valve clearance / shims

Hey guys,
I put my cams back on the bike today and did a clearance test and found all but two were too tight. The manual for my kz1100 has a tolerance between .002-.006 and i could only fit the .002 in two. My question lies in both why they are tight now and fine when i removed them (put in exactly as came out) and how do i know how far down in shim size to go? The manual refers to subtracting the specified clearance from the actual to find the excess clearance. Then adding the excess clearance number to the existing shim thickness....which would give me a larger shim size, and i need more clearance. ?? Then as a side note it says " if the largest available shim does not INCREASE clearance to within acceptable limits, valve seat could be worn"..blah blah. I know my seats are within spec. But i cant wrap my head around using a larger size shim to increase my valve clearance, and how do i know how much smaller/(bigger?) I need to go?
Thanks in advance guys!

The clearance decreases with mileage, and eventually it all goes away and then the valves hang open and burn, damaging both the valves and cylinder head. Hopefully you caught the problem in time.

In order to check the clearance you need a thin checking shim. Install the thin shim, measure the clearance, then do the math and get a shim of the proper thickness. All easy stuff. Sadly, many people think valve adjustment is optional for some reason.

Note that larger shim reduces clearance, and thinner shim increases clearance.

Good Fortune!

If you can't find some locally, you can order them. Here's one place.
Steve
jetsrus.com/individual_parts/KL_13_7658.html
jetsrus.com/valve/valve_shims.html

How do i determine how much smaller i need to go though? Just mover a couple sizes down and hope i and pray i didn't waste all that money? Im still a bit confused on why they came out within spec and went back together tight too

cafebrat wrote: How do i determine how much smaller i need to go though? Just mover a couple sizes down and hope i and pray i didn't waste all that money? Im still a bit confused on why they came out within spec and went back together tight too

As stated already, you need a thin checking shim.

For example, say you have a 2.60 installed but there is no clearance. Remove the 2.60 and replace with something thin, say a 2.30. Then measure the clearance (which will be excessive) and use the table in the book to determine what shim you need. Most likely something like a 2.50. Repeat that approach in each position until you get a clear idea of what shims you need.

cafebrat wrote: . . . I put my cams back on the bike today and did a clearance test and found all but two were too tight . . .
why they are tight now and fine when i removed them (put in exactly as came out) . . . .

Why were the cams removed?

Good Fortune!

Thanks nessism ill order a small shim and use it to compare.

Patton, I did a piston up rebuild this winter.