valve clearance

alright guys i have been working on this bike for a year and now the last thing in line i wanted to do to this bike before i got it on the road was follow everybodies advice i've gotten on this site and check my valve clearance but i followed the book lined up the T mark it is at TDC and i can't even get the smallest mm on the feeler gauge to go through and the shop wants almost 200 bucks to mess with it even tho i already have pretty much all of the work done ( gas tank off, cover off, plugs out, specs the works) i'm at a loss here no clue where to go from here. it is a 1985 xj700 maxim any help would be great guys thanks.

 

Verify that the cam lob is pointed away from the valve you're measuring.

What is the thinnest feeler gauge you have? If you can't get a 0.11mm gauge under an intake cam the valve is tight. If you can't get a .16mm gauge under an exhaust cam the valve is tight.

The set I use goes down to 0.0015" (0.04mm). If you can't get one that thin in you're going to have to replace with thinner shims until you get something you can measure.

 

You can use these to supplement the manual, might make it a bit easier: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14827.html and http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=29209.html

 

i can't even get a .04mm in any of them.

 

alright thanks bigfitz that was two great posts. now do ya'll know where i can get cheap shims? i dont want to have to buy a 50 - 200 dollar set of shims when i wont need but accouple.

 

Search for a member named Hogfiddles, he runs a shim pool and I'm sure he would be happy to help

 

alright update. thanks to fitz i have a better understanding than what the book told me. so i have some numbers. on the ex side 1-4. 20mm,10mm 15mm and 20 mm specs say 16 -20 so 1 and 4 are good and 2 and 3 need some work.

intake 20mm .08mm .04mm and 13mm specs say 11-15mm i'm hoping i wrote down the wrong mm for #1 intake i may have put that down for exhaust not thinking about it.

 

You will have to measure the #1 intake again. It is possible to have .20 mm there but it would be very unusual. And you'd better be safe than sorry!

As soon as we know for sure #1 intake clearance, you will have to pull all wrong shims to read the number stamped under and starting from there select the right replacement shims on the charts.

 

Cool. It's easier than it appears at first.

Exhaust #2- 2 sizes smaller shim (will take it to .20mm.)
Exhaust #3- 1 size smaller shim will put you at .20mm.

Intake #1- under debate.
Intake #2- 1 size smaller will put you at .13mm.
Intake #3- 2 sizes down will take it to .14mm.
Intake #4 is in spec.

No chart needed.

 

intake #1 .08mm

 

SO you will need a shim one size smaller for that one too.

 

seems that way. i wont get a chance to work on it again until the weekend. so i'll have to haggle with some shop and see if they will give me a good price if not i'll try to find hog andrew was talking about.

 

Andrew was referring to member HogFiddles, who runs a shim pool.

XJ4Ever carries new shims as well, for about half of what Yamaha lists them for.

Until you pop them out and read them, you don't know what you'll need; you may be able to move a couple.

Good catch, by the way. You've got a couple of scary-tight ones there.