A couple of weeks ago, I used my new Harbour Freight bike lift to drop the engine out of my Dream. I had previously removed the upper rear bolts and replaced them with temporary bolts (as I had to destroy the original bolts to remove them); the lower rear bolts turned out to be missing, and the two bolts through the head came loose very easily.
For some reason I couldn’t figure out just then, the wires from the condenser (part of the ignition system, screwed to the top of the head) were taped to the rest of the wiring harness; rather than deal with the tape, I just unscrewed the condenser and left it with the frame.
With the engine off, I was able to remove the top cover from the head without difficulty. To my untrained eye, the cam chain looks pretty good… too bad I’ll have to break it to get the head off, if I can’t find the master link somewhere accessible.
I put the top back on, finger tight, then removed the carb. It looks really good in the float bowl; apparently, the former owner drained it when he put it away. The slide works well enough also, but I have not yet figured out how to remove the top to inspect it further. Time for some research.
One bit of good news: A friend has told me he can remove the broken stub of the steering damper knob from my Dream’s steering stem, and restore the proper thread. I was worried I’d have to buy a replacement, but maybe not.