Gah, valve clearances!

[TheImp]

I've adjusted my valves for the second time and it seems I have an affinity for adjusting and leaving loose clearances. The first shot was entirely stupidity on my part because I adjusted at piston 1 TDC exhaust which makes for some extra loose valves.

So today I got through all that and made adjustments, but I am getting noticeable tapping (not as bad as the first time of course) so I suppose somewhere needs readjustment. I may throw in the towel and get a mechanic to come out to my house and teach me the proper "feel" for the right clearance. Anyone know of any in the fort lauderdale/miami area or are willing to help me yourself for money?

At any rate, one thing I noticed today is that one rocker arm had a bit of freeplay on it. When inserting the feeler gauge I guess the angle it met the valve stems at on that rocker arm gave some friction but I could still pull up on the rocker arm and leave a larger gap. Sounds like I may have messed something up or I needed to tighten down the screw more, I have no idea...

So if anyone themselves live in the miami/fort lauderdale area and are willing to spend a couple of hours looking over my work and showing me how to get the clearances just right I'm willing to pay similar to what I'd pay a mechanic at a shop to fix it himself. Thanks.

[MontyCarlo]

Tappy Valves are Happy Valves. You may have them set correctly

The best way to do it is set the valve clearances with just a slight drag on the gauge, then recheck after you torque the locknuts back down. Finally, spin the motor for a few revolutions to reseat everything, then recheck.

It's better to have them a little loose and live with a little extra valve noise than to have them too tight. Loose valves won't hurt anything, but having them set too tight can have disastrous consequences.

[TheImp]

It doesn't sound as beautiful as it used to with factory-set specs.

I do realize that a little tapping is good, but this is slightly more than I'd like.

One thing I was hoping someone would address is the fact that when adjusting one set of exhaust valves I was able to lift the rocker arm a bit and increase the gap, but when I let it go it settles down to its regular gap. When I insert the feeler gauge the rocket arm will lift a bit but when I look at it, it seems as though the feeler gauge goes in at an angle into the gap and is perhaps giving a false indication of clearance. Anyone had that, perhaps I wore something out...

[dieziege]

The factory may have had them wrong. My new Kaw had some of the valves set much too tight. Not all the valves were too tight but that's just "luck".

The engine runs beautifully after setting them properly (I put them at the middle of their acceptable range)... maybe a little more "clicky" but that's no bad thing (in moderation).

[DRam]

How hard are you pulling up on the rocker? And are you pulling in the direction that would open the valves? It's entirely possible to compress the valve spring a couple thousandths or so by pulling on the rocker if you pull on the lifter or cam end. As mentioned by MontyCarlo it's better to have valves a little loose than too tight. I set mine so the 'dead-on' gauge slides in easily and the next .001 up won't go. That gives a loose setting that is well within the +/- .001 tolerance for my bike. If you must have a closer fit, use the next .001 down and set your valves so that it fits very loosely but the exact spec size goes in with difficulty. I wouldn't do that though.

Last: many manuals give specs in both metric and standard units. Are you sure you haven't read the metric unit (.08 - .14 mm, for example) and used those numbers on a standard guage when setting your valves. If so your clearance would way to loose, as those metric units convert to .003 - .005 in. If you did, don't feel bad. Our vaunted NASA rocket scientists made that mistake a few years ago and crashed a fairly expensive Mars Lander.