Valve clearance/carbon deposit on plugs

Interesting.
Steve

Or play this tape when you work on the valves:



Good Tunes!
Chris

:woohoo:

As I ponder this project..
FIrst, the bike only has 8,000 original miles on it. When I bought it I assumed it meant I'd not have to worry about these kinds of projects. Is it even possible that it could be this out of whack and end up with 0, or negative clearance? It did sit for many years before being revived.
Second, if I were to order a few shims to have for measuring purposes could you throw a couple numbers out to help me get started? Should I just order one of the thinnest shims or would that create too large a gap to measure with feeler gauges?

Look, pulling a number out of the air won't help you. You have to get the shims in your hand to know what you have. Too many times people get these bikes with the same problem. A lazy or cheap PO will ignore the adjustments because of the time or cost. Just hope there aren't burnt valves because of this. Being the shims won't all be the same size, you can switch them to other positions. I'd go down two steps on all shims. That way you may have the proper sizes with what you already have. Chances are if not, you will need just a few. Once it's done, you can ride the piss out of it for up to 4000 miles.
Steve

the way i do it, is i start with a thin shim like 2.05 check clearance with feeler gauges and calculate the size shim you need .the fact that you have 0 clearance or negative clearance means you might be a few shims sizes to tight .

I hear you Steve. Is a burnt valve apparent when I get in there? Interesting, so they don't come stock with all the same size shims? I would think they leave the factory with the same shims in each valve.

gcphoto wrote: Second, if I were to order a few shims to have for measuring purposes could you throw a couple numbers out to help me get started? Should I just order one of the thinnest shims or would that create too large a gap to measure with feeler gauges?

I think you have two choices at this point:

Buy a complete shim kit. Then you know you will have the right shim on hand on the day you do this. You will also have shims for the life of the bike. More money though.

Or..

Buy the thinnest shim you can, use it to get your measurements, then order the shims you need. You wont have an issue with the feeler gauges not thick enough. You can stack them too. This option is cheaper, but 2x the ordering time.

Cool, thanks. I'll let you know what happens.

gcphoto wrote: so they don't come stock with all the same size shims? I would think they leave the factory with the same shims in each valve.

No, the shim is there to soak up the tolerances that get stacked together of the cast aluminum head, valve seats, and valves themselves. All these parts have a +/- specification when new. Taken together, they cannot meet the valve lash spec consistently.

The factory will put in shims in to make a spec that is impossible to meet otherwise due to these added tolerances of the various parts. Every valve [strike]will[/strike] can be different.

This kit is only $52 on Amazon.. compared to every other kit which is $130-$160. Too good to be true? That's a good deal considering they are $4-$8 per shim on other sites. www.amazon.com/Hot-Cams-HCSHIM32-Shim-Ki...ords=13mm+valve+shim

How long would it take to burn the valves? Because I rode mine for awhile even though my valve clearances are way off.