More valve clearances

[4strings]

Hi all,

I checked the clearances at the beginning of this week and switched the shims around.  I got the right gaps except for one exhaust that was in the .10 area.  I was waiting on a new, smaller set of feeler gauges I ordered to arrive before buttoning her all back up.  The new gauges still aren't here yet but I went to go check again.  I made sure to manually crank the motor a bunch of times.  Now three gaps are a little tight for the .038mm and the fourth won't even let it through.   

I'm not sure what to do now.  I very clearly and carefully wrote down every step of the operation and I just don't know how all of the gaps could shrink like that. I know its the end of a week after three midterms but I didn't think I was that  .  Ideas? Help!

[tt_four]

Are you sure you had the crankshaft in the same position the whole way around? If the tip on the crankshaft wasn't in the same spot it would give you a different measurement. It tells you in the service manual what position the engine should be in when you check it. You would think that they should all just be pointing away from the shim, but that's not the case.

[4strings]

Thanks, I'll check that

[burning1]

Are you sure you had the crankshaft in the same position the whole way around? If the tip on the crankshaft wasn't in the same spot it would give you a different measurement. It tells you in the service manual what position the engine should be in when you check it. You would think that they should all just be pointing away from the shim, but that's not the case.

It's not really rocket science... So long as the camshaft is pointing away from the valve, the clearance should be measurable.

[burning1]

I'm not sure what to do now.  I very clearly and carefully wrote down every step of the operation and I just don't know how all of the gaps could shrink like that. I know its the end of a week after three midterms but I didn't think I was that  .  Ideas? Help!

Possible that the shims aren't properly seated after swapping them? I'd suggest rolling the crankshaft through several full rotations, before checking the valves again.

[the mole]

I don't have a solution for you except to say that when it comes to valve clearance too loose means a little more noise and maybe wear, too tight means burnt valves, especially on the exhaust. GSjack gets better long term exhaust valve life by setting them to a bigger gap than stock, search for what he says on this, its interesting and I'll be going that way next time I adjust valves.

[gsJack]

It does make a difference which I discovered years ago on my 1st GS500.  I started by just setting the cam lobes away from the valve stems like I had done for years on my old Hondas.  I was getting too tight readings on a couple valves that way so after fooling around for a while I finally did it, as a last resort I followed directions.     I put the cams on the top ctr timing marks and they all checked out OK that way.  Cam lobes are about 45* away from the valve stem lines with the cams on the marks:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/manual_valve_adjust.jpg

I set my valves at .001-.003" intake and .003-.005" exhaust now.  Intakes rarely ever change but exhaust run hotter and keep getting tighter if set to tight side of standard spec.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GSvalvelogs.jpg

[Anaconda]

I set my exhuast valves to a looser .01mm when I last did my adjustments and didn't notice a change in performance.

[burning1]

FWIW, I went to .12 on my last adjustment, and then raced the GS for a year. No issues.

[tt_four]

I set my exhuast valves to a looser .01mm when I last did my adjustments and didn't notice a change in performance.

Where'd you find feelers that measured down to .01mm??

[4strings]

I found these on ebay that go down to .02
http://cgi.ebay.com/Metric-Gap-Thickness-Feeler-Measure-Gauge-0-02-to-1-0mm_W0QQitemZ330545244612QQcategoryZ20766QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m506QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DNGRI%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D280626002158%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7923770765067075088#ht_2573wt_1139