This looks really good. Too bad all your pictures are gone.

 

Noted and fixed.... yeah, yeah, it took me a while, but I got 'er done.

I think I got all the pics right. My original pic storage was on Webshots which is now defunct. Re-uploaded them to Photobucket, so they should be good for a while now.

Thanks for being patient everyone.

 

Thanks, you pictures and write-up made it very easy to adjust my valve clearance.
My intake was still in spec but at the bottom end 0.10 mm, My exhaust was 0.18 mm. I intended to adjust both because a 0.05 change would keep both in spec at 0.15 IN and 0.23 EX but the Hot Cams kit only has 3 of each size. The new Kit shims marked 3.00 measured 3.015, giving me a 0.14 measured gap on the intake. I left the exhaust as is at 0.18. All existing shims measured exactly 3.05 and all are wearing the same (about 0.01 mm in 6500 miles) based on my last measurement. I wonder if anyone else has seen a similar ware rate.

 

Great info, I'm booking marking this thread

On the first page there was a mention of being careful not to drop a shim that may be stuck to the lifter-maybe putting a magnet atop the lifter first would be a good idea

 

To make sure you don't drop a shim, you can get one of the new super-strong Neodymium really cheap on Ebay. Like the thread mentions, just hold it onto the top of the bucket when you pull it off.

NOTE: Those new magnets are not toys. I bought a stack of 10 1"x1"x1/2". While checking out one of them, the other stack of 9 shot off the table about 6" away and pinched my hand between the magnet I was holding. Made a good little blood blister. I think the pull force between two of those magnets was something like 82 pounds.

 

KLXRELIC,

I used your tutorial to change my valve shims this weekend. Everything went as you described.

I did find, though, that it was not necessary to completely remove the cam from the timing chain to access the lifters / shims, so I did not. There was enough slack in the chain to simply move the cam up and toward the center of the head. Since the cam never left the timing chain, when I put it back in place it was in perfect time. I might add that I only had to deal with the intake side, since my exhaust valves were well within spec.



Thank you very much for the help.

 

No problemo.... and thanks for the additional info!

 

Well, I have finally sacked up and had a go at my KLX valve clearances. Found TDC, took the cam chain tensioner out, zip tied the cam chain to the cam chain wheels so I don't have to worry about timing, and went about the measuring.

The manual says Exhaust clearances should be 0.15mm to 0.24mm and mine are 0.19mm each side, so they are nicely in spec.

The manual says Intake clearances should be 0.10mm to 0.19mm but both seem to be totally closed on my bike - I cannot even get the 0.03mm feeler gauge in. I am definitely on TDC so it's not that the cams are in the wrong position. This might explain why the bike has not wanted to start and when it was last running it kept spluttering out if the revs weren't kept up quite high.

Right, so I took the bracket holding down the cams off and removed the valve covers that the cam pushes on out. I think they're called "buckets"? Anyway, these things:


Inside the buckets it seems the shims are magnetic and are stuck to the top of the inside of the buckets. I took them out and measured them with my screw micrometer to both be 2.805mm thick and they have a diameter of 7.5mm. When I look at the in the right light you can see that they have "Hot cams 2.80" stamped on them so I am pretty sure I have the right things:


So now, getting the correct shims to put the valve clearances back in spec is going to be a bit of a guess because I cannot get the feeler gauge in to measure the gap. So I guess we work on the assumption that the clearance is 0... so to get a clearance in range I should be aiming to get shims that are between 0.10mm and 0.19mm thinner, right? So that would mean I am looking for shims measuring between 2.70mm (2.80-0.10) and 2.61mm (2.80-2.61) thick? Can someone in "the know" confirm that for me?

Given the stock shims are 3.0mm thick and my ones from the last adjustment are 2.80mm's, I'm just wondering how much thinner I can go before I need some serious work done to the head for new valves and valve seats? Anyone have any info for me?

 

The shims aren't magnetic-it's just the oil film holding the shim in place. I'd try a shim that is .2 mm thinner and see where you end up. Also be aware that while the chain will remain in the same place on the top end it is possible for the chain to slip on the crank sprocket when you remove tension so verify that every thing is lined up when you put it back together.
I would also be very wary of the valves if they have lost that much clearance.

 

Thanks. I just installed 2.6mm shims and it only just got the clearances back to 0.10mm. My first attempt to start the bike was unsuccessful but I suspect the fairly flat battery is partly to blame. I have just put a charger on it and will see how I go later.

Thanks - I did check that and everything seemed to be OK. Was worth checking just for peace of mind though.

Yeah, you might be onto something there. Thing is, I'm not willing to throw money at getting it sorted out though as I am going to sell her. Wish I hadn't paid for the registration renewal and insurance already coz I would probably have just parted the bike out and got what I could for it. Now that I've spent on getting the bikes rego I may as well get it running again and sell it in a working state. I'm not going to get much for it anyway as I cannot verify the milage and you can see the bike is well used. Oh well.