Checking Valve shims

[Taffus]

made this a "sticky" as it's a common question

[chrisu]

fame at last..............

[mikeyoz1]

chrisu Great job . bravo

[PETER KZ1A]

That circled diagram on the shim chart is good; a picture paints a 1000 words

[LTD Project]

Sorry to drag this one out but....

Further to the point that xsfool and Pigford discuss on which way the cam should be pointing to take the correct reading.

In my GPZ1100 (Unitrak) manual supplement it directs you to take the reading with the central line of the cam in line with the mating surface on top of the head.....

Anyway, views on this instruction from Kawasaki as the reading with the cam set like that is definitely smaller than the 180 degrees from the valve as shown by Chrisu

Whadayafink?

[zed1015]

Checking them Kawasaki's way puts you very close to the quietening ramp on the cam and possibly on the ramp with some performance cams so the only way to be 100% on the base circle and to avoid false readings is to have the lobe pointing directly 180 degrees away from the shim.

[LTD Project]

OK, thanks for the clarification. That is what I will do!

[nick pearce]

Thanks for putting up the guide Chrissu. Does anyone have the correct tolerances for the GPZ1100 unitrak with road going kent cams in it. Ive lost the bit of paper I had it written on. Cheers Nick.

[zed1015]

Thanks for putting up the guide Chrissu. Does anyone have the correct tolerances for the GPZ1100 unitrak with road going kent cams in it. Ive lost the bit of paper I had it written on. Cheers Nick.

You want to be on the wide side.
Anywhere from 0.15 mm up to 0.18 mm.
Yoshi quote 0.20mm for their ST2 and ST3 cams.

[nick pearce]

Thanks Zed1015 you're a star. Cheers Nick.

[Korky]

Thanks for that Chris. That's very helpfull I have mine to do.

[Farmer]

I take it that I have to put the cam chain tensioner back on a J engine to check the valve shims, it does not say anything in the Clymer manual, but it does say to remove it before putting the cam cover on

[Al]

It will help.
If the chain is slack the valve springs will advance / retard the exhaust cam and the chain will jump a tooth or two.
Soon as you can get a look at the cam timing marks when the crank is aligned with the correct timing mark.
'F' mark or 'T' mark?
The inlet cam mark (dash) will likely be out since correct timing of the inlet cam is related to a curved lowereing (shortening) of the top chain run.
The fixed blade inside the cam cover is responsible for this anomaly.
If you want to set the cam timing accurately or want to change the standard cam timing you will need a load of stuff like DTI with extended plunger, magnetic mounting base and bolt down plate, fake cam cover slipper blade, degree disk etc etc.

AL

[Farmer]

Al, I first read your post at 7am and to be honest it was brain overload, I have not ever done this before, I managed to get some time today and the results are number 1, inlet 0 still move shim, exhaust .05
2, inlet 0 still move shim, exhaust .05
3, inlet .05, exhaust, .05
4, inlet 0 still move shim, exhaust 0 still move shim

so am I right in saying that soon I will have to change some shims as the gap gets smaller with more miles on the clock or is it the other way.

Graham

[zed1015]

The gap only gets smaller.
All your shims need changing NOW.
You want 0.10mm minimum.
Kawasaki changed from .5 to .10mm on the early engines to .10 to .15mm to combat over tight clearances and burnt valves .