Valve adjustment | GTAMotorcycle.com

Valve adjustment

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ALD

Well-known member
I need to check valve clearances on my v star 1100 & have been looking for a feeler gauge set with appropriate blade measurements that will work with measurements noted in the service manual but I can not find a suitable set.
The only way to get the measurements needed is I would have to put two blades together but unsure if this would be the proper way of doing this.
 
It's quite normal to put two blades together to get a thickness for which there is not an exact match. Just make sure they're clean - wipe the blade off before doing this.
 
ALD said:
I need to check valve clearances on my v star 1100 & have been looking for a feeler gauge set with appropriate blade measurements that will work with measurements noted in the service manual but I can not find a suitable set.
The only way to get the measurements needed is I would have to put two blades together but unsure if this would be the proper way of doing this.
Click to expand...
(y)
do you have a micrometer? If you check your feeler gauge(s) with a micrometer you can also get feel for how tight it needs to be on the motor.
 
Are you sure you're reading the spec correctly?
All my feeler gauge sets go up to at least 0.020"
Is your valve lash more than 0.020"? I've never seen any even close to 0.020"
 
I know the OP's pain - I dunno where most of you got your sets, but most feeler gauge sets on the shelves of your average retail store are not quite sized for valve clearance... they seem to be much coarser, like for spark plugs or something. I only came by my set by stealing them from my brother, I think.

Not a big Amazon fan, but looking just now they are the only place I easily found appropriate sets:

Feeler Gauge,32 Blades High Precision Stainless Steel Dual Marked Metric and Imperial Gap Feeler Gauges Measuring Tool Combined Feeler Gauge : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

Feeler Gauge,32 Blades High Precision Stainless Steel Dual Marked Metric and Imperial Gap Feeler Gauges Measuring Tool Combined Feeler Gauge : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific
www.amazon.ca

CAMWAY 32PCS Blades Steel Feeler Gauge 0.0015-0.035 inch/ 0.04-0.88mm Dual Marked Metric and Imperial Gap Measuring Tool : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

CAMWAY 32PCS Blades Steel Feeler Gauge 0.0015-0.035 inch/ 0.04-0.88mm Dual Marked Metric and Imperial Gap Measuring Tool : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific
www.amazon.ca

32 Blades Feeler Gauge Stainless Steel Metric Imperial 0.04-0.88mm Gap Measurement Tool for Width Thickness Measuring : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

32 Blades Feeler Gauge Stainless Steel Metric Imperial 0.04-0.88mm Gap Measurement Tool for Width Thickness Measuring : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific
www.amazon.ca
 
bitzz said:
Are you sure you're reading the spec correctly?
All my feeler gauge sets go up to at least 0.020"
Is your valve lash more than 0.020"? I've never seen any even close to
Click to expand...
This is from my yamaha service manual as I am trying to find feeler gauge blades that are in the middle & slightly off center to the left & right of these specs but having a hard time finding this.
But do not know for certain if two blades can be put together to achieve an exact centre as well as off centre measurements on the intake & exhaust valves.
 

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ALD said:
...
But do not know for certain if two blades can be put together to achieve an exact centre as well as off centre measurements on the intake & exhaust valves.
Click to expand...
Yes absolutely!
a 10 thou gauge plus a 2 thou gauge stuck together will net you 12 thou of clearance etc.

Interesting that the manual indicates a range, usually they state the optimum clearance and then indicate a tolerance range.

Thickness feeler gauges are also available in plastic for setting breaker points that are in close proximation to a magnet. If you see them, that's what they are for, they still function the same. The bush fix improvisation is to use cigarette rolling papers, Zig-zag cut corners in the white pack are 1 thou in thickness, if you fold them over 12 layers thick you have 12 thou. If you ever need to set up something with 1 thou clearance they are perfect.


Does not matter if you are working in metric or imperial measure, just pick the one that is most convenient for your tools and stick with it.
 
Trials said:
Yes absolutely!
a 10 thou gauge plus a 2 thou gauge stuck together will net you 12 thou of clearance etc.

Interesting that the manual indicates a range, usually they state the optimum clearance and then indicate a tolerance range.

Thickness feeler gauges are also available in plastic for setting breaker points that are in close proximation to a magnet. If you see them, that's what they are for, they still function the same. The bush fix improvisation is to use cigarette rolling papers, Zig-zag cut corners in the white pack are 1 thou in thickness, if you fold them over 12 layers thick you have 12 thou. If you ever need to set up something with 1 thou clearance they are perfect.


Does not matter if you are working in metric or imperial measure, just pick the one that is most convenient for your tools and stick with it.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your help, I bought this manual from snow city a few years back but maybe yamaha changed their manual.
 
