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Leaky valve seats is one thing you can lap in very easily by your self and lapping sticks are cheap (basically just a piece of wood with a suction cup on the end) or you use Puc,s suggestion and using another valve. I just find the lapping stick easier. Make sure you get one were the diameter of the suction cup flattened out is less than the dia. of the valve but not too much smaller Hand lapping does not remove too much material and less than a valve grinder does so you should be pretty safe. Keep the cup and valve surface dry and clean so the cup maintains a good hold and use the lapping compound sparingly. The only compound that does the work is that remaining on the mating surfaces. the surplus just makes a mess and harder for the cup to stay stuck to the valve. You still however want to make sure there are no cracks in the head. Aluminum heads crack easily if the engine was ever severally overheated so it would be my recommendation to have them properly tested. If you prefer to cut corners stay as much on the cheap as you can than at the very least remove all valves (number them so they go back in the same hole or stick them through a length of card board matching their position with the position on the head from were they came). Clean the head thoroughlyd then turn the head upside down and fill the water jackets with gas or diesel fuel Try not to dribble any on the head outside the water jackets you want to keep the rest of the head clean and dry. Then let sit over night and check for traces of fuel that may indicate a crack. I prefer diesel fuel to gas because it leaves a more visible trace than gas due to it not evaporating so rapidly and it is still thin enough to leak through any cracks. You can also lightly dust the head with talcum powder after leaving it sit and then gently blow it away. The dry powder will clear out but any wet powder will stick indicating a leak.

Thank you all Veterans for all that you have done and continue to do. Welcome home!

yes a great n heart felt THANKS to all the veterans and there families for all that they do and have done , so that all of us can enjoy the freedom's we enjoy!🤗

We had something similar on the old site. I've added "Unanswered Topics" in the menu under the "Browse" tab. I think that this is an important feature. Especially as we try to welcome new members into our family. I know that it can be disheartening when you join a site, ask a question, and feel that you are ignored. It is not usually the case but feels that way to the new member. It's just easy to overlook questions, especially if they are asked in a from that is not often visited. So please, from time to time, take a look at the "Unanswered Topic" page and lend a hand when you can. There are a lot of OLD posts there now but the new ones will be at the top as we go.

I am probably way out of line speaking for @Popsnana19655 on this @Marcarl but for many many years us back yard, make em run sometimes gearheads operating within a tight budget would tip a head over to check its valves and do so by dumping raw gas into the combustion chamber around the valves and see if it would leak past the valve faces. That test this old wannabe gearhead has used many times actually served me pretty good in a tight spot in the past.. If I am correct in my minds eye about that is what Pops was referring to and you do decide you wanna try it sometime, it is advisable to leave the plug in the head when you do cause otherwise your foot will get wet with gas and Marca wont let you back in the house cause you will smell funny. Right there with @Patch Pops but I just thought I would pass this along in case your budget doesnt allow for spending right now,, hey brother,, has happened to me more than once. I would take the time to pull the valves, check and see if its just surface crud causing them to not seat - should be easy enough to do. Maybe use a black sharpie permenant marker on their faces, tiny dab of valve lapping compound on em or just spin em back and forth on their seats and see if they scrape even all the way around or are bent. If bent your into valve $ cause I doubt you can straighten em. I had a valve go open on a Honda 350 on a cross country trip once and ended up having to lap it in to get er to run again so I could get home on it.. What I did under that challenging time was pulled the valves, cleaned up their faces, glued the valves together (exhaust to intake, face to face) with super glue then I used the stem of the valve that was not in the guide to attach an old hand drill onto. A small dab of valve lapping compound (I actually used grind dust out of a bench grinder mixed with grease - dont laugh,, it worked pretty good LOL) on the valve face that I was seating, using the forward and reverse on the little drill and carefully touching the valve seat face with the valve face and they seated right in pretty good. Now,, all that said, I warn you that some valves (and I would not be surprised that this includes OEM Yam valves) are coated and once you cut thru that coating - the valves dont last. These arent Briggs and Stratton valves brother.. I use to have a granite surface plate at the shop for doing precision work on like checking heads for warpage with feeler gauges, dial indicators and good precision straight edges BUT before that time I used a sheet of thick glass on a couple two by sixes to work with for years. You might try doing that, lay a piece of 220 grit sand paper over the glass, put the head down face first on the paper and work it in a circle lightly, lift the head up after a few circles and see what the surface looks like. You can do the same thing with a good flat file with 220 wrapped on it and holding one end of it against the face and pivoting it across the face of the head but you gotta be extra careful doing that to keep even pressure on the file. My first guess, and take this from one who knows nothin about nothin, is that if you have warpage it will be the head. The cylinders are intregal of the block as far as I know which should give the pots some rigidity and a little more resistance to warp BUT,, I would still take the 220 covered flat file and run it over the deck to check for highspots anyway. I have no idea if Mom Yam makes a complete top end gasket kit for these bikes but aftermarkets like Cometic might. Some of those after markets used to come complete with valve stem seals. If it were me I would probably spring for seals even if I could not get em in a kit. If your not gonna spring the bucks for new rubber up on the cam cover,, you know,, that one with the little moons on it,, I would clean it all up really really well with carb cleaner to remove oil residue and use YamaBond 4 on the old rubber. I used YamaBond 5 exclusively to successfully patch up my torn/holed diaphrams on my 1st Gens for years (new ones were wayyyyy to costly for my liking - I could actually replace my bike x2 for the costs that Yam wanted just for diaphrams ). Then I found this product called E-6000 (I will see if I can find you a video of that amazing product) that actually lasts longer then YamaBond 5 on the diaphrams BUT - I dont think I would use it in an area that I might want to go back in and have to remove the stuff,, it is that potent. Ok,, so right about now you gotta be saying to yourself,, Puc is nuts.. Maybe so BUT,, in a pinch,, the above might work LOL Puc