New Valve Shims Needed? K2 DL1000

[SteveDL1K]

The bike is a grotty old K2 with 38,000 miles on it. (Hopefully back on the road soon!)
No idea if the valves have ever been checked.

The factory specs are inlet .004 -.008 Exhaust .008-.012

Mine are
Front inlet       Left .004  Right .004
Front exhaust  Left .009  Right .009

Rear inlet         Left  .004  Right .004
Rear exhaust    Left .009   Right .009

So all in spec but on the tighter side. Do they get looser as they wear?
What would you bloke's do?

Thanks.....

[kwackboy]

No ... the gaps close over time.

Your measurements are on the minimum, if that was my bike I'd adjust them the max spec.

[Rixington43]

Lovely even wear though, that's a positive.
As Kwackboy says, probably worth adjusting them all to max spec since you've done the hard part getting in there to look.

[SteveDL1K]

Thanks for the replies and advice....
I'll get the cams out, and get new shims. Need to get my mathematics head on!

Bikes pretty much stripped down.. Sub frame and stands at powder coaters, Just picked up shock linkage after getting new bearings pressed in. Old ones were in a really bad state.

Inspected and greased up swinging arm bearings, thankfully there in good shape along with the spaces. You can just get at them with the exhaust still on because the sub frames not there.
New chain and sprockets on the bench ready to go. Bt-023s fitted to my rims yesterday.
Still plenty to do.. Clutch slave cylinder, calipers, can't even press most of the switch gear buttons!

[SteveDL1K]

Pulled the cams and got the shims out, all numbers were visible.
Used the shim chart in the manual to order new ones. I needed 8 because mine wouldn't swap with each other. £36
Drove 7 miles to collect them yesterday and put them in today. Ordered new gaskets £70 which came this afternoon so its all done. Don't think I needed the new gaskets when compared to my old ones, there's hardly any difference but I'd not seen a new one so didn't know.
Took my time and checked and re checked. Had to re position cams a couple of times to get it right,
Nearly spun the engine the wrong way after taking a break. Nearly pulled the rear cam in its inspection position not its removal position.
The new measurements are


Front inlet       Left .007  Right .008
Front exhaust  Left .010  Right .010

Rear inlet         Left  .006 Right .007
Rear exhaust    Left .010  Right .010

Forget which one I had to do twice because it was to loose and the only shim I had was an original 272. thought they only came in increments of .05.
Anyhow hope it runs alright when I get it started in the next few weeks...

[UK_Vstrom650]

Great result! Hopefully that's it covered for another 38,000 miles 

I read something on Stromtrooper recently that said Suzuki use .02 increments, but everywhere else use .05 increments.

[Rixington43]

Good work, I'll be tackling mine at the end of this year so I'll watch out for the removal and inspection positions.
I'm sure you already know but the Haynes says to re balance the throttle bodies after shim changes, guessing it's already on your list though.

[SteveDL1K]

Great result! Hopefully that's it covered for another 38,000 miles 

I read something on Stromtrooper recently that said Suzuki use .02 increments, but everywhere else use .05 increments.

They may well do, I had a couple of 272 already in mine.. The Manuals shim table is really useful, there all in .005,
I was quoted £7+ per shim from Fowler's in.005 increments.
Managed to get some locally at half the price..

[SteveDL1K]

Good work, I'll be tackling mine at the end of this year so I'll watch out for the removal and inspection positions.
I'm sure you already know but the Haynes says to re balance the throttle bodies after shim changes, guessing it's already on your list though.

Yes, you definitely need a manual and/or someone knowledgable to guide you through the positions...
Will sync the throttle bodies later after I've pulled, cleaned and lubed them up..
Tomorrow's (now todays) job is fork oil/seals...

[porter]

I had a few 2.92 shims in the exhaust cams on my 14, took a few goes to get right, 2.90 was still to tight so apart again for a 2.85.  I never used a manual I just looked on YouTube, plenty of info on there and it helps that there a easy bike to do also.

[Rixington43]

A bloke in the States runs a YouTube channel called Urban Monk TV and he has a full video run through of valve clearances that's about 90mins long. I've used his videos before along with the Haynes but I'll certainly be giving myself plenty of time and making lots of notes.

[porter]

The front cylinder is easy, set her on the timing mark, check the clearances and remove cams if need be but on the rear cylinder the timing mark is for checking the clearance but not for removing the cams, it needs turned on till the mark's on the cams are level with the cylinder head. I found it easy to do, no cam chain tensioner was a big plus. I did the front cylinder first, checked what shims I needed, put everything back together as was then did the rear cylinder, leaving it apart till the shims turned up then reverse.
I once did an R6 and a later FZ1 and I sore I'd never do either again, in the end the R6 engine had to come out! The old vstrom is a breeze in comparison.

[Rusty Nuts]

Cbx 6. 24 shimmed valves . Claire, our queen bee and mistress of the micrometer, loved the job.