i just got back from west virginia university moving my friend in so sorry i havent replied for a while. i am planning on doing the valves though but got the appointment anyway becuase they are hard to come by but i can always cancel. do i need any special tools to do the valve job? i am planning on doing the job on sunday night. any sites of interest i should look at before i start to tear my engine apart? thanks again and no i'm not a chick

check out the how too section of the main page to this site.  There is a valve adjustment procedure with pics that is helpful.

hey srinath am i going to need shims and stuff to adjust my valves? can i get these at a parts store or something and i saw the how to in the how to section but i was wondering if there was a more detailed how to anywhere?

Get on the list for the east coast kit ... comes with Video starring Kerry ... watch it and booya ... you'll be a genius ...    yea shims and tool and tweezers are in it ... if you get that ... you need nothing else ...
Cool.
Srinath.

update !!!!!
i think my father and i have finally found the problem to why my bike has not been running right. most simply put... i'm a dumbass (can i say that here, well i am anyway) one hose was not correctly placed on the carbs. the one hose that comes out of the side of one of the carbs was not where it should be. the hose is supposed to go from the side of the carb to the furthest inlet on the petcock valve turny thing. instead i had the hose go from the side of the carb to, well, no where i thought it was just a breather hose. ps. thanks to chris (MKIV) i checked the valve clearances and all checked out in spec (yey). all i have to do now is wait for my new oil pan and plug and such to ride and fix my turn signals (now don't work since i put on the new handle bars) anyway thanks to all who have helped and i'll post back up when i have a chance to ride the beast into the sunset