ANYone have a bunch of shims from an X you would swap?

After taking my other X out for a ride I realized how average Plum Crazy was running.
I've mentioned the poor gas mileage with lean plugs and less than impressive power. I decided to check the valves.
Now I need shims! They were all very tight (intake between .001 and .003")...which is actually a good thing since I feel like I found the problem.
I pulled the shims and they are on the small side already so my stock pile is worthless.
If anyone has some 160, 162, 165, or 168s they would trade drop me a PM please.
I have three sets all between 180 and 205 but that doesn't do me much good does it!

 

Shims don't go down that small, you are checking in mm?

 

Mike's a smart guy.....I bet he knows exactly what he's doing.

Dave Fox

 

The X takes a completely different shim...(20) of the little buggers to be exact.
They actually go down to 120
The only bikes that I know of that take the same shims are the 85/86 XJ700X and the FZ series
I believe they are unique to the genesis 5-valve head but not positive.
They are 7mm in diameter and a PIA to change!

http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll16 ... ction=view¤t=shims.jpg

And WOW...do I have you fooled Dave!

 

You could check with your local Yamaha dealers mechanic. They may swap some out for you. I know I talked to them and they said they would. But then again they may not have the correct shims from what you said. Just a thought. Might not hurt to check.

 

Mmm, I see & they are under the buckets as well, good luck. 8O

 

I might have some of those. I'll try to remember when I get home to look for what I have left over.

 

If you do talk to the dealer try to get aftermarkets. They may say they dont have them in aftermarket, but they will if you remind them of that book they have behind the counter with all of the aftermarket parts in it.

 

Low gas mileage and so on are a bit hard to pin on tight valves. Of course for a 5 valve head its possible. On a 2 valve head the tight valves will act up 5 seconds after start up. The bike will want to stall unless revved. Keep that up for ~5 mins when it gets fully hot and it will behave.

Does it stay true for a 5 valver - I dunno, the max X has more valves in 1 cyl than most of my other bikes do in the whole bike ... (GS500's and Savage 650's).

Cool.
Srinath.

 

Low gas mileage and so on are a bit hard to pin on tight valves. Of course for a 5 valve head its possible. On a 2 valve head the tight valves will act up 5 seconds after start up. The bike will want to stall unless revved. Keep that up for ~5 mins when it gets fully hot and it will behave.

Does it stay true for a 5 valver - I dunno, the max X has more valves in 1 cyl than most of my other bikes do in the whole bike ... (GS500's and Savage 650's).

Cool.
Srinath.

 

Low gas mileage and so on are a bit hard to pin on tight valves. Of course for a 5 valve head its possible. On a 2 valve head the tight valves will act up 5 seconds after start up. The bike will want to stall unless revved. Keep that up for ~5 mins when it gets fully hot and it will behave.

Does it stay true for a 5 valver - I dunno, the max X has more valves in 1 cyl than most of my other bikes do in the whole bike ... (GS500's and Savage 650's).

Cool.
Srinath.

 

On closer inspection, the camshafts are showing some wear.
The lobes are perfect, but the bearing surfaces are scored a bit. Looks like the P.O. didn't clean it very well last time he assembled it OR there was some dirty oil getting pumped into them.

I have a spare head so I'll be doing a quick swap of the cams and carrier which will change my shim requirements completely. Maybe I'll get lucky and have what I need.

 

On my GS500 I saw a proper crows foot shape scratch on the right intake cam. It had to have been there before 8K when I bought it. I saw it @ 15K when I popped it for a adjustment. I watched it every few K till I sold it at ~50K.
AFAIK, it did nothing, it didn't change much though I would say it got fainter ... and it really was a non issue. Mine was almost certainly casued by a errant screwdriver ... someone's idea of a valve adjustment I guess.

Most of my experience with motors is with one of the 16GS500's I have owned. I also have has 6 savages, 4 eliminators and 4 nighthawks ... and only 2 maxims. Only 1 was an X. GS500's are similar to air cooled maxims IMHO.
Cool.
Srinath.

 

I went through all my spare shims. not one under 188 so I can't help you out at all.

 

Thanks for checking K.J.

Well, it apears I got LUCKY!

I swapped out the top half of the head and the matching cams. Re-measured and they are all within spec.

YES!!!!

I hope I can sneak away from work early and button it up.
I can't wait to hear the pitter-patter of little valves under my gas tank :lol: