Z1OwnersClub GB

Hi all,

I havin' to do all my own maintenance down here in Spain, I can change the oil, plugs and breaks but I'm a little nervous about opening up the cam cover and checking the shims and cam chain. The book says to check and adjust these every 2k miles. The engine is running fine and I'm worried about getting it wrong. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Bill

I`ve just done the shims on my Thou` for the first time. I`ve seen it done before but having owned only 2 strokes before now I was a virgin `til the other week.

Get your new gasket ready and the shim changing tool, you`re bound to need it, and get in there with the feeler guages. I`d do it with a manual and some quality tools for spinning the motor. Then have a good magnet to hand to pull the old shims out.

My manual said 0.05 - 0.1 mm, but Jerry that sent me the shims said to do it 0.1 - 0.15 mm. It now runs like a dream. You`ll see the sizes on one side of the shims. Hopefully the previous keeper put them in marked side down and you`ll do the same !

I would say that shimming is the most important maintenance job of all because neglect will cause the valves to remain partially open and therefore damage the valves / seats.

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Bill,

Checking them is easy and doesn't involve any disassembly so you can not do any damage. What it will do is tell you if you actually need to do anything or not. Tank off, plugs out - timing cover off, 17mm spanner, set of feeler gauges and a bit of patience. - map out on a diagram actual clearances for future reference - see below.

tight clearance will eventually cause valves to burn out.

I'd say check them first and if there is a problem have a look at the manual and buy a shim tool. If you need guidance any number of people here can talk you through it - even me............

I would also recommend a micrometer - cheap as chips and shims sometimes are not labelled


PS - i'd say checking every 2,000 miles is way too often - once settled they take ages to go out.............. but thats from a known start point.

Thanks guys, very much appreciated.

One more question, Oil? Can you recommend an engine oil. The oil I'm using is Elf T4 10W50 and cost a fortune (75 euros £60), shame to throw it away after just 2000 miles.

Bill

On the same topic, I recently checked my shims and they all but one measured below the recommended tolerance ie tight. I took all the shims out to check the shim sizes ,wiped them off put them back in and they all measured correctly! has any one else come across would the oil layer below the shim cause incorrect readings?

Steve. I seem to recall reading that they should be done with a not necessarily warm, but not too cold an engine.

The freezing temperatures we have at present caused my shims to stick like billy`o and were a bugger to remove. This I put down to cold oil

Could it be that the cold oil once disturbed became fractionally less, and hence correctly viscous ?

Back in the 80s if you took a bike to my local Kwak dealer (Kawasaki City West Bromwich) for shimming they insisted that the bike was dropped off the night before to ensure the engine was cold before they re shimmed.

A few tips:

1. Make sure your measuring the maximum clearance and note its position
as this may point to worn cams, white metal liners etc.
2. I always ignore the markings on the reverse of the shims and use a
good old Micrometer or vernier to measure them.
3. When using the kwaka shim tool be carefull when counter rotating the
camchain, do it slowly.

Easy job when you've done it once or twice.

Mike