First valve adjust

[Dirty Harry]

Just got the community kit and about to do my first valve adjust. I read all the threads on the forum and there's a lot of good information there, but I have a few questions:

-Will the valve cover come off without moving the top radiator hose? It sure looks like the cover won't move high enough with the hose in place.
-When the vacuum switch valve hoses pulled from the valve cover, do you just pull the switch/hoses out of the way or remove them entirely?
-I understand that the thermostat housing can just be moved out of the way, but does the wiring have to be disconnected first or is there enough slack?
-Will I need to remove the radiator side covers?
-Do I need silicone sealant for reassembling the valve cover as the shop manual indicates? If so, any recommendations?
-Moly lube needed for the shims/rockers? Any particular kind?
-Anyone measuring shims with calipers or is everyone using micrometers? I don't have a mic but maybe I can check out Harbor Freight.
-I will be rotating the engine by moving the rear wheel. I don't have a rear stand, but read one thread about using a floor jack under the swing arm....is the jack saddle under the front of the swingarm or under the frame cross member just under the swingarm pivot?

I'm a bit nervous, but reading all the good info on the forum has given me enough confidence to try this. Thanks in advance for answers.

[Moriwaki Man!]

Can't answer all your questions but:

-Do I need silicone sealant for reassembling the valve cover as the shop manual indicates? If so, any recommendations?

Personally I have never done this with any bike (mine or serviced) with a re-usable gasket and never had one leak on me.

-Moly lube needed for the shims/rockers? Any particular kind?

I just coat them in clean engine oil once in place.

-Anyone measuring shims with calipers or is everyone using micrometers? I don't have a mic but maybe I can check out Harbor Freight.

Should use a mic' -shims are never exact size and a vernier wont show you that.

-I will be rotating the engine by moving the rear wheel. I don't have a rear stand, but read one thread about using a floor jack under the swing arm....is the jack saddle under the front of the swingarm or under the frame cross member just under the swingarm pivot?

Your going to have the pulsar cover off to align the timing mark so use the rotor bolt to turn the motor, simple and accurate.

I'm a bit nervous, but reading all the good info on the forum has given me enough confidence to try this. Thanks in advance for answers.

Good on ya for having a try, it's daunting at 1st but take your time and don't set yourself a time limit and you'll have it done

I would also add , just double check everything once done

[KevyzToy]

No need to take the pulse cover off. Or jack up the rear to spin the wheel. Just bump the starter until the appropriate cam lobes are sticking up.

Remove the bolt that hold thermostat in place. That gives enough slack to lift the valve cover high enough. If you haven't changed coolant in awhile, this would be a good time to do it. Drain it and then just take the hoses and 'stat off. I've always removed the wires. Don't really know of I had to or not. Be careful when taking the heat shield off in front of the valve cover. It has a tendancy to break.

Get a good mic to check the shims. The stamped size ain't always correct.

Take your time. It's not a hard job. Make sure you have a good shop light and a long retractable magnet for removing shims. As far as installing them, I have skinny fingers so I just put a dab of grease on my index finger and stick the shim to it.

[Dirty Harry]

Update......

Started yesterday by taking off the tank.....only "gotcha" was the overflow tube not allowing the rear of tank to come up. I fed the tube from the bottom up, got some more slack by using pliers, and got the tank high enough to free the hose. Also, found it easier to detach the other two hoses by the connector on top of airbox instead of at bottom of gas tank.

One of the air hoses was a After an hour of struggling, I got a rope around it and asked my wife to pull up on it while I wiggled it.....it finally popped loose on the second try.

Getting off the fan shroud was a b**ch.....it took two of us, yanking and pulling at the upper radiator hose and the shroud before it finally popped out. However, thanks again to chuckc for the tip about rotating it. I had to loosen the fan side mount panels and the radiator to give it a bit more room.

The valve cover wasn't too bad....again, two guys, one to push up the coolant hoses, the other to finesse the cover out.

I just finished measuring clearances

#1 ex .007/.010, in .007/.007
#2 ex .008/.007, in .006/.006
#3 ex .007/.010, in .006/.006
#4 ex .009/.007, in .006/.006

I was surprised they were all in spec, since this is the first valve adjustment in 11,800 miles (I know, I know...y'all can flame me later).

I'm a little suspicious about the valves being so good, so I'll relax a bit then rotate the motor a couple of times and remeasure some of them to make sure the values are valid. If the values hold, I'll adjust the exhaust valves at the edge of spec (.007), and the .006 intakes.

BTW, I ended up not using a floor jack on the swingarm to get the rear up.....I borrowed a buddy's Pit Bull (for an R1) and even though there were adjustments, the spools on the Rex were too low. I had to use the floor jack anyway to get the bike high enough to use the Pit Bull. Even though the rear tire is 6 inches off the ground the bike is stable, much better than using a floor jack.

More to come......

[Dirty Harry]

Just finished final checks, but bike not buttoned back up yet....will do that tomorrow.

Yesterday was tough.....it took me 45 minutes to get one shim back in. However, today I figured out a way to get the shim stuck onto the top of the valve with assembly lube and finessed it into place using a pick. It went much faster that way and I adjusted the other ten valves in a couple of hours.

I rotated the motor a couple of times over and took final measurements and all exhausts were .009-.010 and intakes were .007-.008.

Just got the plugs I ordered on ebay....paid $30 for NGK CR9EK plugs, including shipping. Will probably test out the bike this weekend and will keep my fingers crossed that it will be good to go.

