Valve check question

[Guest]

Ok this might be a dumb question but I want to make sure I'm looking at the right valve clearance. I trying to check the value clearance on my 78' GS1000. I'm looking at the service manual and it says:

Tappet Clearance (Cold Engine)-------Standard 0.03~0.08 (0.001~0.003)

This is my valve clearance right? It should be somewhere between .03 and .08?

There's a whole bunch of other valve guides under this as well, that I don't think I need to worry about. Let me know if I do.

Thanks

[Agemax]

you are correct, that is the tolerance they should be set at, although it is better if you can get them all as close as possible, at the higher end of the tolerance.

[UK-GT]

Some say between 0.07 & 0.1 for the exhaust gap as they get hotter, that is what I am doing and I am setting a gap of between 0.05 & 0.08 on the inlets. Just putting my head back on and all the inlet valves need the same shim size, their is a 0.001mm difference between all 4!!

[bwringer]

Make sure you're working with the correct units. Don't mix up thousandths of an inch with hundredths of a mm. (.001" = .0254mm)

It's well worth the lousy ten bucks or so for a metric set of gauges. Most auto parts stores and just about any motorcycle shoppe will have these.

For the shim over bucket GS engines, the proper clearances are 0.03mm - 0.08mm.

These are very, very small clearances. Most feeler gauge sets don't include a .03mm blade, but if your clearances are smaller than .04mm you should change the shim anyway.

Hint: these very thin feeler gauge blades just LOVE to stick together. Before you panic, make sure you're only using one blade at a time. Happens to me two or three times every valve check.

Clearances tend to get tighter over time, so it's worth setting them at the wide end if possible -- up to .10mm - .11mm is perfectly fine.