Valve Adjustment & Coil Questions

[iammulva]

Hey all,

I've spent the better part of today trying to absorb as much as I can about what I should do (or at least verify) to my bike while I'm in the wrenching mood. I have '79 GS 1000E and am rebuilding carbs now and want to try to get as much as I can knocked out now in order to minimize the number of times I have to take it apart again.

First, I've seen several assertions to do a valve adjustment now so I will do that. From what I've read it looks like I need breather and valve cover gaskets (Real Gasket), a shim tool, shims, and feeler gauge. Is there anything else that I'm missing (i.e. something that I couldn't get at O'Reilly on a Saturday)?

Second, my plug wires are cracked and I guess I have original coils(?) under the tank on the top frame tube. I say original because they look old - they are whitish/yellowish cylinders to which the plug wires connect directly. I am really confused as to what things I need to replace vs. which are nice but not necessary to replace. I've looked at Dyna S and Dyna 2000 systems and the first is less than half the price of the second. I don't know which of the two I need or exactly what each does. I've also read the coil relay mod writeup and understand that even if I get one of the two systems above, I probably should still do the relay mod because the wiring harness itself is a potential problem. Can someone explain briefly what part(s) I need and whether I would still need/want to do the coil relay mod along with the new coil installation?

I tried to find this information myself, but I'm inexperienced with both the bike and working on bikes and don't want to buy unnecessary parts or the wrong ones.


Thanks in advance.

Chris
'79 GS 1000E

[Big T]

Your valve shim adjustment list is short 1 thing - Steve's valve shim chart, email him for one. You should wait to order shims so you know which sizes you need or check the GS valve swap club here on the forum

Ignition - you need the Dyna S and the green Dyna coils with wires. Set it once and you're done. I've had mine for 25 years and I can't remember when i last checked it. I kinda stopped after 15 years or so. Points are 1920s tech

Coil relay mod - this is based upon your voltage at the coils - if it's much under 12V, then do it. It's just a relay and some wires and yes, it's a separate issue from new coils

[Turtleface]

Your valve shim adjustment list is short 1 thing - Steve's valve shim chart, email him for one. You should wait to order shims so you know which sizes you need or check the GS valve swap club here on the forum

Ignition - you need the Dyna S and the green Dyna coils with wires. Set it once and you're done. I've had mine for 25 years and I can't remember when i last checked it. I kinda stopped after 15 years or so. Points are 1920s tech

Coil relay mod - this is based upon your voltage at the coils - if it's much under 12V, then do it. It's just a relay and some wires and yes, it's a separate issue from new coils

Big T, I'm looking into replacing the coils, wires, and ignition unit on my 1100 EZ. What's involved with replacing them all at once? I hear just doing wires can be a pain, and was hoping to avoid the hassle and do them all at once. Is it more or less plug 'n play, or just like stockers, but shinier?

[Steve]

Your valve shim adjustment list is short 1 thing - Steve's valve shim chart, email him for one.

I do believe I just got an e-mail from him.

.

[Steve]

And I just sent him a copy.

.

[SqDancerLynn1]

coil replacement is plug & play. I personally prefer to use use the OEM Cam Cover gasket. Real gasket is supposed to be good too???

[mike_of_bbg]

From what I've read it looks like I need breather and valve cover gaskets (Real Gasket), a shim tool, shims, and feeler gauge. Is there anything else that I'm missing (i.e. something that I couldn't get at O'Reilly on a Saturday)?

It's also nice to have a metric micrometer or digital caliper available. Shims come with their sizes printed on the bottom side. But invariably two or three will have worn off and you'll be left to wonder what size they are if you cannot measure.

[qwqb]

just how critical is replacing the breather and vc gaskets when doing to the valve adjustment job?

[2BRacing]

just how critical is replacing the breather and vc gaskets when doing to the valve adjustment job?

If the gaskets are not damaged at all during removal of the covers, you can probably re-use them once or twice again by lightly coating both sides with grease when re-installing. However, gaskets often tend to "stick" to either the cover or the head surface, and get damaged during removal. Do not be tempted to put some kind of "sealer" over this damaged part and hope for the best. You will most probably end up with an oil leak and spend a long time removing the "glued on" gasket the next time around!

[Skateguy50]

I tried to remove the breather a few times... and the bolts just wouldnt give and didnt want to snap or strip them since it is sealed fine and not leaking, so I choose to just leave it be.