Many thanks to the ZRXOA members for the invaluable advice and encouragement. And thanks to jafo for the community shim kit

[Dirty Harry]

Got the bike buttoned up yesterday and it seemed to run fine, but only had it running for 15 seconds. I did not want to heat up the pipes due to a problem I discovered.

It seems when I cranked the motor over some oil spilled onto the exhaust pipes. Apparently, oil stains do not come off easily on stock '03 pipes. I tried many different ways of removing the stains and finally through the wisdom of the OA, tried lacquer thinner with success.

I'll finish cleaning the pipes later this morning and then take it out on a checkout ride. Next time I crank the motor with the valve cover off, I'll put a towel over the pipes.

Again, many thanks to the combined wisdom and experience of the OA on how to do valve adjusts AND to the OA/jafo for the community shim kit. You guys are the greatest!

[SteveinVA]

So who do I get a hold of to get that community shim kit? Would be nice to not have to buy new ones.
thanks

[KevyzToy]

So who do I get a hold of to get that community shim kit? Would be nice to not have to buy new ones.
thanks

PM Lytnin

[SteveinVA]

thanks

[Dirty Harry]

or you could pm jafo to see where the shim kit went after I gave it to rubba

[Rexter]

or make your own kit for $56. free shipping

lukesracing.com

part # hcshim11 and hcshim12

tha'tll give ya 5 each of 2.40 thru 2.95

[Dirty Harry]

Just finished my second valve adjust, after 14,000 miles from my last one. Nothing changed except one exhaust valve on cyl #4, which went from .009 to .008......I could have left it, but decided to go down one shim size and got the gap to .010. All other valves were either unchanged from last time or were still on the high side of spec

It took almost as long as last time, but obviously the adjust process went much faster and I spent a lot less time putting the bike back together. Based on what I found, I'll probably wait 15,000 miles until I check the valves again.

[HarleyJohn]

Just finished my second valve adjust, after 14,000 miles from my last one. Nothing changed except one exhaust valve on cyl #4, which went from .009 to .008......I could have left it, but decided to go down one shim size and got the gap to .010. All other valves were either unchanged from last time or were still on the high side of spec

It took almost as long as last time, but obviously the adjust process went much faster and I spent a lot less time putting the bike back together. Based on what I found, I'll probably wait 15,000 miles until I check the valves again.

The more you know, the better it gets. My personal experience has been that I can go 20,000 miles between adjustments, with about 6-8 valves needing to go down one shim size to keep in the "upper" range of adjustment. I run a full synthetic, changed every 10,000 miles, and the bike is ridden at "commuter" RPM for the most part. YRMV.

[BonzRexster]

I realize this thread has been dormant for awhile, rather than starting a new thread, this one fits well since I just did my first valve check/adjust I did last night on my '01.

My cams have zero pitting at 30,710 miles, and I have not looked at the valves since I bought it with 21,100 miles on it. No info on if the previous owner checked/adjusted the valves. As it relates to the cams and pitting, was it a bad batch of cams that had issues, or could it have been poor lubrication/low oil quality that leads to pitting I read about?

To preface, I've done valve adjustments on 4 types of motorcycle valve trains.
-One with locknut and screw adjusters (1982 Honda CX500, God bless that little motor for being THE easiest bike EVER to check/adjust valves)
-Shim under bucket, have to remove cams (2003 V Strom 1000)
-Shim over bucket and have to use a tool to keep bucket compressed so shim will have clearance to be removed (1980 Yamaha XS 1100)
-then the ZRX with (duh!) cams working on rockers and the rocker acting directly on the shim.

All the different valve train design and adjustment styles aside, the shims for the V Strom could be dialed into .001", so it was very easy and possible to set the clearances exactly in the middle of spec, on the high limit, whatever you chose. With the screw and locknut, of course the CX500 could be set right where you want it as well.

With the XS1100 and the ZRX the shims come in .002" increments. It is not possible to take a minimum spec valve and put it in the middle of spec, you end up on the high side of spec more or less depending if the shim is the exact amount it says it should be.

Given that valve clearance tolerance is such a tight measuremnt, seems "sloppy" to only have shims that take you from one extreme to another in the range for the most part.

I am sure it is a cost saving thing on part of the manufacturers in terms of twice as many shims to support, and makes it easy as a "go or no-go" check for a service tech knowing the shim is either in spec or is out of spec and there is no decision making to be done about fine tuning it to the middle of the range which is what I've aimed for with the screw/locknut set up and the V Strom where the shims were .001" increments.

Anyway, off to the dealer to swap a few shims that I wasn't able to re-use in a new position.

FWIW, the intakes were the ones on the tight side of things on the whole with the ZRX (same thing with my XS 1100 last summer) with both intakes on #4 at .003" (yikes!). I always hear the exhaust valves are the ones to be sure aren't tight (for good reason!), but overall the intakes are the ones that seem to be tight when checked in my experience. Maybe it's because the exhaust valves are more cared for, per se, with a closer eye on the clearance vs. the intake side of things for fear of burning an exhaust valve.

Cheers to valve adjustments!

[BonzRexster]

Now that I have a few miles under my belt after the valve adjust, I can say the bike just feels smoother. Not that the valves were all that far apart before the adjustment, but they were on the tight side where as now they are in the middle or on the loose side of spec.

It's interesting that such a small amount of deviation can lead to a smoother or not as smooth running engine.