Valve Clearance Adjustment Question

[dirtyharry]

hey guys,
ive recently bought a 03 modem vtr1000f (sydney, australia). Great bike, really love it. one owner, hardly ridden.
Anyway it has 11,000km on the clock and valve clearance should be done at around 24,000km.
Now should i do the clearance even though the bike hasnt reached 24,000km but its 9 years of age? or would it be wasting since, since the motor hasnt
put on that many k's and the valves wouldnt have worn down much?
i know the book says 24,000km or 24months, but should i stick to the kilometers instead?
cheers

[AMCQ46]

At low milage it shouldn't be a problem, it is engine use not yrs that will lead to problems. If it runs well and has good compression you are ok



BUT


you need to replace the cam chain tensioner CCT, as they are fragile, and on this engine if they fail they will bend the valves!!!

So guess what, at the very least you will end up taking the rear cam cover off so you know when the rear cyl is on the compression stroke so you know that it is safe to remove the old CCT and fit the new one. At that point you can easily check the valve clearances. If you fit manual CCT it is good practice to check the cam chain slack when you fit them, so that would imply that you also have to remove the front cam cover, but the front is a bitch to get off so you can tension them by feel ( and slacken till they rattle then nip up till it stops).

It's probably still best to go the whole hog and check both front & back valves when you have taken the parts off to do the CCTs, but I bet they will all be ok, but at least you will know and can mark it in the service record

[benny hedges]

dont bother even checking them unless the top end is rattling its baldrocks off.
bucket & shim rattle that is, not camchain rattle lol!
otherwise youre just wasting your time & money.
not worth doing til theres well over 20K+ on the clock & even then id be very surprised if any shims need changing.

the cct's need doing though....

[dirtyharry]

so should i change the cct's now? are they prone to failing due to age or kilometers?
or should i change the cct's when i do the full valve check at 24,000km?

also this cct change, is that something extra, as i cant find it in the service interval / schedule?

[dirtyharry]

also are you talking about the two cam chain tension guides? or the cam chain tensioner lifter?

[benny hedges]

also are you talking about the two cam chain tension guides? or the cam chain tensioner lifter?

the guides last for ages... its the camchain tensioner thats the problem... the ally nob things.
theyre not the best i the world and have a habit of self destructing, regardless of the mileage.
best bet is fit manually adjustable ones instead of relying on the glass spring in the honda ones.

loads of info here on them if you look in the garage section.

is a matter of when, not if!

its a recommended mod to any firestorm regardless of mileage... if you take the bike to a dealer they will just fit standard ones, which are just as likely to fail as the ones you have on now.
manual all the way m8.
& no, i dont think its mentioned in the service schedule cos they usually wreck your engine before theyre due anyway.... mr honda has taken the route of looking the other way & forgetting they exist.

its the only real mechanical flaw in the bike imo, but esily corrected then theyre more or less bulletproof.
but pls dont go blasting away at the engine to try & prove that

[dirtyharry]

righto, thanks for that. before i start searching through the search function for cct, this tensioner, is it a straight forward swap, or does it involve taking off the head cover, etc etc.


ooppps i answered my own question by reading the previous posts.

[AMCQ46]

These is a sticky in the top of the workshop knowledge base section. All in there. You need to follow the process not just unbolt and fit new

[dirtyharry]

hey , i was reading through the guide
and im a little confused with this part

"Next turn the screw head inside the CCT clockwise two full turns, lock it off in position using a locking key. The Haynes Workshop Manual shows you how to make a simple locking key. Tape the key in place once you've locked the tensioner off, as you don't want the key jumping out. Next undo and remove the CCT"

if you undo and remove the the cct, does the whole thing come out? making the "lock it off" redundant? or does something remain in the head once your lock it off, putting tension on the guide? and your only removing the 2nd part of the cct?

or is it, that when you lock it off, your actually removing tension from the guide and removing the cct, putting a new one in, and releaing the cct to put tension on the guide again?

[AMCQ46]

Right, it sounds confusing, but the very first and most important step isto make sure the cylinder you are working on is at TDC on the power stroke, so there is no spring pressure from the valves to the cam.
From there you are removing the tensioner...and it all comes out when you remove the 2 8mm bolts. The locking key is how you wind the spring back to take the tension off.

Once you have done the rear then you rotate the engine the correct direction by the correct number of degrees to the front tdc. Don't follow the Haynes manual, use the instructions here, Haynes is wrong!

[benny hedges]

disregard the bit about the locking key.... the only reason you need a locking key is to see if the cct has failed imo.. in which case your bike is fkt anyway lol.
once the piston is in the right position in relation to the cams, then it is safe to just unbolt the oem cct anf throw it in the bin.

[dirtyharry]

cool, yeah rotating the engine and making sure its aligned is no problem,
im just trying to visualise what your actually doing when your putting in that key and widing the cct.

so in theory (correct me if im wrong), if i had the engine aligned ok for the rear cylinder, all i really have to do is un bolt the cct and you can literally put a new one in without using the "key". i would only need to use the key once i put the new cct in to release the spring inside it right?

[AMCQ46]

If you are using a new Honda auto CCT then you need the key to retract it prior to fitting....but I would also tell you to do the stopper mod (see other sticky).

If you are fitting manual CCT then no need for a key.

You can use a small screwdriver to retract the CCT plunger, but it is not so easy to lock it in place.

[tony.mon]

The plunger inside the cct is spring-operated, and so in order to work out roughly how far in to set a manual replacement CCT, it's essential to know how much of the original Honda CCT is sticking into the crankcase, then set the manual one to a bit less than that, about 1mm less.

So assuming the spring in the standard one is still ok, you lock it in position to stop it retracting under its own spring pressure as soon as you take it out.

But if the spring's already gone it's a waste of time.

It's not an essential step, just makes replacement with a manual a bit quicker.