Can shop vac. affect valve clearance?

[ptomkrvr]

I adjusted my valves by the book, the Suzuki manual that coveres the '83 GS 1100 GLD 8 valve, which mine is. I finally got them to between 0.05mm to 0.07mm, or damn close to that. I checked the next morning after turning it over a little bit, same thing. After this, I drilled and tapped for a repair for a broken cam cover bolt with help from this site, thanks. That done(I hope) I removed the covering for the metal bits from the top of the motor, and thought to vaccum around the cam and valve areas. I was turning the cam to inspect the lobes when I thought to check the valves again. Now they are all tight! 0.03 wouldn't fit under some. I turned over the motor for 30 sec. a coupla times, and checked again, still tight. I'm stumped. Could I have created some oil pressure build up thingy with the vac? I will check again in the morning. Advise welcome, thanks. PS. Hope this question doesn't come up twice...long story.

[ptomkrvr]

I was just in the garage thinking about it. How 'bout this? The valves weren't at 0, as I guessed when I first adjusted them. I supposed this because I still could easily rotate the shim before adjustment. After adjusting the valves, that play was then taken up by the compression of the crud on the valves, caused by them being tight. I should have said I just recently bought the thing, it has 12K., and looks like it wasn't broken much, or maintained either. If this conjecture is true, what then? Adjust again, and cross my fingers? thanks

[Dogma]

If the valves themselves have crud on the seats holding them open, that would appear as more clearance under the cams. Not sure what crud would have moved there.

Vacuuming around the area shouldn't have had any effect. Are you sure positioned the cam lobes the same way you did when you fist checked them? The cams aren't perfectly round on the back side where the valves aren't held open. Just throwing ideas out there.

[TheCafeKid]

uhhh.. that doesnt make one bit of sense... at all. If you didnt follow the manual for lobe positioning, then your measurements could be askew because of loading against the cam by the other cylinders valves... they're all spring loaded man. Under that shim, there is a bucket, under the bucket there are springs, and the valve stem.. Theres no oil pressure, or anything like that...

[ptomkrvr]

Thanks, I adjusted them when I had the top of the "egg" pointing up. I don't think I could have been off by much,coupla dagrees, maybe. There was a fellow who said he did his at a right angle to the shim, et all, my book said pointing up, so I went that way. I will double check the book, Suzuki manual, that is.

[tkent02]

The technique shown in the Suzuki manual is the one to use, the other methods give bogus results. It's as TCK implied, the cam must be in the position where there is no pressure applied to it from the adjacent cylinder's valves, as it skews the readings. The Suzuki method is also much quicker and easier.

[ptomkrvr]

I found the answer. My fumble fingers could not tell I was holding both the .03 and .04 together. They were lined up identically, and I didn't think to try and separate them, to make sure. I hoped that it was some oversight, and not a mechanical problem. That's great, stuff like that drives me to distraction, drives me to distraction...sound like something from Zane Grey, but I'm not giving up my contractions. Again, thanks to all.

[Skateguy50]

Not to throw you off or anything, but just double check that you are using a 0.03 mm feeler gauge. I know some you order online will get that tiny but the one I got at the automotive store reads 0.03 but that is inches not metric, I have to use a 2.30 shim as my measuring shim to calculate what size to put in.

[081dbx64]

My manual says for the intake you have the egg pointing up and for the exhaust it points forward or parallel.

[ptomkrvr]

Thanks, gotcha. I am lucky to have a good Suzuki dealership close here in Frederick, they sold me a nice tapered set. I'm blessed with deslexia, among other stuff, and did set them all wrong the first time. In my case, the 4th time was the charm. To add to all this, today I also put on the carbs that I had rebuilt. It ran smooth! Next time I get to go to new ground and play with my new carbosincothingy. Up to this point, most of what I have done, I have done before, not that it's old hat, hell, I forgot half of it. Thanks for the heads up. This was supposed to" quote" Skateguy, but I hit the wrong button...again. To 081dbx64(cathey number), it seems to me you need to get all the info. you can, and pick the most used. This site,and manuals as well, are kind of like the bible, you can find whatever you want in them. Good luck to us all.