Bonneville Won't Start

Not sure what we are supposed to be looking at but those mating faces on the castings need careful cleaning off with something like a box cutter blade. Don’t score the metal! It looks like you have done a bit and clean the debris out of the motor.

 

Wow, that side cover makes me cringe! You should NEVER hit a cast cover like that, or take a crate bar anywhere near one!

I’ve never taken the cover off my T100 but I have had to deal with this on my Yamaha XT500. The procedure is to remove all the screws, then tap the cover LIGHTLY at right-angles to the screws, parallel to the joint face, using a SMALL hide-faced mallet.

Work your way around the joint, tapping as you go.

If this doesn’t work, get a sharp knife, a Stanley knife or similar. Place the blade on the gasket edge and again, tap lightly with the small hide-faced mallet. Continue around the joint, to cut the gasket.

The cover will probably drop off during this operation. If not, repeat above stages.

This might take a while, but it is very effective sooner or later, and doesn’t risk damaging anything.

Clean the exposed joint faces by lightly scraping with a sharp blade. Finish by rubbing with a plastic scourer, if necessary.