Update and final resolution
Spent almost all day (wed.) at the dealer. The first half of the day got off to a really bad start when the serv. mgr. DENIED that what we both saw was an exhaust sprocket out of time by one tooth. His position was that it may have been slightly off but this could be explained by a number of things, especially on an engine with 79k. Also since this is such a small degree off that any adjustment he made to the exhaust sprocket and chain would just get transferred over to the intake. In other words it's just slop in the system and thats just the way it is with this high a mileage engine.
Fortunately I had done my homework (thankyou teachers) and whipped out the pictures of Howies cam sprockets (one in-time, one out of time).
I said, " Are you going to stand there and tell me when we looked in the mirror at the exhaust cam sprocket that this I'SNT exactly what you saw" ? He said that it wasn't off nearly that much and anyway that when they rotated it back the other way the result was it was off just as much only in the other direction, and did I think they were so stupid they don't know what they're doing, did I have any experience as a mechanic, did I realize how insulting it was for the mech. to be told how to do his work from stuff on the internet, he's got alot of other work to get out so what do I want to do? He also intimated that he was going to have to charge me something for all this extra time they were spending on this. This was not going well but....
Fortunately I had done my homework (thankyou teachers) and knew exactly what the problem was and how to fix it. I told him I wasn't paying for anything and if he thought otherwise we'd need to go talk to higher-up NOW. I also told him I didn't agree with anything he has said so far and I don't want the bike back as it is, I want it FIXED. I had to repeat over and over about taking tension off chain, time exhaust cam first (easier if you transfer marks to inside of sprocket), get it PERFECT, zip tie it, now do the intake. Everything should line up nicely and if there were any of the other problems he was claiming they would show up here. Thats all you have to do, just line up the exhaust cam (you know, the one where you never checked the arrows). Thats it, just do that first. You know how to do the rest......over and over and over.
Finally mech. that had been working on the bike finished up what he'd been doing. The serv. mgr. walks over to him and tells him what I want done ( I couldn't hear), probably mentions the internet. At this point the mech. has a minor fit, raises his voice, throws something and proceeds to yell at the s.m. After letting him cool down a few minutes, the s.m. waves me over to explain my theory to the mech. The mech., after alot of head shaking with one of those smirky condescending mocking grins says " I don't tell you how to do your job, but you're going to stand there and tell me how to do mine"? I said I was only going to tell him the part about the cam timing since that seemed to be where the problem was. ( he really liked that) He finally said " f..k it , go ahead , tell me what you want done, ,, so I did.
Well, we all stood there while the mech. did his thing (hes actually very good) As he was attempting to time the ex. cam ( using those newly discovered arrows) I asked him if he thought it might be easier if he transferred the timing marks to the inside of the sprocket. (he really liked that too) but he did it. Now, I thought, I'm really getting his respect and he'll do as I say. Now he gets this done and its difficult to see the line-up on the ex. cam. The s.m. looks at it, the mech. looks at it and they both declare it's as close as it can get. They also declare it's exactly the same way it was when they started this whole thing so it was done right all along. ( meaning I was a candidate to pay for this fishing trip) Another mech. came over, looked at it and said things like this aren't always perfect and you just got to do the best you can with what you got. Everyone was in agreement that this was as good as it could be done. But........
Fortunately I had done my homework (thankyou teachers) so I whipped out my dental mirror, borrowed their flashlight, and inspected the timing arrows on the ex.cam. You know what?? They were exactly like they were originally. ONE TOOTH OFF ! I got the angle and the light just right, called the mech. over and said " Don't you think the arrow lines up with the next space down better than where it is now?? he gave kind of a nerveuos laugh and said "Yeah' I guess it does"
It took me all day Tuesd. and all day WED. to get to this simple place- a dead nuts on timed bike.
A special thanks out to RadioHowie and HaulinAshe who gave me the ammo. to get this done. Howie's pictorial etc. is a must read for anyone having valve/cam/chain work done and should be in the Bin-o-Facts. If I didn't have all this info. at my disposal , the dealer would have snowed me with all that noise and I'd never have known.
