Smoking exhaust and Valve adjustments

Yet another post on Rebelelf's 82' 750.

When the bike is running it makes a white smoke that comes out of the exhaust pipes. The left more so than the right. The only thing I've ever seen about smoking is oil burning and improperly adjusted valves.

I need to know how to get to the valves on the overhead cam engine. I would let my local mechanic do it but last time he did a valve adjustment on my 85' 700 he charged me $450 since it took him 5 hours. He said he had to completely remove the cams.

Is this the only way to get to them or is there an easier way? And I've never adjusted valves before so I need help with that as well.

 

I forgot to mention it's 10 degrees here. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it.

 

Don't need to remove the cams to adjust the valve clearances. Should only take 2 - 3 hours labor + parts.

White smoke is steam, usually from condensation in the pipes. If it's taken for a good run does the "smoke" go away? Might check the drain holes in the exhaust aren't plugged up.

 

Is that what those screws are? I always wondered why there were screws on the bottom of the pipes. Should I remove those and leave the holes open?

As I said, it's 10 degrees. We're lucky if the damn thing starts let alone take it out for a good ride.

 

Those screws / bolts are for measuring exhaust emissions, if you take them out, put them back in.

 

Everything you need to know to adjust the valves on an aircooled XJ is right here in living color: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14827.html
I did the procedure on a 550 Seca but all aircooled XJs are the same, valve-train wise. Cams DO NOT have to come out (it's not a Kawasaki.)