Valve Adjustment on KZ1000 Police. Two Questions.

Remember, on the J engine, you have to remove the chain tensioner plug and shaft before re-installing the cam cover.

Thanks. That is very helpful.

Let me see if I understand what you're saying…

I pulled each shim and measured their thicknesses on the ones that are too tight. Then I subtracted 0.15 and also 0.05 from them. That gave me an idea of what the thickness of the shim should be between the max. and min.

So existing shim was 2.50 mm. I subtracted 0.15 and got 2.35. The I subtracted 0.05 and got 2.45. I thought that if I got a shim between 2.35 and 2.45 that I'd be good to go.

But, what you're saying is that it could be WAY too tight even with the existing shim in it. I should put a really thin one in each and go from there. That is a pain but it does make sense.

Thanks. That is very helpful.

Let me see if I understand what you're saying…

I pulled each shim and measured their thicknesses on the ones that are too tight. Then I subtracted 0.15 and also 0.05 from them. That gave me an idea of what the thickness of the shim should be between the max. and min.

So existing shim was 2.50 mm. I subtracted 0.15 and got 2.35. The I subtracted 0.05 and got 2.45. I thought that if I got a shim between 2.35 and 2.45 that I'd be good to go.

But, what you're saying is that it could be WAY too tight even with the existing shim in it. I should put a really thin one in each and go from there. That is a pain but it does make sense.

OK I will have to check the manual to see that both of those are.

bl_francis wrote: Thanks. That is very helpful.

Let me see if I understand what you're saying…
But, what you're saying is that it could be WAY too tight even with the existing shim in it. I should put a really thin one in each and go from there. That is a pain but it does make sense.

Yes. You have to have a gap to measure which is why you go with the thinnest shim. It's a pain but once you get good with the batwing it's not really that bad. Plus you only need to do it on the valves that don't have any clearance.

I just went through the same thing on my '82 LTD - Except 6 of the 8 valves were so tight that I couldn't get my smallest feeler gauge in there (.04mm)

A good rule to follow is if you can spin the bucket freely with your finger, go 2 sizes smaller than what's in there now. So if you have a 250, go with a 240. I ordered the new shims from Z1E, and it put me right on the money for all my valves.

If it is so tight that you can't spin the bucket, I like to do what GPzGuy mentioned.