Trials said:
Interesting that the manual indicates a range, usually they state the optimum clearance and then indicate a tolerance range.
Click to expand...
My old Honda had a range. I played a lot with valve clearances on that bike (middle, both tight, both loose, ex tight with in loose, ex loose with in tight). It made a huge difference to how the bike behaved even though all configurations were within factory spec. I ended up with one tight and one loose as my favorite configuration. Lots more snot, crap fuel mileage (probably because it was making more power and I was using more power).
 
Trials said:
The bush fix improvisation is to use cigarette rolling papers, Zig-zag cut corners in the white pack are 1 thou in thickness, if you fold them over 12 layers thick you have 12 thou. If you ever need to set up something with 1 thou clearance they are perfect.
Click to expand...
And then when you're done you can roll yourself a twisty to relax... ;)
 
OP: You're over thinking this. You don't need the "average" of the spec, you need to be WITHIN the spec.
If your valve lash is more than 0.003" and less than 0.005" ; you're good to go.
If you think you want to play safe, go on the looser end.
If you think you want optimum performance, go to the tighter end.

...and using paper to check valve lash is dumb. Paper is compressible.
 
Be aware there is a typo in the manual image you posted. The metric clearances look OK, with the exhaust clearance being greater than the intake. The clearances in brackets, in thousands of an inch, are the same for both intake and exhaust with the exhaust ones being incorrect.
 
bitzz said:
OP: You're over thinking this. You don't need the "average" of the spec, you need to be WITHIN the spec.
If your valve lash is more than 0.003" and less than 0.005" ; you're good to go.
If you think you want to play safe, go on the looser end.
If you think you want optimum performance, go to the tighter end.

...and using paper to check valve lash is dumb. Paper is compressible.
Click to expand...
Although not ideal, I've done a little tight from the loose end if you don't have the right feeler (eg. set to loose end, then tighten a little more so it drags harder than it should, check with tight feeler to make sure there is no resistance and you are pretty close to the middle).
 
Too loose is better than too tight. I usually do 'go, no go' Take a feeler gauge that's one size too thick, if it doesn't fit you're done.
 
bitzz said:
If you think you want to play safe, go on the looser end.
Click to expand...
This!
I saw the results of too tight with a 999 motor that the owner set the closer shims at "zero", not knowing what that really meant. He put it on a dyno and it made a bunch of really bad noises. There wasn't one chunk of that motor bigger than your first.
 
I think with tappets you have a great ability to fine tune clearances vs. a shim under bucket method.

With my ST I ask the specialty tool co-ordinator at ST-Riders to authorize me to receive the valve clearance kit. In this there are feeler guages, micrometers, a shim kit and you can download and print out worksheets + an excel worksheet to input shim thickness and it will tell you what shim in the kit to use, video on YT as well. There is no charge for the kit, just keep it tidy and then forward it to the next person who needs it as directed by the co-ordinator. ST-Riders has many kits/specialty tools for a range of things (head bearing, wheel bearings, etc...... ) great resource.

Problems with shims is that most shim kits do not have the full range of available sizes and it can be difficult to fine tune clearances. I like to have them at about the 75% of the range. First check at 40,000 km none were out of spec, but with everything open all were set to 50% - 75% of the range. Next adjustment was at 120,000 km. Again, none out of spec, but 5 changed to mid range. Based on typical ST1100 experience they'll never have to be adjusted again.
 
ReSTored said:
I think with tappets you have a great ability to fine tune clearances vs. a shim under bucket method.
Click to expand...
On most motors you would find it almost impossible to distinguish the difference of plus or minus a thou or two, as long as you're in spec... even with a dyn
 
bitzz said:
On most motors you would find it almost impossible to distinguish the difference of plus or minus a thou or two, as long as you're in spec... even with a dyn
Click to expand...
It made a huge difference on my 450 nighthawk. Just a valve adjustment (from within the allowable range to somewhere else within the allowable range) and you could gain 20 km/h on top speed. Not saying this applies to all engines and it surprised the hell out of me but I repeated the test a few times and the results were consistent. It also changed the character from a lazy engine that was happy cruising along to one that really liked to rev (well for what it was, it was obviously not as rev happy as an I4 SS).
 
bitzz said:
On most motors you would find it almost impossible to distinguish the difference of plus or minus a thou or two, as long as you're in spec... even with a dyn
Click to expand...
I'm not referring to engine performance. I'm referring to setting a spec at the top (or loose) within the allowable range that would minimize the number of times you'd actually have to adjust a valve over the time you owned a bike. Depending on the bike you have the process of pulling off plastic to gain access, removing a rad, valve covers etc and then camshafts can be pretty time consuming. If your spec is 9 - 11/1,000 for an exhaust valve and you feel it's in the 9 - 9.5 range and you're already pulling a camshaft because another value is 9 then you might as well adjust everything to 10 - 10.5 while you're in there.
 
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