Buy shims before or after clearance check?

[Guest]

Hi guys, just preparing myself to make a start sorting out the bike. One of the many jobs I have is the valve clearances. My question is- when you check your clearances how do you know what shims to buy beforehand? Do you check all clearances, do the maths then buy the required shims? How do you guys go about it?

[steveb922]

Check, then buy/borrow/steal as required. Do you have a copy of Steve's spreadsheet?

[hampshirehog]

Check all your clearances and when you have a gap too large or small remove the shim and record the thickness and pop it back in. Once you know what you've got you can shuffle the things around (but don't turn the cams without a shim in place) and then buy in what you need.

Make sure you follow the Suzuki manual way to check the clearances as well.

[Steve]

My question is- when you check your clearances how do you know what shims to buy beforehand? Do you check all clearances, do the maths then buy the required shims? How do you guys go about it?

My first reaction is "you're kidding, right?", then I realize it's obvious that you have never done anything like this before.

If you are feeeling really extravagant, you can buy a "complete" shim kit for a couple hundred Pounds, but about half of the shims that it will include will be larger than anything you will ever use, so it's all wasted.

The only way to know what you need to buy is to see what your actual clearances are, then inventory your shims to see what you have, then buy the ones that you need.

Do you have a copy of Steve's spreadsheet?

Not yet, but I have a feeling there might be an incoming e-mail soon.

Devon bloke, look down there for the info.

.

[kdo58]

http://www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDetails.aspx?itemDescription=Valve+Shim+Kit+29.5mm&item=KL13-7008

[Steve]

http://www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDet...item=KL13-7008

Yep, good example of a kit that costs too much and includes a BUNCH of shims that you will never use.

Cheaper than I thought, though.

.

[chuck hahn]

And notice the huge leaps in sizes in that kit..no 2.65s for example. Its been my experience your gonna only need the 2.70 or smaller ones and the others up to the 3.0 are all just wasted shims in that kit.

My adivce is to do the checks and swap as many around as you can. Then when you know whats left and what youll need, get them from Ray at the shim club, swap them out and send Ray back the old ones youll not need.

[Devon bloke]

My first reaction is "you're kidding, right?", then I realize it's obvious that you have never done anything like this before

.

Steve, swopping shims about maybe bread-and-butter-can-do-with-my-eyes-closed-one-arm-tied-behind-my-back for you, but for me, it aint

I am an ex mechanic but the last time I did shims was working in a fully kitted out workshop with a ton of tools. This was on light vehicles in the 80's which is why Im asking a ton of (seemingly) dumb questions as im new to bike mechanics. Please bear with me as I promise to learn fast and ask less stupid questions. Well there might be the odd one occasionally ok? BTW ive never been on a forum with such a huge supply of useful info. Ive already saved about a dozen pages to be read later

Steve (yes another one)

[Steve]

Have you visited "The Library" yet?

.

[Devon bloke]

Have you visited "The Library" yet?

.

Yep. Very cool

[bwringer]

Very strange -- that shim kit is $116, and only includes 20 shims.

Eight, possibly ten of those shims (2.80 and larger) are sizes you'll never use in a GS (valve clearances always get tighter with mileage, and exhaust valve clearances tend to change faster) unless perhaps you rebuild an engine with new valve seats and valves. Plus, the kit skips the .05 shim increments, so it's not all that useful anyway.

(BTW, I've seen 2.80 and 2.90 shims in newer GS500 engines, but so far never anything larger than a 2.75 in a vintage engine. The smallest shim I've used in a high-mileage GS is a 2.40. YMMV, of course.)

I guess you get a nice box, but you can find a box with compartments almost anywhere for under $10.

Individual shims are only $6 each.

So, even if you want a kit, it makes a lot more sense to assemble your own. First, see what's in your bike and order the shims to make things right. Then assess where you are and what you're likely to need in the future, then order up the shims you're likely to need. Make sure you have at least two of each, and order in .05mm increments.

For example, if you have two exhaust valves and an intake that happen to have 2.60 shims, you might want to have three 2.55 shims available.

You can get individual shims down to 2.20mm, so if you work on other bikes you might want to order one of these as a "checking" shim. If you encounter the common situation where there's no valve clearance, you can install the 2.20 shim, measure the gap, and get in the ballpark. If there's still no clearance with the 2.20, then you likely have a burned valve.

[hampshirehog]

Standard the shims go down to 2.15.

[srg]

How do you guys go about it?

http://guglielmo.us/mc/valve_clearances.html