7k miles GS650g - Valve clearance adjustment?

[Tino]

Hello all.
Could someone tell me if a 1982 GS650g with only 7000 miles should need a valve clearance adjustment. I will be rebuilding/tuning the carburetor and need to know if I should be checking/adjusting the valve clearances first.
If I have to check the valves I will have to buy a gasket to replace the old one after done.
Also not very clear of how to measure the clearances. Are there any directions out there on the web on how to do this. I have seen one on the BassCliff web site but doesn't exactly show what to measure.

thanks in advance.

[bwringer]

Yes, check the valves. Valve checks are due every 4,000 miles, and it's more than likely they've never been checked.

Sounds like a nice bike, too!

[Nessism]

Yes, check your valves. If you look at the Suzuki specified maintainance interval, you are over due.

Basscliff's tutorial is excellent in my opinion. The clearance is measured between the cam lobe and the valve shim on top the shim bucket. Very simple.

[Dave8338]

Hard to say. It is recommended to do it at the 6000- mile interval. I guess I would at least check them, as then you'll know. On the other hand, if it starts good cold, has no major vibrations in the 4-8K RPM range and is easy to set up (carbs & sync)...then you may choose not to. Me...Id check them.

[hampshirehog]

Hi - I think the service interval on checking valve clearances is 3000 miles in distance and probably somewhat less than 26 years in time! So yes, you should really check those clearances.

I thought BassCliff's site showed the operation pretty clearly but if you can't see it you need to set the cam lobes up as per pics and push a feeler gauge between the cam lobe and the shim. Less than .03 mm (I'd say less than 0.04mm to be safer) or greater than 0.08mm (or 0.1mm really) and you need to change the shim.

I bet you won't get the valve cover off without damaging the gasket if this is the first time in 26 years it's been off. On the other and, you might win the lottery on the same day.

[Tino]

Thanks for the replies.
The fact is that the previous owner complained about being very hard to start it when cold.
The other this is the bike has a heck of a vibration. It is my very first bike and don't have much experience but the fact that I feel like I am connected to 1000 vibrating phones, tells me something is wrong.

[Tino]

And one more thing, in the BassCliff presentation he was mentioning about a tool used in the removal of the shim. I guess to push down the bucket to pull the shim.
Any idea what type of tool is that?

[Nessism]

And one more thing, in the BassCliff presentation he was mentioning about a tool used in the removal of the shim. I guess to push down the bucket to pull the shim.
Any idea what type of tool is that?

Yes, to push down the shim. Z1 Enterprises sells the tool, and shims, for reasonable prices.

[BassCliff]

You'll see it when you get there

Hi Mr. Tino,

Do you see the cam lobe pointing forward in the picture below?



What you are measuring is the amount of space between that cam lobe and the shim under it. Put your feeler gauge in there. It should measure between .03mm and .08mm (closer to .08mm, if you can). I like using millimeters instead of inches. I should have taken a picture of the feeler gauge in use. I'll update my guide when I get a chance.

Here's the tool you want. Click on the picture to go to Z1 Enterprises.



Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[bwringer]

Definitely work in mm instead of inches. 1/100th of a mm is much smaller than 1/1000th of an inch, and if you confuse the two, it can get ugly and noisy.

A set of metric feeler gauges is maybe $6 at the corner auto parts store. Get yourself a set muy pronto.

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Tino,

Here's a couple more pictures to help show you what you're measuring.

Here you see the shim in the bucket and the lobe. Measure between them. Slide your feeler gauge on top of the shim where #1 is pointing.



This is not a great picture, but it shows feeler gauges in the right spots (#1).



Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[bwringer]

Man, somebody needs to make a video of a shim valve check.

I just did mine a couple of weeks ago, though...

Who's:

1) next

2) knows what they're doing

3) has a reasonably sober pal and a video camera

4) can post a vid on teh interweb tubes

???????

[Dave8338]

Sounds like a plan...

I'm about due again and Arnie is great with the vid-cam. I'll invite him and the wife out for dinner some night and get er done (lest someone else beats me to it)

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. bwringer,

I've got a valve check coming up in less than 1000 miles. I'll try to remember to shoot a little video of this crucial step.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[gadang]

Hope you don't mind me asking on this thread but is it normal/possible that a valve adjustment can go "out" after only about 800 miles? Also could bad intake o-rings cause vibrations?

Thanks for your help!