material from my transmission cover, but will watch this post for interest.

 

I did, went all the way. You can't see it at all unless you lay on the ground.

 

I wish... if I only had to do it once in 100K miles, I wouldn't worry about it either. But... a hydraulic clutch has to be flushed/bled every two years. I have no idea how much different it would be on older bikes, but I found this one was a PITA. Besides, I'd like less where and tear on the gaskets, flange studs etc.

 

Well that's good news... maybe. When I unbolted my cover with the exhaust in place, it hung up on the knobby protrusions that you didn't remove ((in your pic). Do you have an M8, or twin cam?

 

M8, stock header.

 

I wasn't aware of the hydraulic clutch maintenance requirement. That helps explain the interest in doing this. Looks like my daily learning requirement has been met early in the day.

 

Yeah the clutch fluid needs to be serviced just like the brakes.Never owned a hydraulic clutch HD till I got this M8. The service manual says that the fluid in the reservoir will actually rise as the clutch wears.Bought a fluid tester off fleabay and tested all my vehicles brake fluid. 4 out of 6 were in the caution zone for moisture content. Spent a day flushing/ replacing fluid and none of them hit the 2 year mark between changes yet. Ya never know.

 

Thank you Sir! That is good news then. Maybe I didn't hold my tongue out the right way. I'll relive it as you did, and give it another shot.

 

Yeah, it's nice to get that learning thing over and done with early.