taking the cam out the side?

[fromtheside88]

My brother in-law bought an 01 ex and it came with some aftermarket parts that still have to be installed. One of the things that he got was a stage 1 hotcam, he was askin around about how to change it before he brought to my house to work on it, and he told me that people kept telling him to take the side cover off and take out the clutch and it would slide right out. Now i have changed about three cams now, and i can't even see how you would even attempt to take it out from the side, I always just take the head and cylinder off and of course the side case to get the chain out. Does anyone have a clue what he is talking about cause i honestly can't see anyway that you could get that cam out from the side? I am still going to change it the way i know how but i was just curious if anyone else has tried this.

[NacsMXer]

He was probably thinking of the cam chain, not the actual cam.

To change the chain, you remove the clutch cover, clutch, etc. The only way to remove the actual cam is by removing the valve cover on the top of the motor.

[Kentang4]

What he said about the valve cover. Once that is off you just unscrew the cam gear from the cam and it comes right out. One of the bearings has a seal on just one side, pay attention to which way it is facing (should be out if I recall correctly), the other doesn't have any seals. Also, on the left case there are two allen caps. The center one allows access the bolt which holds on the flywheel and allows you to turn the motor, the other is the view port for finding TDC. There are two marks, one is a line with a "F" for fire and the other is a line with a "T" for TDC. Make sure you install the cam with lobes down and then put the cam gear back on so that the lines on the gear are parallel to the surface the valve cover mounts on, there will be one in the 3 o'clock position and one in the 9 o'clock position. There is a third hash mark on the cam gear that will be at either 6 or 12 o'clock but I don't remember which off the top of my head. Perhaps someone else will chime in or you can just verify it when you disassemble. Good luck.

Kent

[fromtheside88]

Thats exactly what I thought but he swears up and down that all these guys are tellin him to take it out from the side. I rode with him the other day and we got into a lil arguement out in the woods about how the cam sits in the motor lol but that was all i needed to know guys thanks alot

[CJM]

Having just taken apart my topend: There is no way you can remove the cam without removing the valve cover..not possible.