Z1A Valve Tolerances

[Jhenry]

What do you all set your valves at on the earlier bikes. My manual states, for the Z1A anyhow, .002 to .004 inches. I had a suspicion mine needed adjusted and boy did they. The one local mechanic I trust tells me to set them out to .005 or .006 but not past. Seems reasonable to me, but I have always kept them by the manual. Thoughts? Will 1 or 2 thousanths out cause issues?

[chrisu]

too loose is better than too tight. They will tend to close up. I set my Z900 at between 4 and 6 thou.

[Garn 1]

Jhenry, regarding valve clearances on the Z1's. Kawasaki did change there thinking on these clearances, they made them 0.004" to 0.006".
When engines have changes to valves, such as valve grinds or valve removals/ replacements they often need to "bed- in", hence, clearance close a little.

Now, no clearance cannot be tolerated, as it is possible that the valve is not seated and gas would escape and the valve face could be burnt.

So, always err to the high side of valve clearances. Too much clearance makes the engine sound noisy. However, too little clearance could lead to the burnt valve/ loss of compression scenario.
RegardZ.