Motorcycle Repair: 1979 Honda XL250s, victor reinz gasket, gasket paper

Question
I got this bike for a case of beer from a buddy..to find out the Cam chain broke..no big deal..But I am making my own Cylinder gasket from Victor Reinz gasket paper..anyways..I tapped around the pot base to stamp one out..Succeeded so I thought..I found that in the actual kit there is a cut out off of one of the bolt holes that looks like a little river or passage way cut out aswell..It comes off the oil delivery head bolt hole..only in the gasket though...The engine or the pot is solid in this area where the cut out is..What is this little cut out for?..Cause I have already made the gasket and put it in without the cut out..To be more clear the oil hole where the head bolt goes through has a rubber o-ring around the outside..ok..but its solid after that..so what is the cut out in the gasket for if the metal is solid?...Am I in trouble?..I have not started the bike yet..And this is my first time at the whole pot and piston thing...But the piston and cylinder were in great shape..So I ran a real quick hone through the cylinder and reinstalled the same piston and rings..I put it all together so far with BG assembly Lube..generously...Do engines seem to feel that the compression is low after I reassembled it and turned over by the crankshaft by via 17mm torque wrench? Or as it starts will it tighten up a bit when it breaks in?..Or did I just plain screw up...I am not a redneck..I am not cheap..But the bike is not worth dumping a whole load of money into..I just want to bomb around on it for a while..Do I proceed and put the cam chain and rocker box back together and see what happens..Or start again..?Thank you for letting me type this Essay question...

Answer
Andrew,

http://www.cmsnl.com/honda-xl250s-79-us_model7690/partslist/E++02.html   #2?

Honda doesn't put those kinds of channels in the gaskets for no reason. 760-244-2626 is the number for XRs-only, who might be able to give you specifics about the gasket channel. It looks like an oil passageway to me, so my inclination is that it needs to be there.

http://www.cmsnl.com/honda-xl250s-79-us_model7690/partslist/E++09.html shows a different year set of cases, but clearly shows the oil channel. It is possible that they have used one gasket to replace two styles.. with and without that oil channel on the cases.

Broken camchains usually results in bent valves = low compression when cranking. If you didn't time the camshaft properly, you get the same results or at least lowered compression if you miss it by a tooth. If you turned the motor over with no cam installed and a spark plug in place, it should have a pretty good compression feel. Did you check the end gap of the rings in the cylinder to see if the rings were worn??

Bill Silver