Valve Clearances

[mattymc]

About to start the valve clearance checking process. Does anyone have any hints or tips to make the process easier? Or do I just follow the workshop manual? Also, where is the crankcase breather hose?

Thanks

Matt

[VVTR]

wouldnt bother tbh unless the engine rattles its bolox off when its warm.

if you do need to check you need to get the pdf shop manual from carlsalter.com and get your head round the timing etc before you start.
if you do need to change any shims, easiest way is to lift the buckets off with the shim inside using a magnet on a stick.
be sure to pack any holes with bogroll cos if you do happen to drop a shim it could cost you a major stripdown lol!

then youve got the fkin about measuring and calculating shim size and ordering them, unless youre lucky enough to know a local dealer with stock.
if they do need doing and you want the bike back same day, pre-order a hotcam shim kit 9.48mm - about £70 a pop and more shims than you will ever need .

use metric feelers btw cos the shim sizes are in metric.

[sparkysp2]

Did mine not long ago, took the right hand rad off to make the front cylinder easier. Had to change 6 shims on mine but they were only a tad out but changed them cause i had a shim kit. Just take your time and everything will be fine. Done a few V4 in my time and the SP is cool to work on. Good luck mate

[SubSailor]

About to start the valve clearance checking process. Does anyone have any hints or tips to make the process easier? Or do I just follow the workshop manual? Also, where is the crankcase breather hose?

Thanks

Matt

The crankcase breather hose is attached to a fitting on the front cylinder valve cover on the right side (rider's viewpoint).

I suggest doing the front cylinder first. It's the most difficult to access.
You can do the valve adjustment with the radiators on, it's just difficult to get one's head close enough to see the alignment marks on the cams for the front cylinder.
Because the cams use quieting gears, the cams tend to ride high on the drive gear teeth unless pressed down by hand or temporarily held down by installing drive side journal cap.
Just make sure the alignment marks are flush with the head surface and off by a tooth.

The rear cylinder is far easier to do, and it will be all downhill from then on.
It's better to err on the slightly loose side than too tight for clearance (although within spec). Valves tend to wear into their seats, tightening up the clearance.

Also, do not mis-install the journal caps.
The journal caps are identified by an arrow and location marks.
The arrows always point upward and the (non-scribed through) marks indicate their location, such as FI, FE, RI, and RE for front intake or exhaust and rear intake or exhaust.
The journal caps may be a bit difficult to remove, and a slight tap of a rubber hammer on each end can tease them out.

[mattymc]

Ok thanks guys. Already have the pdf file and been looking through that, and the crankcase breather hose is what I thought it was. I'm in no rush to get it done, so slow and steady wins the race. Bike has done 18K on a Y plate. Is it really worth doing?

Thanks

Matt

[VVTR]

no. unless it sounds like a bag of fk.
which it shouldnt at 18k

[Sppete]

Nonesence!
Yes it's important to check them.
The bike wont get noisier like a tappet would (which VVTR seams to be intimating) they will actually get quieter.
As SubSailor said, the valve will seat further into the head with time and the valve stem will push the bucket closer to the cam. This is fine until the cam physically stops the valve from closing and creating a good seal to the cylinder. A leaky valve will soon start to burn and you will loose compression/power and worse case the valve head will break up and do all sorts of damage in the combustion chamber.
Now the SPs and the Firestorms are normally pretty good on valve wear so most likely you wont have many, if any, out of adjustment but for the sake of a check you can prolong or even save the life of an engine.

Up to You Bud

Pete

[mattymc]

Thanks guys, the bike is apart anyway so may as well get it done.

Matt

[steve p]

seem to remember mine needed a fair bit of adjustment at the 18k mark

[mattymc]

Ok, if I was to end up with a measurement like 194 in terms of a shim size, what would be better, a 195 or a 190 shim? only done the back cylinder so far, will do the front tomorrow. 190 shims were used for the inlet and 200 shims for the exhaust (all on the rear cylinder), would the front cylinder use the same size shims? Are these the same on all sp1's? or engine specific?

Thanks

Matt