Valve cover

[ssco156]

This is the first time I will be having a look at the valve clearances on my GS450. Before starting, I have a few queries which I hope someone can help me with:

1) Do I need to replace the half-moons?

2) Do I put sealant on the half-moons?

3) I'm not keen on taking the RHS engine cover off as the original Jap screws are still there and I remember the problems I faced when removing the LHS cover to replace the stator. Is there any other way to rotate the crankshaft manually?

Any help will be appreciated.

[GregT]

1/ No
2/ Yes
3/ Buy an impact driver and bits. The screws to remove are only 5mm unlike the LHS 6mm.

[eil]

Greg nailed it. Also, Suzuki used JIS screws made out of plated mozzarella, lots of us replace them with stainless steel metric allen-head bolts.

[oldGSfan]

Dang that's why I say mamma mia every time I strip one!

Greg nailed it. Also, Suzuki used JIS screws made out of plated mozzarella, lots of us replace them with stainless steel metric allen-head bolts.

[ssco156]

1/ No
2/ Yes
3/ Buy an impact driver and bits. The screws to remove are only 5mm unlike the LHS 6mm.

Apologies for not coming back sooner and thanks for your advice. Do those screws take a P2 or P3 driver?

[tom203]

Apologies for not coming back sooner and thanks for your advice. Do those screws take a P2 or P3 driver?

They are JIS standard….. not as pointy as our p2 and p3 . If you grind the point off a p2 , it will fit nicely…..mark the screw location as you remove them, one or two might be longer

[Gorminrider]

The medium (#2) is the most useful. I have set of bits from GoFast Innovations that is very handy. The bits fit the run-of-the-mill multidriver and if the impact driver has too large a socket and square drive, it's easy to use adapters from a socket set to suit them

Sometimes, you can do without an impact driver by just tapping on a screwdriver's handle while twisting it...but that wouldn't suit most Multi bit drivers with hollow handles