overhaul engine top

Hi,

I have overhauled my top, valve and valve seat. Is there a way I can measure what shims I need for the valve clearness, before I install everything?
Or must I just mount everything and then measure the air gap the normal way and then order shims?

Just try to save some time

Put it all together and then measure each one and proceed accordingly. Get a shim tool and it's as easy as it gets.

Not so easy if it's a kz650. Gotta pull cams for shim changes

baldy110 wrote: Not so easy if it's a kz650. Gotta pull cams for shim changes

z750L, the idea was I could purchase new shims now before I started to re assembly the engine.
But I will go for normal valve clearness measurement then.

Thank you for taking time to help me.

I'd buy the smallest shim to use as a gauge for the rest. If the seats and valves are ground the ones you have may be too thick.
Steve

I bench shimmed mine so it was all ready when installed. If you do that be careful of the cap bolts as you will install em and remove em plenty of times. (Why I installed all heli coils so I didn't have to worry about striping one).

Nessium showed how to use vice grips to hold em down to help with that. I tried clamps but could never seem to get them right. And be sure to raise the head up with 2 by 4s on the very ends of the head so the valves don't hit the bench and bend.

KZB2 650 wrote: I bench shimmed mine so it was all ready when installed. If you do that be careful of the cap bolts as you will install em and remove em plenty of times. (Why I installed all heli coils so I didn't have to worry about striping one).

Nessium showed how to use vice grips to hold em down to help with that. I tried clamps but could never seem to get them right. And be sure to raise the head up with 2 by 4s on the very ends of the head so the valves don't hit the bench and bend.

I`m sorry, but my English is not my native language so I have problem to follow you through your guide....

I can have the top loose and install existing shims and both camshaft and measure the gap while I have the block loose on the bench? And when I want to take the next two valves I need to remove the camshaft and turn it around and then mount it again?

I`m sorry I don`t understand you 100%.... its not your language... me leak of skills.

These really interesting for me, since I`m living in Scandinavia it take time and money to order shims to times... so if I can doing it only ones it will be perfect.

If you have the barrels off they can be used as a stand for the head. If you can afford the shim assortment, they will last you as long as you own the bike.
Steve

SWest wrote: If you have the barrels off they can be used as a stand for the head. If you can afford the shim assortment, they will last you as long as you own the bike.
Steve

I see, but when I rig up these test on the bench, can just skip using shims when I measure the air-gap, and then see what gap I have and find the correct shims to fill the gap?
I was thinking if mine shims is to thick I will not get any air gap?
Or will the air gap be looser now after the overhaul, and then tighter and tighter over time?

Put assembled head on 2 by 4s (outside ends) with no chance of the valves opening and hitting the bench or boards and install one cam at a time and no you do need to install the smallest shim you have. Be sure to keep the buckets and cam caps in the same order and measure. If I remember right I did #1 ex first measured then wrote down the clearance and shim size. If it has .002 clearance you would go 2 sizes smaller to get .006 (each shim is .002 smaller or bigger). If you get no clearance you would need to go at least 2 or more than likely 3 or 4 sizes smaller. Then move on to #2 ex and repeat. A lot of putting them in and out but they stayed the same for me after things were assembled.

When you get all 4 ex sizes figured out remove the ex cam one final time (leaving the shims and buckets in place) or I suppose you could remove and use the shims for the intake .......just be sure you keep the size recorded to put them back in place and move onto the intake cam. Don't leave the ex cam in it as the timing will be off and when you do the intake cam the valves can hit each other and bend. Some shoot for the middle range .005 and some try for the high end .007 like I did (up to you on that)......... .003 to .007 is the tightest and loosest recommended range.

When APE did mine they must have ground the tips so that the shims were close to what I had before and like you say you might need to go smaller to get the right gap. Hope this is a little clearer for you to follow. Don't feel bad its even a little confusing to me after re reading it.:ohmy:

My old shims was to big now after the valve job... All valves on exhaust had clearness I was able to measure,
but all inlet valves was to tight with the thinnest shims I had....

I have now ordered the thinnest shims 2.0 hope I will got some clearness with them so I can measure what I need on the inlet valves also....

A picture says a 1000 words. Can you post a picture of these shims in place please? Doing the top en don my KZ1100 is the winter project for me as I need to put new stud O rings in so will need to check everything else when doing that.

Tks