"HOW TO" adjusting valve shims.

[Altruism111]

I know Marc  in the "How to" section explains how to adjust the valves but I found this on the web which really helped me in the understanding of exactly how it is done. Thought I would share the knowledge.

   

http://www.surenet.net/~verhey/Valve_adjustment/page1.html

(I know the link says its for Yamaha but its all the same principal.)

[gazingwa]

Found what... you posted no link

Edit:  Thanks... thats better

[Eklipse]

I just dropped mine off at the stealer to get that done. The valves were making noise.

[Altruism111]

As I have said before. "DAMN SHIMS"  :x

[raylarrabee]

the valve kits that are floating around (see sticky thread in General forum) has a CD-ROM with a great video tutorial that Kerry put together.

[Blueknyt]

yeah, but the yamaha tool wont work on suzuki, i know as i have a Yamaha XJ and the tool used. thats how i used my home made hook. turned cam compressing the valve, inserted the tool then rotated the cam back to give me room to replace the shim. i ground an 11/16 wrench to do the job.

[Kerry]

i ground an 11/16 wrench to do the job.

Then you're the man I want to talk to!  

What shape ended up working for you?  In the past I have guessed that, after finding the right-sized wrench, one would chop it off like this before shaping.  Is this necessary?  :dunno:  



Besides any cutting (or major grinding), what kind of "fine" grinding did you do?

Flatten the bottom and sides? Anything to the inside curve?

[Blueknyt]

its really close,  i used 11/16 as i had like 7 of them in my box.  the purple is what i cut and ground for fit. the red i kinda ground the center out of leaving edges to help hold the tool on the bucket better.

[marc]

What do you think about disassembling camshaft supports?

I do not have the tool, instead I disassemble camshaft supports and remove the shims easily.

Mechanical gurus: Do you think this is a good practice?
I do the valve job each 10.000Km.... and I needed a replacement
shim only once.

About the howto... I know that it only shows how to measure,
and does not cover the camshaft disassembly. I'n not sure
if it will be soon, but I need a camshaft chain replacement and
will make another howto.

Marc.

[nisus1]

i'm curious about the answer to Marc's question too...

[Altruism111]

Its not a good idea cause you can mess up the timing of the valves if you don't put the cams back in exactly how you took them out. Its really not worth messing up. I myself considered what you want to do. But I will wait for the kit. Much safer!

[cheesy]

I would worry about the chain coming off the crank gears at the bottom. you can zip tie the chain to the cam gears though

[Altruism111]

Hey that's a good idea. But we should encourage the proper way of doing it. Ever hear the saying "Use the right tool for the job" You could end up spending a lot more time doing it that way.

[Blueknyt]

ive done it both ways, other then the pain of keeping everything in time, you can messure everything out at one time, write it down, get the correct shims laid out, pop both cams change all the shims at once, replace and retorque the cam blocks, but those damn bolts are so easy to break i just rather use the tool.

[marc]

A 11/16 wrench is a 17mm one, isn't it?

[Kerry]

11/16" comes out to 17.4625mm

Given all of the grinding, anything from 16mm to 18mm would probably be an OK starting point.  (Just guessing.)