Valve clearances tighter than expected.

This machine has not ran in over 12 years. PO claimed ran when parked and I have not seen anything to dispute this. Pulled my rocker cover and measured my valve clearances. All of my measurements were tight. I'm not a novice, but I want to be sure I'm not doing something foolish before I drop a large amount of money on shims. My results are shown on the picture. Assuming I do need to replace all 16 shims, where would I get them? I did not find a listing at XJFOREVER.

 

That's not uncommon. Hardly anyone bothers with proper maintainance.
Don't buy shims. Starta conversation with Hogfiddles. He runs a shim pool.

You will most likely be able to swap at least somE of the shims. Start pulling them one at a time and make a chart of what is currently installed.

Chacal (XJ4EVER) does carry the shims if it happens that Hogfiddles does not have the shims you need. Just start a conversation with him for prices.

 

Thanks K-Moe.

 

You can always forward your measurements and current shim sizes to me and I'll doubt-check your figures for you......and we'll check the pool , too

 

A question for you. Have you found that early non YICS engines have had fewer valve adjustments due to paper pain in the butt valve cover gasket?

 

The only data I have is posts from forums. I Have not done enough of each type to draw conclusions based on personal data collection.
What I see is that roughly 70% of motorcycle owners just get on and ride. Nothing gets done until the bike stops working, then it gets sold or parked for a decade.
I can't see how gasket type makes a difference in decision making, but it could be possible.

 

at 33$ a pop from the dealership I can see some cheeping out on the gasket. if it is glued down on both sides you would have to replace it every time you checked the valves.
Picked up a running parts bike and the seller states" listen how quite the valves are you can't hear them ticking"
I imagine the valves are all tight not a single tick. I shut it down and pushed it onto the trailer.

 

Reason for the question is that all 3 of the early xj's in the driveway have never had the screws touched. I'm going to open them up soon and check valve clearance

 

Thanks Hogfiddles.

Is it normal for the clearance to shrink? I had assumed normal wear would cause the clearance to grow! Does the valve stem stretch?

 

Remember that there is no rocker arm in this valvetrain. The valve seat slowly recedes further into the head as the valve pounds into it during normal use. The result is that valve moves closer to the cam, reducing clearance.

 

Ahh. Didn't think of that. At least my wear seems to be somewhat even.

 

Exactly.

For airheads the interval is about every 5000 mi to check. The X (and the FZ with the waterh-head Genesis engine) have a greater mileage span.....thankfully......it's a much more involved process.

 

I bought my XJ550 new. Paid for dealer to check and adjust valves at 5k. Went another 18k before next check (before I found this site) and half were still in spec. 3 slightly out of spec, 1 dangerously tight.

 

That's why it's a CHECK

kind of like your 'now that you've turned 50 yrs old' colonoscopy. It's a REALLY good idea that it's CHECKED. Doesn't mean that something bad WILL be found, but If anything IS not right, it can be removed and get your proper clearance back BEFORE anything gets too close.

 

Is it safe to rotate the engine with the valve shims removed?

 

NO! the edges of the bucket can damage the cam surface.

 

That's what I figured.

 

Don't do that------

 

- - Ever.

 

Finally read the how to post on airhead valve adjustments and all of my questions were answered in that thread. This site is really something else. NEVER GO TO FACEBOOK. Seen a few good forums die off that way.

 

The XJ Owner's Facbook group is pretty solid. Some of us are on there too.

 

Ever.

Except for XJOG