Organizing your valve adjustment

[Guest Swifty]

...or "you-should-do-the-things-your-mother-told-you-do"

During the last meet and eat I attended my "mother" gave me a valve adjustment tool along with a bag of pads; "mother" told me to make sure I recorded everything to keep the whole process very organized. So I decided to make up this little table in MS Excel (no formulae, just a table). You can print it out and have a handy sheet to record all your values. I've found it very helpful; thanks for your advice, "Mother". This should be useful whether you own a first or a second generation Venture....IF you want to do what Mother says you should do.

[pegscraper]

Is this the valve shim pack that gets passed around when someone needs to adjust their valve clearances? I would like to get ahold of it, but I'm not in a great hurry at the moment.

[mother]

glad it worked out for you Swifty.

 

how many did you have to do? i really only needed to do about 5, but was being real fussy and brought a few more to the middle of the specs. all the rest were still dialed in.

 

thanks for the chart Swifty, i know other members will find it useful when the time comes..

 

Lynn, this is not the loaner kit that we have seen in previous posts, but it has so far travelled quite a bit around Ontario, Canada. it has not made it to the U.S. yet! let me know when you need to borrow it, and i will send it your way.

the loaner kit has a full assortment of shims, my mini kit has 16 shims (assorted sizes) take a shim and drop your old one back in. the shim removal tool is in the bag also.

 

cheers, Scott

[scotty]

I have 7 shims left over from this winters adjustment if someone can let me know where to send them.

I had to build my own high tec precision tool to hold the bucket down.

Nice spread sheet!

[mother]

hey Scotty

 

i give you credit for improvising, hey if it worked, excellent.

 

i have the Yami tool that pushes down on two buckets at a time.

 

next time drop me a line and i will send it your way if you want.

 

if you want to send the extra shims my way, great, i will add them to my mini kit.

 

Cheers, Scott

[Snaggletooth]

Now that is excellent timing. I'm getting ready to install the heads I had worked on over the winter. That little table will be a big help.

 

 

Thanks

[scotty]

PM me with your address and I will mail them to you.

Thanks Scotty

 

 

 

hey Scotty

 

i give you credit for improvising, hey if it worked, excellent.

 

i have the Yami tool that pushes down on two buckets at a time.

 

next time drop me a line and i will send it your way if you want.

 

if you want to send the extra shims my way, great, i will add them to my mini kit.

 

Cheers, Scott

[Dano]

I found in the "travel kit" that has been passed around, the most common pads needed were 270's and real close to that. Of course, they had already been used up, but if you are REALLY out of spec, should be no problem. It seems that most of my factory pads were in the 280 range, and I needed to "loosen" it up a bit, so I needed the thinner shims.

 

But they're really good to have as poker chips!

 

Dan

[Guest Swifty]

how many did you have to do? i really only needed to do about 5,

5 also

[RedRider]

OK, stupid questions time.

 

How often do you need to check the valve clearance? Is there a symptom the engine displays when this is needed?

 

I have 60k+ miles on the bike and have never looked at the valves.

 

RR

[Squeeze]

Yammi says to check Valve Clearance every 26ooo mls. But when the first Service is done, imho, your good to go for at least 30ooo mls between checks.

 

The real Problem is, the Clearance will get tighter over time and wear nor bigger. Therefore the first bad Sound you will hear from your Engine is when the Ex-Valve is burned away.

 

We have had held a Valve Day End of November, there were 4 Maxxes lined up and we got them done in 11 Hours. We had a real Problem at one Bike, because the Tool wouldn't allow us to undo the Shim. In other Words, the Clearance was much to tight and were almost facing pulling out the Cam. The very last Micrometer of Elevation on the Tools saved our Day.

 

Experience says, if they were done two Times and each Service in Time, you won't need to change any Shims, just checking the Clearance.

[BradT]

OK, stupid questions time.

 

How often do you need to check the valve clearance? Is there a symptom the engine displays when this is needed?

 

I have 60k+ miles on the bike and have never looked at the valves.

