[dennisplus]

So after having an extremely hard time finding a place to do my valve adjustment on my schedule and for a reasonable price I decided I'd tackle this myself. I went out and bought everything I needed and spent about $90 in tools (decided to buy NEW Craftsman feeler Gauges so I knew they were spot on). Went through the whole process which for my first time took about 8 hours all together. No one around my area "trades" out shims anymore so I found a place that sold them for $5 each and I needed all 16. If you've ever done a valve adjustment you'll be able to tell what's in the following pictures. My problem is after replacing the shims, all my EX clearances are still out of spec! What did I do wrong? Going to try this again this weekend but for now it's wayyyyyyyyy better then it was before lol. Thanks in advance...

 

[killing time]

I did mine for the first time this winter. the one this that I can say is to measure the shims that come out not just go by the number thats on them. Took me two trips to the part store to get it right and thank goodness that they would switch them out!! Maybe RIVERZZ will give us some inside info.

 

[PowerGroove]

I did mine for the first time this winter. the one this that I can say is to measure the shims that come out not just go by the number thats on them. Took me two trips to the part store to get it right and thank goodness that they would switch them out!! Maybe RIVERZZ will give us some inside info.

This....

Make sure you measure each shim you're taking out and doing the math from that value. Not from the number stamped into the shim.

 

[riverszzr]

Did you measure clearances in thousandths and the shims are in mm and the desired clearance in mm and didn't do the conversion.....


what shims were in each before and what shims did you put in them now? But the two sheets has a confusing look...

Because looking at your write up---it looks like you put the same sizes back in them


Just as an example........

lets take #1 exhaust-the outside one (left-as you sit on the bike)

it appears you measured .008" clearance which translates to .20mm

you were trying to achieve .275mm clearance?

so you needed a shim that would be .075mm thinner than the on you removed

it appears you pulled a 1.875mm out of there (stamped 188)

so it would stand to reason you should have installed a 1.80mm in there to achieve the desired clearance


of course you would still want to measure each shim as it comes out and each shim you put in to make sure of the dimensions....don't just blindly accept the number on the shim


Does this sound right and make sense?

 

[dennisplus]

Did you measure clearances in thousandths and the shims are in mm and the desired clearance in mm and didn't do the conversion.....


what shims were in each before and what shims did you put in them now? But the two sheets has a confusing look...

Because looking at your write up---it looks like you put the same sizes back in them


Just as an example........

lets take #1 exhaust-the outside one (left-as you sit on the bike)

it appears you measured .008" clearance which translates to .20mm

you were trying to achieve .275mm clearance?

so you needed a shim that would be .075mm thinner than the on you removed

it appears you pulled a 1.875mm out of there (stamped 188)

so it would stand to reason you should have installed a 1.80mm in there to achieve the desired clearance


of course you would still want to measure each shim as it comes out and each shim you put in to make sure of the dimensions....don't just blindly accept the number on the shim


Does this sound right and make sense?

I totally understand what you're saying...on that Cyl #1 EX Left shim...I put in a 1.60 in there....which is what the math said...obviously I could've gone much smaller since the clearance at the end wasn't anything close to .275...but why? Where is it that my math wrong?

 

[riverszzr]

So you had a 1.875 shim in that one and went to a 1.60 shim? and you came up with what for a final clearance number?

because that is a huge jump in sizing !!!!!!! you would have had to have had 0 clearance pre making that change,

1.875mm
1.60mm
----------
0.275mm and isn't that the clearance number you were trying to attain?

 

[riverszzr]

Typically............unless something is broken or about to break


if a bike comes in with say a 1.875mm shim and it is slightly tight, very rarely do I end up with a shim smaller than 1.80/1.81 or even a 1.825 to replace it


in terms of thousandths, since I think you have mixed them in your math....

going from a 1.875 shim to a 1.60 shim is the equivalent of adding .011" of clearance to that clearance number................thus why I ask if that one had zero clearance before? and if so-how would you measure 0 and know it is not partly open or even allot open


Believe me I have seen them hung open, it is a multiple step process then to get them to a desired spec, because first you need to get to a clearance you can measure

 

[riverszzr]

Lets try this another way........

still talking about that one exhaust valve only


shim that it had was 1.875
clearance you measured was .008" or .20mm
clearance you want is .275mm

1.875+.20-.275= 1.80....................1.80 is the new desired shim size


and looking at your top sheet....you installing that 1.60 and you now have some .022" of clearance, that fucker has rattle like a sombitch with them that loose.

