Valves adjusted, now it's ticking

[jake42]

So I finally fired my bike back up after tinkering and adjusting the valves this week after waiting for my new oil pan to come it.  The left exhaust valve was really tight, so I ended up dropping the shim size from 2.62 down to 2.55.  Well I had it fired up and was puttering up and down the street today and I can hear what I think is the left exhaust valve.  It sounds like ticka ticka ticka ticka.  Not all the time, but it's definitely there now.  I'm wondering if that's normal valve chatter and I just didn't hear it before because that valve was so tight?

any suggestions.

jake

[The Buddha]

2.62 to 2.55 is a big drop... You didn't happen to put a shim in, measuer, decide it was tight,and then put another in and that is the 255... if so your previous reading would have oil float...might want to check it again, and if its too loose get a thicker one in...
Cool.
Srinath.

[scratch]

I always measure the valve clearance on all my valves, after I do an adjustment to any of them, by turning over the motor by hand a few times and remeasuring.

[The Buddha]

That's funny...I never do... OK only if I could not get a measurement at all... as in no feeler guage fits and bucket doesn't spin...maybe then... but even then I'll drop 1 size and measure,and if it measures toolow or even if I cant get in a feeler guage, I'llmake sure bucket isn't bearing on the cam and leave itfor a ride.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Kerry]

2.62 to 2.55 IS a large-ish drop, but 2.62 to 2.60 ISN'T.  As I recall there was no clearance at all on that valve, so you needed to go down to 2.59 at most, right?  I think you're as close as you can get for now.

[jake42]

well after i went down to 255 i got a clearance in the .05-.06 range. I wish I knew how to link to my other post so other people could see what I had.  I'm wondering if I can take it for a ride and maybe it'll seat okay.  If not I guess I could try and go back to a 260, (crap which I just sent back to you kerry).  Will that ticking kill me or will it be okay for a couple rides?

and if anyone knows how to link posts i'd appreciate it.

jake

[Kerry]

Will that ticking kill me or will it be okay for a couple rides?

It will be OK for a couple of rides -- probably even many hundreds of miles.  You'll certainly have enough time for me to send a 260 shim back to you.

and if anyone knows how to link posts i'd appreciate it.

From the topic list in the appropriate forum, click on the title of the desired thread (and NOT on the Utah-shaped "show latest messages" icon).  Once the thread is displayed, copy the URL with Ctrl-C.

In your new post, you can either paste the URL directly into your message like this:

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11978[/list:u]or surround it with tags and supply a useful phrase (the actual thread title comes to mind) like this:

Code Select Expand

[url=http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11978]Valve check question[/url]
which will appear like this:

Valve check question[/list:u]

[jake42]

thanks kerry,

So I can ride it even with the ticking?  Here's what I was thinking on my just finished 1o mile test ride.  

I could probably put the 262 i have in the left intake. If you remember I dropped it from 265 to 260 and then I could take that 260 and put in the left exhaust .  Then I could check to see if the buckets still rotated and recheck clearances for like the 10th tiime.  The ticking is pretty audible.  I just don't wanna bend a valve or ruin my cam lobes or anything.  

Here's a another question.  Without the valve shim tool, do you think if I loosing the bolts around the cam shaft I coiuld get enough play to compress the bucket witht he edge of a wrench or something so I can get those shims back out?  

Jake

[Kerry]

So I can ride it even with the ticking?

People do it all the time!  

Without the valve shim tool, do you think if I loosing the bolts around the cam shaft I coiuld get enough play to compress the bucket witht he edge of a wrench or something so I can get those shims back out?

Your shim-swapping plan sounds good.

RE: the actual swapping process, I just rediscovered an old post by Bob Broussard which should help a lot.  I wish _I_ had thought of that procedure!

[Rema1000]

well after i went down to 255 i got a clearance in the .05-.06 range.

With 0.05-0.06 using a 255, you should get 0.00 - 0.01 clearance using a 260.    That doesn't seem like enough, and if the measurement looks good now, then I'd leave well-enough alone, ticking sound or not.

Although, now that you mention it, 0.05mm clearance with a 255 shim should also mean that you had negative 0.02mm to negative 0.01mm clearance using your old 262 shim, which would imply that your cam lobes were scoring... but it sounds like they were not (?).   It may be possible that your measurement is flawed, and is underestimating the true amount of clearance by 0.01-0.02mm?  If that were the case, a 260 shim would produce 0.01mm - 0.03mm of real clearance, which sounds tight to me, but may still be feasible, and may not produce the undesirable valve sounds you're hearing.

Maybe someone can comment on possible dangers of too large a valve clearance, but in a toss-up, I'd lean towards too loose and ticking, rather than borderline too tight.

[jake42]

rema,

i'm going to try swapping my 260 into the left exhaust and remeasuring it.  I'll check and see if the shim bucket will rotate with the 260 in place.  That seems to be the rule of thumb about whether they are too tight.or not.  

Jake

[Rema1000]

Yep, I have one valve that is too tight for my 0.03781mm feeler gauge, but the bucket still turns fine, so I'm leaving it be.  But that's mostly because I'm lazy and swore-off any unnecessary wrenching until the snow flies.

[lissard]

Related question regarding swapping used shims. Is this OK to do? I know they are supposed to rotate in the bucket and not wear unevenly, but from my car experience, putting used valvetrain components in locations other than where they originally came out or mixing new and old components is asking for trouble. This will usually wipe out the cam or worse provide an "opportunity" to rebuild the whole motor.

[jake42]

swapped some shims today. ticking noise is now gone.  took out the 255 in the left exhaustand put in the 260 instead.  Couldn't get my .04  under the 260, but the bucket spun freely so i'm not gonna fret it too bad.  I can get an odd size shim over the winter and worry about it then.

Jake