Valve clearances, please hold my hand....

[agentpineapple]

I can ride down to tonys house and collect it tomorrow morning, I might even ride up to yours and drop it off, i'm still dreaming about those welsh roads, I wished I lived closer to them...

[Jamoi]

I can ride down to tonys house and collect it tomorrow morning, I might even ride up to yours and drop it off, i'm still dreaming about those welsh roads, I wished I lived closer to them...

Woah dude, you really don't have to do that! Although, pretty bloody amazing if you did.

If you could drop it off to my mate in Dagenham, then that would be amazing too.

All dependant on Tony's 185 shim stock levels of course

then it's bike back together, oil change, new plugs, repacked exhausts back on with new gaskets & fine tune carbs

[lloydie]

I have a bag of shims but feck if I can read the numbers on them :-( .
And don't think they would get there in time

[VTRDark]

You need a micrometer to read the shim sizes. Make sure you calibrate the micrometer to zero first.

(:-})

[Jscobey]

Cheers Carlos, do you loctite everything up?

Unless the manual calls for thread locker, dont put loctite on it. As long as its torqued to spec, it will stay there

[VTRDark]

As long as its torqued to spec, it will stay there

Unless a bolt snaps. After lots of removals and installations which one could easily do with valve clearances and you also don't know how many times they have been removed beforehand, the bolt/thread can stretch. If done up to the specified torque there is a good chance of one snapping leaving you with a broken thread in the top of the head. Always best to check the condition of the bolts and toque it up to just under spec to be on the safe side unless you have one of these which I believe takes stretched bolts into consideration.

(:-})

[8541Hawk]

You need a micrometer to read the shim sizes. Make sure you calibrate the micrometer to zero first.

(:-})

This is am often overlooked step. You should not just trust the number on the shim.
While a micometer is the proper tool I normally use my digital calipers to take the readings.

Then again it could just be me over thinking the job again.....

But I do get a lot of miles out of my engines....

[VTRDark]

I tried using digital callipers (verniers) and found the reading would vary slightly depending on the pressure of my thumb holding the scroll wheel adjuster thingy closed. My vernier is not the best quality though. What I like about the micrometer is the way it clicks like a ratchet once it starts to feel resistance so I would stop on exactly the 3rd click. It also adjusts in .25 increments which I find convenient.

For anyone not knowing how to use a micromter there's a great write up on wiki
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-and-Read-an- ... Micrometer

and if you want to test yourself on what you ha e learnt
http://www.linnbenton.edu/auto/day/mike/read.html

(:-})

[8541Hawk]

I tried using digital callipers (verniers) and found the reading would vary slightly depending on the pressure of my thumb holding the scroll wheel adjuster thingy closed. My vernier is not the best quality though. What I like about the micrometer is the way it clicks like a ratchet once it starts to feel resistance so I would stop on exactly the 3rd click. It also adjusts in .25 increments which I find convenient.

For anyone not knowing how to use a micromter there's a great write up on wiki
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-and-Read-an- ... Micrometer

and if you want to test yourself on what you ha e learnt
http://www.linnbenton.edu/auto/day/mike/read.html

(:-})

Well those years as a prototype machinist made so I am pretty good with my calipers and I do have a good set but yes a mic is the proper toll for the job

[Jamoi]

With any luck I will have the correct shim to get me back to tolerance tonight!!

I'll revisit the others when I do the winter strip down.

I went a bit nuts with gasket sealant on the cam covers last year, so I spent about 2 hours picking it all out last night

[Ckennedy]

Glad to hear you will have it sorted in time for the stag run how have you found your first experience with buckets and shims?

[Jamoi]

Well the fat lady hasn't sung yet

Still have quite a bit to do, cans are in bits and have a big crack in my header

Plenty of scope for fecking up the shim install yet

[Ckennedy]

Haha, you best get a move on with all that still to do. All these problems with have with bikes, why do we have them

[Jamoi]

Less of a headache than having a missus though

I'm gunna pull a late night and get the bugger done

[Ckennedy]

Your telling me it's less of a headache, cheaper too