 

[InkedZX6R]

I've been sitting here at work doing the math and it's clear there is metric and standard measurements mixed together. I'm going to have a drink now lol

 

[riverszzr]

Definitely do not ride it or run it like this, you are slapping the shit out of the bucket, cam lobe, and the shim and valve tip......

absolutely nothing good will come of this until it is fixed correctly


You did not do the conversion as I suspected......... .008" in your math when you needed to convert that to mm...... which is .20mm (roughly)

 

[riverszzr]

I've been sitting here at work doing the math and it's clear there is metric and standard measurements mixed together. I'm going to have a drink now lol

no shit! and I don't even drink

 

[dennisplus]

Lets try this another way........

still talking about that one exhaust valve only


shim that it had was 1.875
clearance you measured was .008" or .20mm
clearance you want is .275mm

1.875+.20-.275= 1.80....................1.80 is the new desired shim size


and looking at your top sheet....you installing that 1.60 and you now have some .022" of clearance, that fucker has rattle like a sombitch with them that loose.

Well see there...lol I guess that's what my problem must've been...I did:
1.875+.008-.275=1.608.....I didn't switch the .008 over to .20...but the OEM clearance is supposed to be between .24-.31....so I'm still under spec...

 

[dennisplus]

Definitely do not ride it or run it like this, you are slapping the shit out of the bucket, cam lobe, and the shim and valve tip......

absolutely nothing good will come of this until it is fixed correctly


You did not do the conversion as I suspected......... .008" in your math when you needed to convert that to mm...... which is .20mm (roughly)

I will have it towed home....

 

[InkedZX6R]

no shit! and I don't even drink

nor do I :dowhat

 

[riverszzr]

Well see there...lol I guess that's what my problem must've been...I did:
1.875+.008-.275=1.608.....I didn't switch the .008 over to .20...but the OEM clearance is supposed to be between .24-.31....so I'm still under spec...

OMG............

You are not under spec!!!!!!!!!!!

you are measuring in thousandths

you are reading the clearance spec in mm

huge fucking difference!!!!!!!!


just as an fyi the .022" you are measuring equates to about .56mm


see way fucking loose!!!!!!!!

 

[dennisplus]

OMG............

You are not under spec!!!!!!!!!!!

you are measuring in thousandths

you are reading the clearance spec in mm

huge fucking difference!!!!!!!!


just as an fyi the .022" you are measuring equates to about .56mm


see way fucking loose!!!!!!!!

Yeah I understand this now....I get it....I F'D UP.

 

[Mikezx6]

Rivers move to PA so I can pay you to do my valves... or even somewhere within a few hours.

 

[MotoCT]

When I did mine recently I immediately converted all the metric garbage to standard and was working in .0001". Divide all of those metric numbers by 25.4. Example 1.6mm shim ÷ 25.4=.0629. Then hopefully you have a quality micrometer to measure the shims since the valve clearances are such tight tolerances. Which brings me to saying that I used some hot cams shims because that's what the dealer had and they're not too accurate as it is, and they also only came in .50mm increments which is too big of a gap when you're dealing with these tolerances. That's why the kawasaki oem shims come in .25mm increments.

 

[dennisplus]

What sucks the worst is I rode it 60 miles to school this morning...any 09-12 engines available? lol...

 

[lockey99]

I work and switch between the two every day (aerospace grinder)....simple conversion

Metric (mm) to imperial (") divide by 25.4
Imperial (") to metric (mm) times by 25.4

Simples

Sorry just seen this was covered above