Motorcycle Repair: rattling noise, honda magna, harmonic resonance

Question
I have an 86 VF700C magna. When I'm cruising around or sitting still while revving the engine, I sometimes hear a "rattling" sound coming from the engine, but I can never quite pinpoint the exact location. What could be causing this? It's driving me nuts.

Answer
Joe, that isn't real descriptive for troubleshooting purposes. Does it happen under load, at idle, at certain rpms, etc???? How many miles on the bike? Any crash damage? Any history of repairs or maintenance?

The V-4s had issues with camshafts which were loose in the heads, camchain tensioners which seized up and exhaust systems which can deteriorate and start harmonic resonance at certain rpm/load conditions.

http://www.v4honda.com/
http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~rblander/moto_long.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Magna
http://sabmag.org/

for more reference resources.

You need to isolate the general area of noise, under what conditions, including temperature of the engine and load conditions.

Bill Silver