Broken bolt? Hard starting...

[chandlerbingfl]

Well over the last few weeks my GZ has been hard to start, especially first time of the day. When hot or at least warm, it starts much easier. I had my mechanic look at the bike and he found that one of the "head bolts/studs" has either been rusted and can't be tightened or is broken. He suspects that the gasket is causing the starting issue because of lack of pressure. When I do ride the bike feels pretty much normal engine wise but top end in 5th is lacking. Maybe it's the 50 pounds I've put on lol....

After listening to my mech and doing some research on my own, I figure that in order to replace the gasket and remove/replace the bad bolt/stud, a tear down is needed...

I'm just looking for some advice from others that may have done this. My mech says might be a $600-$800 job to replace stud/bolt and gasket.

Any possibility this could be a carb issue? The only reason I'm ruling out the carb is the way the bike runs while riding...

Thoughts? Opinions?

Thanks in advance!
chandlerbingfl