Valve Clearance Check for Tigers and Shim Tool Directions

[Fe Man]

Never mind!

All were within spec'; I have buttoned it back up and "a riding I go"!

[Colonel Nikolai]

I've noticed a drop in MPG: from 42 to 37 in 16,000 miles. Could this have to do with valves? I haven't checked them in 10,000 miles. The bike seems to be just as powerful as it did 16,000 miles ago.

[cdubya]

Howdy valve gurus.
I'm a bit corn-fused in that the valves that are out of spec on my '05 Girly are out on the high side....too big of a gap between lobe and shim.  Ex. outside exhaust valve is .24mm (spec. range being .15-.20).  Am I correct in that EvilBetty's were all out on the low side, too small of a gap?  If so, why come?
My measurements for the record:
Exhaust:  .24/.19 .19/.19 .22/.19

Intake:  .14/.13 .13/.12 .17/.15

Three to reshim for sure, might bring the .15 Intake down a bit as well just to get it closer to mid range of specifications.
Thanks for the great write up guys.

[Mustang]

Howdy valve gurus.

My measurements for the record:
Exhaust:  .24/.19 .19/.19 .22/.19

Intake:  .14/.13 .13/.12 .17/.15

Three to reshim for sure, might bring the .15 Intake down a bit as well just to get it closer to mid range of specifications.
Thanks for the great write up guys.

I wouldn't be too concerned about those clearances and would leave them be . I would recheck them in another 6k to 10 k miles and if they are still out of spec on the big side I might reshim them , but they are not that terribly wrong .
It is important that you check them when the motor is stone cold , as in hasn;t been run for 12 hours or more .

[cdubya]

Thanks for the reply mustang.
Wow, even the .24?  I'm happy bolting her all back up in the morning and not messing with the shims but could you elaborate on why I should not be concerned?  I'm trying to gain as much knowledge as possible.  I've done two other valve checks/reshims to date and I really enjoy doing the wrenching but I have to admit, I'm not all together clear on the benefits or evils of certain scenarios.
I'm curious:  What is to be assumed if valves are out of spec. on the large side vs. too small of a gap side?
Thanks again.  
CW

Edit:  Bike has not quite 12k miles on 'er and it's plenty cold...woke up to snow this morning.   :(

[Mustang]

at .24 you are only a little less than .002 of an inch out of spec
a little xtra on the big side won't hurt anything  
generally speaking the valves tend to lose clearance on a triumph overhead cam motor
when you have valves that are at zero clearance than there will be a problem, poor running ......burnt valves etc etc

here's a little scenario for ya :
my little brother checked the valves on his 2008 bonneville and was certain he had a couple that had no clearance , he freaked and took it to the dealer to get it reshimmed .
Cost him $350 and the dealer told him that none were out of spec and in fact had one intake that was a little loose , but left it alone
He of course did not believe it and immediately pulled the valve cover off and rechecked them ......................can you guess what he found ?






all in spec just like the shop said .

at.24 you are only at about .009 thousandth's of an inch , really isn't a bad place to be with an exhaust valve due to heat expansion

write down all the valves clearances and in another 10.000 miles check them against your list and see if they have moved .
most people don't even bother checking their valves until they have a problem or at least 20 k and beyond

[cdubya]

Okey dokey!
Thanks for the ejumucation Mustang.  Back together she goes!  Since it is apart, thinking of cleaning up the IACV valve, (she is a bit surgie at idle), balance the throttle bodies if I can figure out how to get fuel to the girl with the tank off, (tricky fitting on end of fuel line).  Still milling over taking out the baffle from the air box.

[Bixxer Bob]

To balance throttle bodies follow instructions elsewhere on here.

Have just a little fuel in the tank.  Put it on a table next to the bike on the right at the same height as it would normally be (I use a Black and Decker Workmate but I guess you won't have them in the USA).  The stand should be big enough to accomodate the tank without fear of it sliding off.  Cut the zip-tie that holds the tank electrics loom to the bike and plug it into the tank.  The fuel hose will just reach without any modification.  The fuel sensor wire (two pin on the right of the tank at the back) will probably not reach so be prepared for a fault light when you fire her up when you're done.  It'll go out by itself after three complete warm up / cool down cycles.

Be very careful with the IACV - they're pricey and I wouldn't touch it unless you're sure it's faulty, which case it needs replacing.  You're more likely looking at a leaky air hose or throttle body gasket.

[2aRover]

I need a better set of feeler gauges and a better micrometer.  I created a spreadsheet in Excel with a simple resolver, but some of the shims in my engine have four decimal places, and my micrometer won't measure to that resolution.  It's probably important, because there are 40 different shims available...

For those of you who did measure the shims that were in your engines, what did you use to measure?

And by the way, The Tool That Mustang Built is fabulous.  Once a guy gets the hang of it, it's easy sailing.

If you're considering removing the cams, a trick I used to preserve the timing when replacing the lifters on my Saab was to ty-wrap the cam chain to the cams, then release the tensioner.  That gave me plenty of room to lift the cams, and saved me having to reset the cam timing.  Those marks never line up precisely.

[Colonel Nikolai]

I used a micrometer when I pulled my shim which was marked 2.75. When I measured it I got 2.94 which makes me think I'm not using the micrometer correctly.

[Mustang]

assuming its not digital ..........you are reading the wrong mark on the barrel
and if it's digital did you forget to zero the mic when it's closed

[Colonel Nikolai]

Yeah clearly I'm not using it correctly. Yesterday I tried it on a feeler gauge and read it correctly so it must have been a classic off-by-19 error :lol:

[GARYSTIGER955i]

Here's your valve clearance charts in MM, so you know what shims sizes are needed after valve clearance check, so no need for Micrometers and vernier gauges. hope this helps you all out.
 There is a possibility you probably could get the shims out without using the special tool, as in the old days of suzuki gs range where the shims were ontop of the bucket, and you could prize the bucket down by levering a screwdriver off the camshaft thus pressing the bucket and retreiving the shim by magnet, but you may have to be an octopus  :lol:

 Hope this helps those that dont know the knowledge.

[walker]

nice! I modified some spreadsheet for use.... you put in the values you measure, and it'll tell you what size you need to get right in the middle of the range.... one version converted between inches and mm (at the time I had a nice micrometer, but the feeler gauge was in the other standard).

I'll have to dig that one up - might be useful for people. (I think one page was a tiger, another was a bonneville, one for a honda magna.... I used to have more bikes then).

The idea wasn't mine, but the improved formulas and the additions to it were

[max montreal]

hello!
i am sending my tiger 955i  to get a valve job before 30k miles . i would like to know how many hours the dealer should take to do the job.

ty Max