Valve clearance adjusted but now noise

Hi guys, I just finished up adjusting my valves on my KZ750F1. I turned out that three of my exhaust valves were around .05, and one was .21. This seemed to be causing my bike to idle very poor after riding for 15-20 mins. So, I made all the adjustments and got all my valves between .09-.14. The bike runs way better and doesn't want to die at every stop light.

Here is my question. Why do I hear all the ticking? Is .14 too loose? To do a proper valve clearance measurement are there different ways other than what is detailed in the manual? I had someone tell me that you want to slide the feeler gauge between the bucket and the cam within a bigger range than just TDC. Is this true? I also noticed that one side of a cam lobe will fit a .10 and the other side of the lobe wont.

The other thing I notice with the ticking is that some of the ticking goes in something like 2-3 second intervals as if its associated with the timing chain. I know what a loose timing chain sounds like. I have an manual APE chain adjuster and when I loosen it off you can really hear a rattle.

Thanks for the help.

Right now I have no idea on the sound you hear, but I have 6 valves between 0.15 and 0.20 mm and one between 0.20 and 0.25 and one between 0.10 and 0.15 and the head is silent, so your valve clearance isn't the cause.

Maybe the ticking is from a leaking exhaust port.

Would measure clearance with the cam lobe pointed directly away from the bucket.

Carb sync often reduces cam chain noise.

Cam chain adjustment might have negligible effect on lifter noise (ticking).

Good Fortune!

Thanks guys,

Patton, I just had a valve job done in the winter and all exhaust valves were replaced. What do you mean exhaust port leak? Also, when I do a clearance measurement at TDC the cam lobe is almost pointing directly up, maybe a 5-10 degree angle. Are you saying only measure when the lobe is perfectly pointing up and pay no attention to TDC marks?
Carbs are synced and it honestly runs almost perfect. Just want to make sure I'm not missing anything or made any mistakes.

Thanks

By exhaust port he means where your headers bolt up. Chances are that is your ticking

Whats your idle RPM ? Might just need to be turned up a hair once warm.

bobski911 wrote: ...when I do a clearance measurement at TDC the cam lobe is almost pointing directly up, maybe a 5-10 degree angle....

Pointing almost directly up is perfectly okay.
The main idea is to measure between the cam base circle and the bucket, so that the cam ramp isn't involved.

Pointing directly away from the bucket (regardless of the T mark location) is to assure that the ramped part of the cam has not been reached whereby it might affect the measurement.

For someone who might be uncertain as to where the cam is supposed to be located when doing the measuring, using the T mark would offer some assurance.

Good Fortune!

How does an exhaust port leak cause ticking. I just put new copper exhaust o-rings in the last time I attached the header. As well, before I made the valve adjustment it didn't tick. Seems strange to me. As I said, all the clearances were between .09 and .14

Just to make sure - are you talking metric or inches? If you have a clearance of 0.14in it's no wonder it's ticking like mad.

bobski911 wrote: How does an exhaust port leak cause ticking. I just put new copper exhaust o-rings in the last time I attached the header. As well, before I made the valve adjustment it didn't tick. Seems strange to me. As I said, all the clearances were between .09 and .14

An exhaust port leak doesn't cause valve ticking.

But a leaking exhaust port may also produce a "ticking" sound, which is sometimes misinterpreted as being the sound of a valve ticking.

What were the valve clearances before adjustments were made?

Good Fortune!

Valve clearances were .10mm on intakes, and .05mm on three of the exhaust and .21mm on the other exhaust.
Before I made the valve clearance changes the bike would idle very low/poor once it was hot after 15 mins of riding. After making the changes, yesterday I went for a ride and besides the ticking (which seemed not too bad) the bike was great for a good hour. Then it started to idle erratic. When I released the clutch it would almost die. It didn't run good until I got it up to speed. Seems like as the engine cooled down it ran better, also the ticking is louder then it first was.

Fuel height levels via clear tube was done last week.

Thanks for the help guys

Okay, here is something strange I've noticed. If I take a clearance measurement at exhaust #1 at TDC I get .10mm. If I turn the cam so the lobe is pointing directly away from the bucket I get .05mm. What should I do in this situation? Go down .05 shim size? Some of the other cam lobes tighten up when they are pointing directly away from the bucket. Looks like 3 of them are below .08mm.
What I've been doing is placing the feeler gauge between lobe and bucket just before its pointing directly away from the bucket. Then I slowly turn the cam. There is a certain point that it starts to tighten on the .08mm. I back the .08mm feeler out, turn the cam a little more and the .08 wont fit. If I turn the the cam a little more the .08 will start to fit again. Is this right?

I'm confused :blink: