Help With Valve Lash

Hi You'ns
I have some really good news! No matter the cam lobe position, I can't turn my #3E shim button or cup, what ever it is called and that is the cylinder with only 89lbs compression.
But I've got some bad news. I am embarrassed to say that even though I have done my share of minor wrench turning on all my own cars, bikes and farm equipt., I have never adjusted valve gap on anything.:S
I think I need 1) the tool to depress the valve for swapping out the shims, 2) I need to find out which ones I should change, and 3) I need to know if I should check anything else, like cam lobe dimensions while I have the cover off.
Thanks in advance to all replies.
Add:
Here are the numbers if I did it correctly.
.Cyl..I.........E........T means tight; L means loose.
..1...6T......5L.......Also, I have a mic. that will
..2...5L......4T.......open to, probably 1.5"max. If
..3...3L......none....I need to check anything
..4...4L......5T.......else, let me know.
All numbers are ths. (not metric)

My smallest feeler is probably 1.5 ths but can't be read as the number has disappeared.
As stated, I have never tried this procedure before, so let me know if any of you have concerns that I don't know what I am doing or have left out something important. I am depending on you guys to guide me.
Thanks again.

Post edited by: JimatMilkyWay, at: 2007/03/30 11:23

Post edited by: JimatMilkyWay, at: 2007/03/31 02:11

Do you have a shop manual?
Wiredgeorge's website has a good writeup on measuring/adjusting valve clearance.
Try this:
wgcarbs.com

Post edited by: steell, at: 2007/03/30 15:32

ltdrider wrote:

Do you have a shop manual?....

Thanks ITDrider. That was a fast response.
Yes I do have a manual, but I think it may gloss over or leave out a few steps that the guys on the forum may fill in. Also, the manual does not make you think about other things the way discussion on the forum does. I studied on it last night in my Clymer. I also searched the filebase and wgcarb but apparently I did not use the correct key words. What little I did find pertains to other size engines. While I realize the general procedures will be identical to my engine, (most likely), some specific details may vary. I have been reading the engine section of the forum for a few weeks now because I knew this was next on my plate, but have not caught a good link to a step by step "here is what all to check and how". One thing I did get from reading is that a tool for $8 is available, so I suppose I need to order that right away quick.

Glad you found a cause for your poorly running bike.

Once you get the tool you need to get access to the shims, I hope you do something I never did the last time I had everything apart on mine. I'll get to it in a second. Read the whole post, you'll figure out what is right for you.

You are going to have to remove the shim on #3 and measure it. It is obviously too thick. So you don't know what to throw in there and I don't think you want to guess at trial shim purchases.

So do this. Get an egg carton, and number / identify the first eight locations, corresponding to your cylinders.

E-1 E-2 E-3 E-4
I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4

Roll the cams around until the both lobes on 3 allow access, probably BDC, coming up on compression. That allows you to open the valve for access to the shim.

Once you have E-3 measured, put it in the carton, and write down your clearance. Pull I-3 and measure shim thickness as well. Write that down. You already know they probably need to be thinner, but you don't know yet by how much.

Leave the shims out and rotate the engine 180 degress forward, and do the next set of rockers in the firing order. Remove, measure and set in the egg carton. After you have the last set of shims out, you will have a selection of measured stock that you can use to find the one you need for your too tight rocker.

The trick here is to make sure that you have already identified which shim is coming out of which location so you can put it back in the correct location when you are done.

Where this method becomes helpful is that if you do this somewhat involved legwork now, while you have it apart, you will have a record of what needs to go into any particular location next time when you measure clearances. If it is a 4 with a shim of 2.5 this time around, and the clearance down the road drops to 3, you will know from your records what to put in to make up for the difference.

With the shim over bucket, as long as you have clearances, this maybe isn't as much of an issue. But with an underbucket design like mine, I could have saved a lot of time had I done it this way the first time I had my cams out.

The other thing you might want to do while you have the shim out, is to tap the #3-E bucket a little, to make sure the valve is closed all the way. . .

happy adjusting



added note. . .let me know if you want some help with this. . .I have a friend that owns a shop and has a selection of shims I could probably borrow out if needed . . it's not like you can put the bike together and drive it to get it to the shop. . .between the clearance you have listed and what is on the bike already, you may be able to swap a couple of them around to get the clearances you need.

Post edited by: KaZooCruiser, at: 2007/03/30 15:41

Kazoo, now THAT is a response. The idea of the egg crate was not in the Clymer, I don't believe.
There is a mile wide asteroid making it's closest approach to earth later tonight, it is about as close to me, as you are.:woohoo:
I owe you big time just for the offer to help. I will bring the beverage of your choice and see about swapping those shims. Will PM you soon. I work the planet (planetarium) tonight and will be leaving work soon, so it may be late before I get a chance to E you.
Thanx again

Hey Jim, since you are asking about shimming your 1000, I won't hijack your thread. If you are ever interested in knowing some of the things to watch out for on your twin, let me know. I'm doing mine now...lets just say it's simpler to just take out the cams to replace the shims...and then you have to find the (32mm dia.) shims
Good luck:)
Ron

ronjones wrote:

....If you are ever interested in knowing some of the things to watch out for on your twin, let me know. I'm doing mine now...lets just say it's simpler to just take out the cams to replace the shims...and then you have to find the (32mm dia.) shims
Good luck:)
Ron

Well, thank you there,,, Dr. Jones
I just got in from work a little bit ago, but I went to the shop for a while anyway. I did, however leave something turned on at the house, but she can wait.
I won't start the twin project till I get the 4 solidly on the road.
I didn't want to wait while the shim tool from Z1e was on order, so I used a 2.5mm, long reach allen wrench as a bucket hold down tool. I hope all the guys who paid $60 plus $20 for overnight express won't get their panties in a bunch if anyone asks about how I did that. I also found that my 2.0mm extended reach allen wrench seemed to work best to push the shim out of the hole once I broke the death grip of oil surface tension(?) between the shim and the bucket or what ever the shim sits on.
I got tired and sort of quit, however, when I extracted enough shims from underneath both cams to decide that the first successful extractions were not flukes.
I was primarily interested in swapping the shims between my widest and narrowest gaps to see if I liked what I got; I don't. What a pisser.
Oh,,, and BTW itdrider, I forgot to tell you thanks in my earlier post to you. The link to Georges tech stuff was a great help. Don't remember if I found it earlier in the week and was just too tired to acknowledge and follow up, or if I just did not check out the tech stuff carefully enough. At any rate, thanks to you, and you, and you, and you, all of whom know who you are!
Oh sh$t; look what time it is. Got's to go back to work in a few hours.
Later.