Valve clearance check

[martym52]

You hit the nail on the head with questionable mechanic. I had the guy install Neville’s street cam a year ago and he screwed up everything he touched. He was recommended as the go to guy by my local dealer. His name is Eric Colvin and is in Oklahoma City. It was running ok before I took it apart, maybe some valve train noise but hard to say, my ears are bad with higher frequencies. It dyno’d around 160 hp & torque. I have watched the videos of how to use a feeler gauge and am not quite the amateur I painted myself to be. I believe I got the clearances pretty close. It was tight quarters as you know and I was using a 1/2”x3 1/4” go/no go feeler gauge which was difficult to work with in that space. I did them all 3 times over looking for a consistent number. I’m going for a different feeler gauge and doing it over to see if I get consistent results, any recommendations on a better feeler gauge? It looks like Im going to need an assload of shims, where is the best place to get them?

You should be able to get .004", .006", and .008" long type feeler gauges at your local NAPA store. Shim kits are available, but pricey from BikeBandit. You could set up a shim-share for forum members, (hint-hint) LOL

 

[vindex1963]

Previous owner of my bike had the valves checked and tolerances corrected, I know with my 2015 Suzuki it was common knowledge (on the forum anyway) that once the valves were broken in and seated they didn't change again so after the correction to the clearance you're good. Does this apply to the R3?

 

[Kevin frazier]

You should be able to get shims at a dealer local

Previous owner of my bike had the valves checked and tolerances corrected, I know with my 2015 Suzuki it was common knowledge (on the forum anyway) that once the valves were broken in and seated they didn't change again so after the correction to the clearance you're good. Does this apply to the R3?

no they change

 

[vindex1963]

You should be able to get shims at a dealer local

no they change

Of course they do, sigh. I was hoping at lease one thing on this bike would be easy.

 

[Ygransom]

On hard to reach spots I use 2 feeler gauges. If clearance is 8 I use a 6 and a 10. The 6 should go in with no resistance the 10 should not go in without force.

 

[Gerald]

On hard to reach spots I use 2 feeler gauges. If clearance is8 I use a 6 and a 10. The 6 should go in with no resistance the 10 should no go in without force.

I use angled feeler gauges, separate them individually and only use correct one between thumb and finger, then check with one .001-.002 bigger. Not a fast process, at least for me.

 

[1olbull]

Of course they do, sigh. I was hoping at lease one thing on this bike would be easy.

I had over 60,000 miles on mine when I checked the valves.
Only one was out by 3 thousandths.
Tis important to check your valves, but not necessarily a big job, especially if you make or have a compression tool that requires no removal of the cams.

 

[R-III-R Turbo]

You hit the nail on the head with questionable mechanic. I had the guy install Neville’s street cam a year ago and he screwed up everything he touched.

Ok sounds like you have an assignable cause and can move forward.

You can calculate what thickness shims you need by taking the current ones out and comparing to your clearances. I'm sure it would work out a lot cheaper to only buy the ones you need or maybe someone on here would donate spares ones - conscious of your impending trip and lead times from Triumph dealers.

I don't know if you can buy these diameter shims in a set where you get a few of each size - if you could I'd imagine that would be expensive too since you'd only use a dozen and that's it maybe one more in a few years.

 

[Joesmoe]

These are the exact shims used on one of the Japanese motors -- can't remember right now -- a search might find it -- Yamaha, I think -- much less expensive.

 

[sonny]

It would be nice if you had someone close by that has done the job a few times. The kind of guy that has pulled the cams and replaced them along with making the proper adjustments and has the experience at replacing cam cover so it don't leak. I have no idea who this person may be but i bet if you thought about it you could come up with a name.