valve adjustment-my experience

[imlost]

i used the procedure on basscliff's web page for 8 valve engine, went by it exactly, come up with the needed shim change and rechecked them after install and noticed that if i check the valve clearance with the valves at the positions from basscliff's page; #1 exhaust valve pointed forward and check both 1 and 2 at same time the clearance came out on the money, if i check it by the book-note basscliff's page procedure is for a 850 and i have a 550- then it is off,should i have followed the book instead? here is the clearances i have,exhaust-1=.06mm, 2=.11mm, 3=.10mm, 4=.10mm, intake-1=.10mm, 2=.08mm, 3=.08mm, 4=.08mm, i was shooting for .08mm when i calculated them,which i did as such- put a 2.30 valve shim in,took the measurement,added the clearance to the 2.30 and subtracted .08 form it and came up with the shim size needed-this right?, the measurements came out close when i check the clearance with BC's page tutorial, but by the book i have what you see above, can i get away with these numbers or will it cause problems other than noise? sorry so long but hope to have made it clear.
joel

[Steve]

The procedure that BassCliff has on his site IS by the book ... the SUZUKI book.

I would trust that over one of the other gooks for something like that.

Were all your clearances so small that you had to use the 2.30 to check them? If not, the spreadsheet I sent you should have suggested what you needed. As far as changes, It would be ideal if you had an X shim to put into EX 2 and bring that .11 down to a .08. If not, take it down a full size to .06, which is still just above the middle of the spec range.

.

[imlost]

it's done, it runs!!

wow! this took awhile, i completed the valve adjustment properly-per book spec, dipped the carbs and found to need carb 2 as it had the pilot screw locked in place(got a set for shipping only-awesome!). had to remove the oil sump pan because the drain plug hole was stripped,tapped and replaced with a over sized drain plug,as i was doing that, broke off 2 screws in the head to the headers-great!. had to remove the engine and drill and tap both- oh crap, i broke the tap off in the second hole, bought a chemical kit from a place in Cali that had nitric acid in it, used that for 3 days and still had to drill the tap with a diamond tipped dremel kit-only $7.00 from harbor freight(after spending $90.00 on the tap x tap extractor kit(the acid)).bought the insert kit and tap from MC Master-Carr ,another $90.00,went back together with it all and it seems to be ready for the road, just completed the carb sync and next to replace the coils with the green Dyna coils.just thought I'd give one account of how things can really go to sh&t even when it should be an easy task. time will tell if this was worth it.
joel

[SqDancerLynn1]

The Haynes & Chilton give a different procedure for adjustment-- re the difference

[spchips]

While I follow the proper procedure for getting the right valve size, to an extent, I usually follow a more organic process. I have a lox of the "XX" shims, and a total collection of maybe 20 shims. I will play around, and lay all the shims in rough order of increasing size at the start.

I measure a shim off the bike (w/micrometer), figure out where it needs to go, and find the shim that is the best fit for what I want. Sometimes I will swap out again if it's not just right, or if I started with zero clearance shims.

My point is, if you have plenty of shims, you can play around a bit.

However, working on an '89 ninja 1000, the only way to change the shims is to pull the cams. Needless to say, I made a spreadsheet for that job.

[Nessism]

Good job reviving the bike. May the Suzuki god shine down on you with good karma.

Regarding those green coils, if you are using points you might want to add a ballast resistor. The green coils are 3 ohms and the stock points like to see about 4-5 ohms.

Good luck.

[imlost]

coils

already updated the ignition to the Dyna,spoke w/them at Z1 about that
joel