Brian aka Splat had the infinite kindness to come to my house today and he used a totally different type of sealant than the Threebond, his was translucid, I have to ask him what he used, but that was not where I had my issue that was with the adjustment of the valves so this time he did it and showed me, with the 1/3 of a turn out method.
Loosen up the 10mm nut, turn the flat screw in all the way, then back out 1/3 of a turn and tighten the 10mm nut. Exactly as I did before, following his advice, except that this time we had the piston at TDC on the compression stroke.
Basically, without this knowledge, you have 50% chances of screwing it up, and with my luck these days, I lost the toss.
With the valves adjusted properly, I now have a lot more compression than before and it has become harder to kick start the bike, but I guess that, with boots on and the proper application of strength, the bike will start a lot more easily.
We tow-started it (no comment, please) and after adjusting the idle and mixture screw, I rode the bike up and down my street. I could feel the effect of Dale's tuneup on top of well adjusted valves and I think it's really going to be one great bike to ride.
Oh, also the leak is now gone. The rocker cover job was not useless, it's just that the mechanic had no clue. It's like cooking, you can try with the best recipe, if you can't cook, it will be just good for the dog.
Conclusion: it's a learning curve and I am thankful I have a bunch of husa-friends to assist me.
Now to my second conclusion: I'm going to stick to computers and let mechanics do the mechanical work on my bike.
