Im wasnt worried about the cap fitting or not fitting. There was no info out there on either one so it was worth the gamble. Now people will know that they can be swapped which is a great benefit to all. I dont think you can use a 71 on a 73 bike however. Those little grab tabs may not be secure enough if the bike was meant for the longer ones.

I think i will order the carn gasket kit from Litetek. What im worried about is if any of the other parts need replacing. I can not find a single spare part for them, even a simple jet. Either way i won't know until i get her apart.

well the bike overheating issue is better but not completely solved. it no longer boils the coolant out the overflow but the bike still runs warmer than I would like.

I believe I still have a few issues left that can effect this. one is I'm pretty sure I need to adjust the valves but with time being so precious I don't see that getting done any time soon. I've tried a few shops but no one will touch it or they just give me an outrageous price. I will just put it off until I can around to doing it.
The other is my carbs need a rebuild and set up bad. They work OK now but they need it. They are very sensitive to temp changes and I know cylinders 1 and 2 are running very, very rich.
The carbs will probably be my next task. I need to get the gaskets from Thailand and basically prey I need nothing else. I'm not sure how hard it is to set up and balance these aisian carbs so I need to research before I make the situation worse.

Balancing the carbs (as long as they are rebuilt right), and doing the screw adjust valves is childs play for us 'pro' home mechanics.
If you get really stuck, I can possibly do for a crate of 'pro' German lager.

I might have to take you up on it. It would save me a ton of time if I had someone nearby that knew about these bikes. I'm all alone out here it seems.

foolishly I'm looking at picking up a second one but a gk73 variant as well. it seems those are slightly easier to find parts for and the knowledge is greater for repairs.

Like Mo says double check the pump is bleed properly as they hold air in the pump and then run hot.

Ive done that a few times and im fairly certain there are no air pockets in there. It might just be me at this point. It never, ever gets to H, even in central london traffic but it certainly gets toasty. I think at this point the cooling system is ok but other areas are effecting it mildly.

Variablevalves suck wrote:Like Mo says double check the pump is bleed properly as they hold air in the pump and then run hot.

I don't think I gave that valuable bit of advice , but yeah do that!.
You can check if the pump is circulating by checking the level in the thermo housing by snapping the throttle open.
A neat little trick I learned is to wet the radiator down with a hose when the bike is sweating. If the temp comes right down quickly, you know the pump is good, but the rad is for the bin..................

Ye, pump is a bit weird and can get air up at the top, it doesn't flow through the system but sits there and stops any flow.