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Got to disagree. Quite a lot of debris in the sump IMO, the reason it's in the sump and hasn't been captured by the oil filter is because it's probably too heavy for the oil to keep suspended, lots of little flecks of what are clearly alloy, most probably from the crankcases. Some are to be expected as small areas will be lost over time as flashing from the casting process dislodges. However I'd check the primary chain as the main reason for large amounts of alloy to show in the sump is because the chain is grinding it's way through the oil tunnel directly under the chain. As there is no tensioner fitted to the 500/550 when the chain starts to wear it droops, when it droops enough it starts to hit the oil tunnel, hence why at tickover a lot of 500/550 engines sound noisy. The small rubbers bits aren't excess gasket material, gaskets from that era are almost always made of paper, paper would be held in suspension so would be caught by the filter. It could be excess gasket glue, like Hylomar etc, however they look a little large for that. I suspect they are either damping rubber bits off the primary drive hub or bit's of the cam chain guide or tensioner slipper.The good news is that it's fairly simple to check the camchain tensioner without removing the head, if it requires renewal I'd advise changing the chain at the same time, again no need to remove the head or barrels, just pop the bottom case off and if your that far in then change the primary chain and damping rubbers at the same time.If the camchain guide is worn then you will need to remove the head, however in most cases the tensioner wears well before the guide gets trashed.
I was referring to the snobs of gasket goo interested sump; nothing to worry about. The particles of alloy are a different matter. It's more likely that the cam chain tensioner (the horseshoe part) is sticking causing the camchain to rub the sides of the camchain tunnel.
Not sure, I doubt that could be done but the suggestion is you take the bottom crankcase off, so you can lift the crank out (avec pistons etc) and put a new cam chain on. At the top end you would only be taking the rocker cover off.At least then you are not disturbing the head and barrels.Is this your new engine of the one that came with the bike?
You cant get the pistons out downwards through the crankcase but you can undo the rods,
#boohoo MrT. It's all coming apart You know it's for the best