Ticking in my cylinder head?????

[Guest]

I just rebuilt my whole motor, and had the cylinder head shaved and the valves and seats cut at a machine shop. When I started the engine for the first time yesterday I noticed a slight tick on the right hand side of the cylinder head, I checked the compression and it is 160psi on all cylinder. Oh by the way this is a 1983 gs1100 16 valve motor. Can enyone tell me what the ticking could be, I shimed all the valves and the seat and valves were cut so I'm not sure what else the tick could be.... PLease help make my engine run smooth and quiet again.

[tkent02]

You shimmed all the valves on a 1983 gs1100 16 valve motor? OK.

[Suzuki_Don]

Sounds like it's the SHIMS to me??????????????

I'm with Tom on this!!!!!!!!!

[koolaid_kid]

00., the entire forum is gonna be on your case until you admit you mispoke yourself somewhere in that paragraph and offer corrections.
1) You don't shave a head, you mill it. Not trying to put too fine a point on it, but the machine they put it on is called a milling machine, hence the name. I will explain further in a moment.
2) We are interpreting shimed as shimmed. 8 valve engines use shim over bucket, 16 valve engines use a screw type tappet with a locking nut. It's pretty much either / or. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
3) If you did mill the head, you need to slot the cam sprockets and degree the cams using a degree wheel. This must be done, since you have changed the relationship between the factory marks and the new correct marks. At the very least, the cam lobes will not be in the correct location for maximum performance.
4) If you did not degree the cams, it is entirely possible that the ticking you are hearing has to do with the relationship between the valve positions and the piston positions.

I'm not trying to bust your balz, not at all. But if we are to offer assistance we need all the facts correctly laid our for us.
Hope this helps.
kk

[tom203]

Mr. 00. is probably getting his terminology jumbled up. They (machine shop) could have "shaved" head by using surface grinder to kiss off a few thousands to flatten it; Any more than this seems unnecessary, but like koolaid-kid said, if lots of material came off, then cam timing is off as cams centerline is closer to cranks.
I'd heard people refer to tappet adjustments as shimming- it does envolve changing a space- maybe Mr. 00. is part of this crowd!

[koolaid_kid]

You make a valid point, tom. The machine shop may have just milled it enough to true the head, rather than to increase compression. For example, my GPz head is milled 0.015" for performance reasons. But if the head was slightly warped they may have just removed a few thousandths to make it perfectly flat again.
Haven't heard of the shimming vs. adjusting bit before, but it is certainly possible.

[00.]

Ok, wow sorry got a bunch of stuff wrong there I was in a rush, but yes I have the 16 valve so they have the adjustable screws; also the machine shop only just took of the gasket inperfections on the bottom of the head so I should not need to degree the cam. Basically I think everything should be good on the head, I did not lap the valves because the seats and valves were cut by the machine shop and they said I don't need to lap them so I did not, I usualy always lap the valves when I replace valve seals but this time they were cut so I didn't do it. I just don't know why I have darn tick, its fairly loud too, I have an other gs1100 16valve engine and that one is way quiter on my other bike. Hope some one can help

[TheCafeKid]

Im gonna assume you installed all new exhaust gasket when you put it back together? And your positive your sparkplugs are tight? If you've re-used a set of plugs make sure they're snugged good. The crush washers often don't seal well after being torqued down the first time. My old 1100 would pretty regularly have a plug back out and if left unchecked eventually it would "tick" from air passing from around the plug.

Also check your plug boots and wires. I've had cracked boots or wires arc on the head and that makes a ticking noise too.

Other than that, check your cam timing to be sure it's right, check the torque on your head bolts...etc etc

[00.]

I will check the plugs and boots it could be that, it is deffinetally coming from the right side of the enginge top head. I did put new gaskets on the exhausts so I'm fairly sure they are good but I will check all these things they sound simple but I might of forgot. If it is not any of these problems I might have to take the head apart or atleast the valve cover. I just painted the engine and don't want to screw it all up again. Darn Tick. the bikerides like a dream thoug....

[sedelen]

Ticking also on my '82 GS1100E, valves recently adjusted prior. Annoying at best, worrisome at worst so far..............

[koolaid_kid]

Perhaps one of the boots is not seated properly and the spark is arcing from the boot to the plug?