As far as the valve cover gasket I read when I did mine about some people having sucess using a "real gasket" that is meant to be reused a lot more than an oem. Well I have to say after a few adjustments its NOT worth it, its to thick making getting the tach to work proper a pain. Also on my particular one they missed a bolt hole and where I had to drill out the gasket to make it fit is the weakest link and likely to tear next time.

Good news is I have an oem that came in a gasket set when I had to replace the head and base gasket, speaking of when you pull the valve cover gasket do yourself a favor and retorque the head gasket bolts. Read a lot on that too and best as I can tell you want to break them free to get a good reading by backing the nut off (one at a time) and then tightening it to spec, some oil might help cut down on thread friction that could throw off the reading. Just do that in the order stamped on the engine, should be numbered.

[Steve]

just how critical is replacing the breather and vc gaskets when doing to the valve adjustment job?

If the gaskets are not damaged at all during removal of the covers, you can probably re-use them once or twice again by lightly coating both sides with grease when re-installing. However, gaskets often tend to "stick" to either the cover or the head surface, and get damaged during removal.

All good advice. How critical is it to replace the gaskets? Let's just say that they hold oil inside the engine. If they don't hold the oil, it might leak out over the (very HOT) exhaust pipes. Need I say more?

I tried to remove the breather a few times... and the bolts just wouldnt give and didnt want to snap or strip them since it is sealed fine and not leaking, so I choose to just leave it be.

Depending on your bike, you may not be able to remove the valve cover if the breather is still attached on top.

As far as the valve cover gasket I read when I did mine about some people having sucess using a "real gasket" that is meant to be reused a lot more than an oem. Well I have to say after a few adjustments its NOT worth it, its to thick making getting the tach to work proper a pain.

You will see it mentioned rather often on this site, although Real Gaskets are a very good product, we don't recommend them for all bikes. Some of the GS bikes have the tach drive in the head, others have it in the valve cover. If yours is in the valve cover, the thicker Real Gasket will reduce the amount of engagement for the tach drive gears. If you have one of the few bikes with an electronic tach, it won't matter.

.

[doctorgonzo]

Unless you want to do it (and making sure no blockage in there is a valid reason to want to) no reason to remove the breather cover. Just keep it bolted to the valve cover undisturbed. If YOU have never taken the valve cover (or breatherc over) off there is a 99.9999999999999% chance the gasket is going to be hard as a rock and stock to the head/cover. So you'll need new gasket, and have to spend some time cleaning the surfaces up. So het a gasket scraper.

Plug wires are a pain the rear WITH OEM coils because they aren't really made to come of. They will come off, and can be replaced, but it involves digging and gluing. Aftermarket coils (Dyna green, Accel, whatever) ARE made to be able to replace the wires. They plug on like the ones in your car. While you're screwing around with the coiuls might as well do the relay mod. It's sure not gonna hurt (if done right).

You'll have to order the shim tool. Not gonna find it local most likely, but you can also make a shim tool using a zip tie (do a search).

[twr1776]

Yesterday, 11:53 PM qwqb just how critical is replacing the breather and vc gaskets when doing to the valve adjustment job?

I know there were some slight changes during the 850's run so this might not pertain to your bike. On my 82 the cam chain tunnel is pretty tall and I do not think you can get the cover off without removing the breather cover first. There were also two different cover gaskets used (16 or 19 hole) as a recall. I am using the Realgasket on mine with the tach drive in cylinder head. I am using the Realgasket on my 1100 and have one ready for the 1000. When I took the cover off the 1000 it came of clean and stuck to the valve cover so I "cheated" and put some high temp grease on the gasket surface and re-installed it. 4K later no leaks but that is your call on re-using it. I did not see it mentioned yet but I would also recommend getting the half moons as well and a metric feeler guage with all the guage sizes you need.

http://www.powersportsrider.com/web/sub/BM1008C0005.HTM

[Big T]

Big T, I'm looking into replacing the coils, wires, and ignition unit on my 1100 EZ. What's involved with replacing them all at once? I hear just doing wires can be a pain, and was hoping to avoid the hassle and do them all at once. Is it more or less plug 'n play, or just like stockers, but shinier?

It's definately plug and play with the Dyna set up

As noted above, the plug wires them selves are not a part of the coil.

On an 82, you probably need to remove the ignitor and such