valve clearances

[alke46]

A friend who used to run a repair shop always preferred to set the valves at .002-.004 instead of the suggested .001-.003. He said the settings of a Kawasaki was .002-.004 and he thought that was better. Would there be any problems with doing it this way?

He also liked to take a center punch and lightly peen the area where the gasket would sit on the head.....claimed it helped stop any seepage after the cover is put on.
My question is: was this guy onto something helpful or was he just full of doo-doo?

Thanks,
Larry

[Nessism]

Allowing an extra .001” on the clearance is fine, no big deal either way. Peening the valve cover surface is detrimental and can lead to leaks. I’ve never seen an industrial application where the mating surfaces between two parts is roughed up on purpose.

[Larry D]

A friend who used to run a repair shop always preferred to set the valves at .002-.004 instead of the suggested .001-.003. He said the settings of a Kawasaki was .002-.004 and he thought that was better. Would there be any problems with doing it this way?

He also liked to take a center punch and lightly peen the area where the gasket would sit on the head.....claimed it helped stop any seepage after the cover is put on.
My question is: was this guy onto something helpful or was he just full of doo-doo?

Thanks,
Larry

I would advise you to set the valves at the recommended settings for YOUR bike. It is not a Kaw.
The head gasket surface should be flat. I would think peening it would only encourage leakage around the gasket.
I'm no expert, but it seems common sense to me.

Also go to the User CP at the top left of this screen and edit your signature to include what bike you're riding.It will keep people from asking you all the time.

[hampshirehog]

Peening a gasket surface is an ancient technique used on engines circa 1920's and before (or about that era) and I haven't heard of anyone doing this since I was a nipper.

The idea was that old castings could be quite a bit out of true so you gave them a bit of a bash and used a thick gasket or gasket compound which could 'ebb and flow' to fill the troughs and peaks. (Red Hermitite era - remember that? I reckon 99% of all that red stuff ever produced is still in existence and they'll be finding it in the fossil record in a million years time).

Totally not applicable to modern engines (a GS is comfortably 'modern' in this instance) where casting and machining tolerances are well sorted.

Having said that it might be an appropriate technique to use on some of these cheapo Chinese bikes coming on the market - some of those engine castings are atrocious. (Said tongue in cheek as even these bikes are better machined than a Sturminister 1000 V twin).

[alke46]

thanks for your input guys. I did not want to peen the head anyway, now this just validates my own thoughts.

[rapidray]

Actually, the peening was in a way to help stop leaks but the real reason it was done was to keep the gasket in place by giving it something to hold onto. It is ANCIENT technology! DON'T do it! Ray.

[Steve]

He said the settings of a Kawasaki was .002-.004 and he thought that was better.

Just wondering which Kawasaki he was usingn for reference.

When I had my KZ400 and KZ650, I was new enough to bikes and really did not keep them long enough to learn about valve clearances beyond the fact that this was something that I had the dealer do when necessary. I did, however, check the valves on my KZ1300 and later on my Voyager 1300. Clearances on those bikes were .006"-.010" for the intakes and .010"-.014" for the exhausts. I certainly would not want to use those numbers on my GS.


.

[Nessism]

Most likely refering to the KZ DOHC family...which Suzuki apparently copied when they made the GS engine.