Don’t know where you got the idea that you need to mess around with the decompression levers when you take off the rocker cover. It is held on by 2 large nuts on top of the cover. Take the nuts off, then simply
lift the rocker cover off the
head. The decompression levers are attached to the cover and come with it. When you put the cover back on, make sure that the cover
gasket is in the right place and not sticking out between the cover and the
head. Easy!