valve shims

[diante]

i have heard or read somewhere where you can aquire valve shims by trading or something like that does anyone know anything about this and how does it work, thanks for all the help and suggestions from all.

[Nessism]

Do a search on "shim club" and you will find the info you need.

[doctorgonzo]

About to hit it hard, engine finally assembled last night and with new valve seats cut, and the tips of the valves ground down to accomdate that, NO idea what sizes I'm gonna need, gonna throw mid range 2.50, 2.55 in there and adjust from there.

[Steve]

NO idea what sizes I'm gonna need, gonna throw mid range 2.50, 2.55 in there and adjust from there.

Don't throw them in unless you already have them.

Better to take a few days. Use a small one (2.30 or 2.40) that you can move around, so it has to be an 'extra' shim. That way you can measure your clearance and easily figure out what shims you need and only order them. As an added bonus, if you use metric feelers (or at least use the metric equivalents on the 'inch' feelers), it's easy to see how many shim sizes you need to change. Don't forget to enter your values in the spreadsheet that I sent you just over a year ago.

Diante, yes, there is a 'shim club' run by GhostGS1. Click on this link for more information. Some of us prefer to build our own inventory due to the number of bikes that we have, and get new shims from Z1 Enterprises for about $5.28 each, compared to the dealer price of $11 or 12. Send me an e-mail request, I will send you a copy of the spreadsheet, too. Very handy way to figure out what shims you need and help to keep track of your clearances and shims from one service interval to the next.

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[salty_monk]

I have a 2.15 that I keep just for that purpose

[doctorgonzo]

I was under the impression you never wanted to rotate the engine with no shims in, so I was going to put a shim in each bucket before I started turning the motor to measure. I probably have 20 of various sizes including some 2.30 and 2.35. I'll take an inventory tonight and see what I have. There is an old school bike mechainic in my town woith a box full of them.

[Macmatic]

What is the diameter of GS shims? Are they all the same diameter across engine sizes and years? Also what are the common max and min thicknesses? I've got a box of shims buried out in the garage that (from memory) are about the same size as the shim buckets in an old GS650 head I was looking at the other day.

Thanks,
/\/\ac

[bwringer]

They are 29.5mm diameter, and they were the same in all Suzukis that used shim over bucket.

A common mistake is to substitute 29.0mm shims (from Kawasakis? Can't remember) -- this is a Very Bad Idea.

[Macmatic]

They are 29.5mm diameter, and they were the same in all Suzukis that used shim over bucket.

A common mistake is to substitute 29.0mm shims (from Kawasakis? Can't remember) -- this is a Very Bad Idea.

Thanks! I'll measure what I have out there. I think they are Fiat.

/\/\ac

[Steve]

... 29.0mm shims (from Kawasakis? Can't remember) ...

Yep, Kawasaki and Yamaha have used 29.0mm shims. I have a box of them for my son's Venture.

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