valve adjustment on a 650 is different!

[tconroy]

I tried to do a valve adjustment with the cam lobe facing parallel and facing forward on the engine and could not get any readings.My clymers manual says the cam lobe should be straight up or a 90 degree angle to the tappet.The widest clearance I get is when the cam lobe is straight up like the clymers shows.Is the 650 a different animal all together??? I set my valves just like the clymers shows.If I would have tried it with the cam lobe facing forward parallel to the top of the engine it would be open a mile!!!Please tell me I did it right.I have friends with other gs's and none of there bikes are even close to the 650 when it comes to maintenece like this.I have always followed the clymers and had good luck.I turned my engine 1/16th of an inch till I could clear it with my feeler gauge in 0.03mm trying every position possible.Has anybody wiht a 650 done this before and found this out?????

[Steve]

When I did my 650, I was not yet informed of the 'correct' way to set the cams. I checked the clearance with the lobe pointing straight away from the valve. I have not gone back to re-check them, so I don't know if they are wrong or not.

The last time I did the valves on my wife's 850, I compared the 'straight-across from the valve' method with the book-recommended 'parallel or perpendicular to the head' method, and did not see any difference. The only advantage of the book method that I noticed is that you can check more valves with fewer movements of the crank. For each crank position, you can check 2 or 4 valves at a time.


.

[tconroy]

When I did my 650, I was not yet informed of the 'correct' way to set the cams. I checked the clearance with the lobe pointing straight away from the valve. I have not gone back to re-check them, so I don't know if they are wrong or not.

The last time I did the valves on my wife's 850, I compared the 'straight-across from the valve' method with the book-recommended 'parallel or perpendicular to the head' method, and did not see any difference. The only advantage of the book method that I noticed is that you can check more valves with fewer movements of the crank. For each crank position, you can check 2 or 4 valves at a time.


.

That's the way the clymers say's to do it.the lobe must be straight away from the valve.I measured them by turning the lobe till i found the biggest difference and went from there.I had to change 4 shims to get good measurements and now I have 5 of them at 0.08 2 at0.07 and 1 at 0.06 and that's at the widest opening I could find so I guess that,s good.

[Steve]

I had to do a double-take when reading the book, though. On page 54, instruction #8 says to position the lobe as pictured in picture #66, which is straight up (perpendicular to the head). Then, in instruction #9, it says to insert the feeler gauge as shown in picture #68 which shows the lobe straight away from the valve.

Which one is correct? I would put my money on the Suzuki book, but would have to actually check the differences myself. If I remember, I will compare the readings next time I check the valves. 8-[


.

[Nessism]

If you use the factory cam position you check/adjust the valves in pairs of adjacent valves. Theory goes this is best since both adjacent valves are on their base circle, and the cam is not skewed within the journal clearance by one of them pressing upward on the cam.

Note that the factory position has the exhaust cam facing forward when exhaust valves are checked but intakes are checked with the cam at 90 degrees.

Not sure how critical this is but I'd trust Suzuki over Clymer.

[waterman]

I have adjusted valves on a 650 by both methods, and would have to agree with Nessism's advice in that the suzuki method allows you to check the clearance of more valves at once. As he states the suzuki method takes the tension out of the camshaft caused by the lobes pressing the springs. The suzuki method has you check two adjacent cylinders, 1 and 2 exhausts, 1 and 2 intakes, 3 and 4 exhaust and finally 3 and 4 exhausts.

I have noticed that clymer adjusted valve clearances are different than suzuki. It was usually minor, either way will still result in a motor running satisfactory. I now only use the Suzuki method because it gives consistent results. Since your keeping the clearances on the upper side, you will not be needing to change many shims for a while.

[tconroy]

I guess I did it right but i made sure to check in every position i could to find the clearance FIRST and then made the adjustment needed for each cam.4 of them were tight at 0.03mm so I went 0.05 up and got them to 0.08.i just dont want them open any further due to bad measurements.This is the first time I have done this.

[themess]

The Suzuki manual specifies the identical method for the 850s and 650s.