 

RR

 

Normally at 50-60k you will not need to do anything or they will be on the edge of replacement, but when the miles get up there you most likely will have to change the shims

 

Brad

[BuddyRich]

Hey Lynn, The kit is back home with me for now as there have been no more requests for it in the last couple of weeks. Let me know when you need it and I'll get it out to you.

 

Scott, You can send me the shims and I'll add them to the kit. PM when your ready to dump them and I'll send you my address.

[pegscraper]

Really. The valve seat wear will outpace any wear on the shim or cam lobe? So when setting valve clearances, that means we ought to shoot for the wide side of the range rather than the small side. Correct?

 

 

The real Problem is, the Clearance will get tighter over time and wear nor bigger. Therefore the first bad Sound you will hear from your Engine is when the Ex-Valve is burned away.

[Squeeze]

Really. The valve seat wear will outpace any wear on the shim or cam lobe? So when setting valve clearances, that means we ought to shoot for the wide side of the range rather than the small side. Correct?

 

 

Yes. It's Kind of the "bad" Side power wise, but the Clearances will tighten over Time and you just doesn't want to repeat THAT Job every 10 000 mls.

[jasonm.]

I have only needed 2 shims in 70k. First one was a ticking at 20k. Found just the one shim out,...I did check them all. Then 35k another tick once in a while, I checked again. Oh, another one a bit loose. Then 62k, checked them before a big trip . Same one loose last time got tight. So, in reality only 2 non-original shims in mine. The valve train in these is very durable.

[scotty]

Scott, You can send me the shims and I'll add them to the kit. PM when your ready to dump them and I'll send you my address.

 

You are too late as I have already mailed them to mother. I am currently a shimless character.

I noticed on mine that the front two cylinders required more adjustment than the rear two. #3 only needed adjustment to 1 valve where as #2 and #4 were all tight. Anybody else have this?

Scotty

[TIMEtoRIDE]

I know I'm posting on an older thread. . .

Do you guys know if you pull the shim with a magnet, you magnetize the shim?

Then tiny iron particles stick to the surface, grinding away the cam??

Then with your shim sharing program, you are putting your magnetized shim in your friend's motor?

 

Apologies if this has been covered, or if I sound "anal".

[mother]

i use a little screwdriver to loosen the shim as it is in place with oil in the bucket. kinda like a cork in a bottle. then i or move it up slightly out of the bucket, and then i use a little pencil tip magnet to remove the shim. my shims did not get magnetized from the use of the small pencil magnet.

i will take one of my duplicate spares and see if i can magnatize it just out of curiousity and report back.

 

cheers, Scott

[RandyR]

This is a good thread to bring back to the top for those members on another active thread who are claiming valve adjustment never needs doing.

 

And thanks for the valve adjustment spreadsheet Swifty....

 

Question. Were you able to reuse the valve cover gaskets, or did you really need new ones?

 

Use of gasket cement / Permatex ?

Edited August 20, 2009 by RandyR

[Guest Swifty]

This is a good thread to bring back to the top for those members on another active thread who are claiming valve adjustment never needs doing.

 

And thanks for the valve adjustment spreadsheet Swifty....

 

Question. Were you able to reuse the valve cover gaskets, or did you really need new ones?

 

Use of gasket cement / Permatex ?

 

I used new ones, probably could've used old ones, weren't leaking, no gasket cement or permatex needed, just a little silicon to hold them in place while slipping them in.

[RandyR]

I used new ones, probably could've used old ones, weren't leaking, no gasket cement or permatex needed, just a little silicon to hold them in place while slipping them in.

 

thx. It looked like it -might- be ok to reuse the old gasket, seeing how heavy it is and the low torque used with the valve covers. Probably a good idea to have a new one on-hand, just in case though.

[TIMEtoRIDE]

I've been sticking magnets to my filters, or inside filter housings for 15 years.

These very tiny iron filings will pass thru a filter, and can get by the "bypass" on a cold start, when oil pressure is high, and the filter isn't flowing well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamaha-FZR600-1000-XJ-XS-600-YZF750-1000-XV-Oil-Mag_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem1e57635e72QQitemZ130315148914QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

These video's will show how small the particles are. Use magnets !! (you don't have to buy this one)