Radiator / coolant system sucking air

[RedFalco]

Alright.... I'm feeling a whole lot better this evening.
"New" intake camshaft installed. Everything once again checked...rechecked....checked again... then checked. Was getting the butterflies like when I first drove it home. I almost did'nt want to fire her up. Couple of my clearances against the "new" camshaft where somewhat off from the original, but all within specs towards the max side of the scale.

She did start to smoke from the headers from what I could tell towards the end of this startup. I think its due to me painting them. Or it could of been from when I took the head cover off and some oil may have went down the front side trying to get that stubern $%#tch out of that tight space, the tops of the pipes had a few drops on em. I pulled the airbox off.... pulled back the rubber shield after this startup and inspected the engine 360 around the head and total engine.....no leaks, wet spots...etc. I did'nt want to keep it running too long as not to fill the garage up with the smoke. After it cooled somewhat, could'nt smell anything but that clean "new engine/bike smell".
I'll still need to burp the coolant system and go through that whole process. Tomarrow, when I can pull her out, I'll go through that whole orDeal.
I did rev it somewhat towards the end of the video, think the oil still needs to circulate or something, watch'ya think?
we'll see...... tomarrow..

Little closer.

 

[delbert]

shesssss a runner the smoking is quite normal after a rebuild

 

[RedFalco]

Thanks delbert for that confirmation. Was beginning to think something was going wrong. It emitted smoke for about a minute or so after shutting it down.

So the next day the garage smelled like burnt paint and fumes...lol (wife was'nt too happy when she went to work that morning)
Started it up after work this morning to finish up the coolant burping process, and about half way to reaching the cooling fan engagement, the engine changed its tone like a light switch. (quiter and smooth) The rpm's kicked up to about 2.5K, reduced the fast idle switch to half way and she's purring like a kitten. This video was taken 2 minutes or so after the 2nd startup reaching the cooling fan engagement. Lot less "chatter" can be heard and little to no smoke emitting from the areas in question.

I really haven't topped off the coolant at all from the very first fill. You would think there would be some type of air pocket in the system from the thermostat back into the engine. Beginning to think the thermostat is not opening.
Also, the oil. If was completely drained prior to rebuild, to include the cooler and all its lines going into the engine, would it not hold more than your average oil change (4.25quarts)? I've only initially filled the oil to the "FULL" mark on the sight glass and that took right at 4.25 quarts. Grant it, I did not remove the oil filter. After it fills the cooler and all the lines and pockets after the first couple start ups, does it not hold more? The oil level has not change either.

Any insight / reassurance is greatly appreciated.

Throttle body sync and idle adjustment next. After this I'm planning to stretch her legs (1/2 naked) for the first time in over a year. Do another once through and button her up. Kinda leary about taking her out with my front tire all scalped. Few mile easy stretch run and back.... should be okay.
lol... with my luck the front will blow, I'll get thrown off, bike will slide into a tree, get totalled out and off we go looking for a 2011 white GENII..

Would'nt be so bad if I walked away in one piece...lol

Apologies for the herky jerk video.. I'm paranoid and I'm inspecting all areas of the bike through out vid.

 

[RedFalco]

UPDATE:
Took RedFalcon out for a good "hard" run today. Did'nt want to adjust my throttle bodies and syncronize the throttle bodies just yet as it was such a beautiful day. I set the "fast idle" to 1150 and off I went.... So I yet to do this mandate.lol

Rode for about an hour. Temp needle never made it to the halft way mark. Good steady pulls above 4k that used to send my resivour level all the way to the top of the cap, now made it just below the Full line on the resivour tank. About 2 hours after shutdown, the level in the resivour tank went back down to Low mark. No bubbles emitting from the tank once so ever... All is good.


I'm deem'n the head gasket as the root cause of my issue.
Now that everything is confirmed, I decided to give her those wings back and finish dressing her up.


Appreciate all the advice and direction given on this project / fix. Could'nt of done it w/o the .org.
Ride safe and Peace Out.

 

[GIXERHP]

But i still see it in the garage!

 

[dadofthree]

Glad you got it.

 

[nabusa]

Great job, saved yourself some serious cash and learner a bit I see.