valve clearance check 1980 GS450ET

[surviverguy]

I had a new old stock OEM valve cover gasket, so I decided to take the valve cover off and check valve clearances. The odometer shows less than 11K miles. The thinnest feeler gauge I had was .0015" and it wouldn't fit between the cams and shims on any of the four valves. While .0015 isn't quite the minimum it's close.
Looks like I'm gonna need some shims and proper tools. Bought myself a set of thin metric feeler gauges .02mm-1.0mm, a Suzuki valve tappet depressor and a metric dial caliper (just to make it easier).
It took a long time to remove the old gasket from the engine and cover. I'm glad to have gotten that cleaning done. I installed the new gasket with some grease smeared on both sides of the gasket and put the cover back on.
I'm waiting for the tools to arrive to properly measure clearances and shim sizes. I have downloaded the valve adjusting page for notations. Soon I'll know what shims I need to install.
I'm glad I checked. I think they're all too tight. I wouldn't have imagined that they'd be so tight with so few miles (<11,000).

[Nessism]

This might speed you along...http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...ol_zip_tie.pdf

[surviverguy]

Thanks Nessism for the tie strap idea. I actually tried holding a valve down by using a tie strap, but didn't think of doubling it. The main problem I'm having is not being able to measure the clearance. I think there is some although very small. I'll try tomorrow and see if the shims will rotate or not. Rotation indicating that some clearance exists.
I was cooking dinner tonight using some aluminum foil. Then I got the idea to measure the foil. It measures very close to .001" maybe it'll fit in there?

[surviverguy]

Another idea I've had is try some dental floss! Maybe dental floss will fit between the cam and the tappets? The valve cover will come back off easily. The fuel tank is still off as well as the horn.

[surviverguy]

Managed to get dental floss to fit as a feeler gauge in a couple. Clearance is basicaly practicaly zero. Removed the shims and measured them and reinstalled them all (4)one at a time. Created a Z1 parts order today. Thanks again Nesssm- you saved me lots of time on this! The folded tie strap "tool" works great. I even ordered two extra shims- anticipating future needs...! Those six shims have me runnin' in spec for many 1,000's of miles. I'm sure the engine is happy also to get some valve lash again. It wasn't too far from burned valve syndrome at only 11K miles.