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Shim woes...

  • Thread starter Thread starter MBanks
  • Start date Start date
M

MBanks

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So I'm doing a valve adjust on my '82 GS850GL and found that 4 of my valves needed to get new shims. I measure that they all needed a bump from a 2.60mm to a 2.65 mm. I ordered 2.65 mm shims from z1 enterprises.

All my shims were reading .09 mm, just outside the .03-.08 range. When I put my 2.65 mm shims in, the clearance is less than .02 mm, my smallest feeler gauge. The shims are obviously different makers, the type is different and the make is as well. Anyone else had this problem, obviously one or both shims are not exactly as they say. Should I just leave these at .09 mm, or order new shims? I don't want to waste any money, so I'm trying to find calipers to measure the old and new shims, but I've been without a vehicle for over 2 weeks now. Anyone else had this problem?

Edit: I also had a shim reading .10-.15 mm out of spec with a 2.60 shim. My new 2.65 mm shim also made it less than .02 mm clearance. Very frustrating that I have about 35 bucks in worthless shims and waited for 4-5 days for shipping.
 
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Put the originals back in and ride it. Lots of folks run them at that clearance on purpose. Some of the HP cams ask for more than that. Ray
 
I find it curious that you had clearance of .09 or .10, changed one shim size and went to less than .02. Should have changed to .04 to .05. :-k

Running .09 or .10 cleaance is no problem, will just mean you can go that much longer before it needs to be changed again, as they will always tighten up.

Your shims are never "worthless". Send a PM to Ghostgs1 (your first responder here), he runs the "shim club" here on GSR. He can give you details on how the "club" works.

.
 
Has anyone mentioned that the old shim might have been worn down to less than they are marked when they were installed? :-\\\
Don't use a caliper to measure the thickness of the shims, use a micrometer. ;)

Eric
 
7981GS said:
Has anyone mentioned that the old shim might have been worn down to less than they are marked when they were installed? :-\\\
Don't use a caliper to measure the thickness of the shims, use a micrometer. ;)

Eric
Click to expand...


This is probably the case. When I first got the bike, it didn't run very well, it would start to smoke out after only a short run. (Can bad clearances cause this?) I took it to a mechanic and had the valves adjusted, but I don't know the specifics. I don't know where he got these shims from, how old the ones were that were already in there, etc. Next time I'll be ready to measure the old ones first.


And i've already been contacted regarding Club Shim, so these brand new shims won't go to waste!
 
Oh, by the way. I managed to muck up the edges of one of my cam lobes in the process. It is obvious to me now that one should not rotate the engine without a shim in the bucket. Damn I'm dumb :(. Damage doesn't seem to hurt anything but my pride.


If anyone is still reading this, I decided to check my clearances because I started to smoke out the front of my exhaust while sitting in traffic after a longish run. When I first got the bike this happened more often, but then I got the clearances adjusted. But this time only one of my clearances was off (.12mm). What is causing this overheat?
 
Did you check the valve clearance using the Suzuki method of positioning the cams?

Overheating often occurs with air cooled engines in heavy traffic and hot weather. Using synthetic oil like Rotella is a good hedge against damage in such situations.
 
Nessism said:
Did you check the valve clearance using the Suzuki method of positioning the cams?

Overheating often occurs with air cooled engines in heavy traffic and hot weather. Using synthetic oil like Rotella is a good hedge against damage in such situations.
Click to expand...


I think so, I used my Hanes manual and Bikecliff's guide. I'll look into a good synth oil, especially for the hot SC summers, thanks!
 
I would recheck everything Usually you would need to go from 2.65 to 2.60 not the other way
 
I second what tkent02 says. Had a devil of a time trying to get correct measurements of the valve shims. Followed how the cam lobes needed to be using an actual service manual and everything worked out just fine.
 
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