A quick update on the bike and passing on some info I learnt from Mal today.
Finally got around to doing the first oil and filter change on the motor since the rebuild. Great news, although the oil was very black there were no shiny bits. Ive heard black oil is an indication air filters aren’t good so hopefully the new Pod filters will help that.
Anyway I also finally got around to looking at valve clearances again with the new shims I bought. I had been having trouble getting consistent readings on valve shim clearances. Finding that the lobe pointing directly away from the shim was not giving the widest clearances. Some would be in spec at this point and then way out of spec just a little turn away.
As other inline 4 bike tutorials used the TDC mark to check clearances I decided to give Mal a quick call to confirm where he gets his reading from.
He confirmed he always takes measurement with lobe pointing directly away from shim and this should have the widest clearance. He also pointed out a couple of reasons mine wasn’t and why I could be getting variance in my measurements.
When the lobe is pointed directly away from the shim (clear of pressure) put a screwdriver under cam and see if it moves in the journal’s, mine did.
He also said it can be from people sanding down shims and one side is lower than the other giving random readings as it rotates. I have also ground some of mine down.
I’m not overly concerned I have found this play in my cam journals I’m just glad I understand what is going on now. This hasn’t been an issue in how the bike runs and now I know what’s going on I can adjust the clearances a bit better than before. I have set them on the tight side.
It’s something I would recommend checking whenever you get around to having the valve cover of next.
I’ll eventually look at replacing the head as it’s not something that can really be fixed without spending big bucks. Good thing is I’ll be checking this on any head I use before spending any money on it.
Quick update 😂 Still need to finish of new fuel line and filters, plus finish modifying air pods to suit tomorrow and then I can start clocking up the Kms 😀
