I am having a difficult time finding out what length bolt goes in what hole on the clutch cover. I remember seeing a picture somewhere that showed, "Long bolt goes here, Short bolt goes here", but after searching this site for a half hour, I can't find it. The Manual doesn't show what bolt goes where either. I took the cover off to replace it, because the P.O. busted a nice hole in the side of it. He also broke one of the bolts off inside the engine, so I just can't go off of what the previous owner had in what hole. I have everything painted and ready to be installed with new stainless allen head bolts. Just need to know what bolts go in what hole.

 

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That's the picture! Dude, you rock. Thanks!

 

Another way that almost always works is to just set each one in a hole. Then move them around until they all stick out about the same length. Usually they are within a couple mm's.

 

You totally lost me there.

Whenever I pull something apart like this cover, I usually draw a picture on a piece of cardboard and poke the bolts through the spot that they are supposed to go. Actually, I took a picture of my alternator cover and inadvertently got just that in the picture below.



Now, here's something that is bothering me. I took the bolts out of the busted clutch cover that the P.O. had apparently installed. I out of habit, removed each bolt and poked them through the cardboard picture. Now, going off of the picture from the link provided above, the P.O. really screwed up where the long bolts were supposed to go. Could there be some spots where the P.O. drove the long bolts into where the short bolts were supposed to go and did some damage? Could he have torqued the bolt down and maybe drove the end of the bolt into a spot that it wasn't supposed to be in? Could there be any damage done to my engine from this nimrod? The engine was running when I bought it. It has good compression. I'm worried that something might be cracked or maybe he punched the end of the bolt into a coolant passage or something.

 

The DPO could have done many things. Unfortunately, DPO's exist and most of the time we know them as "hobbyist" or "tinkerers". Usually a friend who doesnt have a clue about jack **** will let you know that this guy is pretty handy with the tools. To bad...

 

He just means that if you were to take all the bolts and push them in the holes until the threads interfere and they stop; they will stick out a certain length. The ones that are in the incorrect hole will sick out too far or too short, and you mix and match until they are all about even.

 

The only possible damage I could see is if too short of a bolt was used in a givin location, and then torqued with only a few threads fastening it. That could result in mangled threads. Too long of a bolt would just stop. It would take some serious torque to punch thought the other side of anything. And even then, I think these fairly small bolts would just snap off before that.

 

Luckily, no threads were stripped out. But it is funny that you mention a snapped bolt, because that is exactly what the P.O. left me with! One bolt snapped off inside the engine case that was for keeping the clutch cover on. In another thread, I tried to get that bolt out with craptacular results. I broke off an EZ-Out trying to get that bolt out. With some elbow grease and special drill bits, I was able to drill out the EZ-Out and re-tap the hole.

The cover is on and the correct bolts are in the correct holes. Thanks guys!

 

My PO was a POS too... helps you learn more though. Drawing on the cardboard and putting the bolts in is a good idea- I'll have to use that in the future

 

Crux, it sounds like you achieved a 'zen-moto' moment there. Have you read Pirsig's book yet? You may be a candidate for readership. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". Not a book about wrenching, or religion, rather a book about attitude and personal philosophy. Used bookstores, paperback for about a dollar. Grins, later.

 

Never heard of that book. I will buy it this weekend and give it a read, thanks.