Well, my bike is back together, with freshly adjusted valves, a replaced clutch cover gasket, and new front brakes.... and all of my wrenching seems to have had its intended effect.
The engine is much much smoother with its newly adjusted valves... both exhaust valves were WAY too tight... I went from a .270 to a .265 on one side, and from a .270 to a .260 on the other... one side is now at .05, the other (The one i dropped to a .260 shim on) is at .08mm. The bike also seems more powerful... if only slightly. Perhaps is just a sensation derived from the engine's new-found smoothness.
New front brake pads seem to offer a bit more of a progressive feel.... but I still get the sensation that my lever effort is way higher than it should be. I really really have to bear down on the lever to get full stopping power.
The really cool part is that I seem to have solved my oil leak... which is good, since that was the only thing that was really *wrong* that i fixed. Its too soon to tell 100% (need to go for an hour long ride or so), but I think I solved the problem. I was extra careful applying my liquid gasket (I applied it lightly, with a brush, and pretty much avoided the area around the CB oil channel), and got the mating surfaces pretty clean (even though it took 4 hours of scraping and rubbing).
Whew... I feel pretty accomplished.
I did have one 'DUH' moment though... I forgot to turn the fuel tank petcock back on before starting the bike up. Oops. The bike ran, but it sure as hell wasnt happy.
Now all thats left to do is set the idle (any easy way to do that with the tank on???), as its super high.. and I should be golden :-)
Congrats on your success.
Idle setting is easy. The adjuster screw is a thumbscrew under the carbs, easily accessible. You may want to wear your gloves when adjusting it, though, as you should have the engine well warm (ride at least 10 minutes) when adjusting.
What you may want to do after doing the valves is synching the carbs, though. And you will definitely have to have the tank off for that (and an auxiliary tank hookup and vacuum gauges; you may want to seek out a well equipped buddy for that.)
Quote from: eisenfaustNew front brake pads seem to offer a bit more of a progressive feel.... but I still get the sensation that my lever effort is way higher than it should be. I really really have to bear down on the lever to get full stopping power.
That should improve as the new pads get bedded in and match the profile of the rotor better. Also, have you considered bleeding the brakes?
PS - Were you able to print out the
Shim Selection Chart for inclusion in the valve adjustment kit?
No shim selection chart, but I plan on printing that out before I ship the kit out.
I'll try to go find that idle screw. :)