GS Valve Shim Club

[Nessism]

I could be mistaken but I believe I read here somewhere that Rapid Ray was removed from the forum a few months ago. My apologies to Ray if I’ve got my facts wrong.

Different Ray. Shim club Ray = Ghostgs1. Rapidray = banned dude.

[Grimly]

Pretty sure they're case hardened, otherwise they'd shatter

Steve (IIRC), posted a pic of a shattered one which seems to tally with them being through-hardened.
Under normal conditions they're not seeing an impact, just a steep rise/fall in pressure.

[chuck hahn]

Grimly, im no metal expert but if they were just case hardened wouldnt it stand to reason that given the cam lobes sweep across the face that the shim would start to take on a dished (think banana) shape over time???

[Rijko]

I usually measure my shims with a digital caliper, but if i measure using an outside micrometer i do find small differences in outside rim and the contact area with the lobes.

[Grimly]

Grimly, im no metal expert but if they were just case hardened wouldnt it stand to reason that given the cam lobes sweep across the face that the shim would start to take on a dished (think banana) shape over time???

If just case hardened that would be fairly disastrous at some point, when the case hardening wore through.
I wonder if the aftermarket ones are fully hardened or case hardened. Just another thing to worry about, but next time I'm setting them I'll do like Rijko and perform some accurate measurements.

[Suzukian]

I would think they are fully hardened, to what hardness is a different question. Case hardening would just be a problem waiting to happen. I used to have one of those Rockwell Hardness testers. It was a glass tube, with it's own ball inside. You put the piece you wanted to test underneath and let the ball drop, when it bounced back up, where it ended up on the rebound was it's Rockwell Hardness Number. I know I still have it, but it's buried somewhere, I haven't had to use it in decades.

[srsupertrap]

Just wondering has anyone recently used the GS Valve Shim Club exchange? I see Ghostgs1 (Ray) has not been active on the Forum lately.

Thanks,
Steve

[chuck hahn]

He hasnt done it in years. Gonna have to buy from dealership or get K&L ones from Z1. I have a ziploc baggie full of take offs i was gonna send him and never got a response when i PMed him. PM me what you need and i can look this weekend if i can help you out.

[srsupertrap]

Thanks Chuck, I appreciate it!

[Hihowyaderrin]

He hasnt done it in years. Gonna have to buy from dealership or get K&L ones from Z1. I have a ziploc baggie full of take offs i was gonna send him and never got a response when i PMed him. PM me what you need and i can look this weekend if i can help you out.

Do you happen to have any loose shims still available? I miscalculated and my educated guess… wasn’t educated enough I’m afraid.

in my mad dash to figure out my exhaust shim size (installed upside down and in a negative clearance situation) I read about the swap here but that user isn’t active. I have a 3.00, 2.90 and 2.75 left. Looking for 2.70, 2.65, or 2.60 range

[salty_monk]

That was the beauty of what Ray did... he had a machine for lapping these hardened disks to size so we could re-use all the fat ones! Sad day when he retired! Hope you're still doing well if you happen upon this Ray!

[chuck hahn]

Hihowyaderrin I dont have any left. I took a full ziploc baggie to the local suzuki dealer and gave them to the service department. The greatest number of take out shims are gonna be in the 265 to 275 range as thats an average as new from the factory. What Ray did was surface grind them to make thinner ones which would be needed most often. If you know someone with a surface grinder they can dress your shims.
For every two thousands taken off a shim changes it one shim size. So taking two thousands off a 270 shim gives you a 265 shim. DO NOT rotate the crank without a shim in the bucket..or a suitable blank. Ive heard some suggest a quarter acts as a blank nicely but i personally havent tried

EDIT..If youre gonna buy shims be sure they are 29.5MM diameter and not 29MM

[Nessism]

Z1 Enterprises sells shims for $5.25 each. Take an inventory of all the shims currently installed in your engine, then anticipate which shims would be needed to move each valve two steps. Most of the time, shims can be moved from one valve to the next, but obviously, you will have some gaps. Anyway, it's money well spent to have the spares you will need on-hand. It's not like we are talking big money here...

[dubwicht]

I wish I had know about this a few days ago. I just ordered some from Z1 and paid a small ransom to have them shipped to Canada. I may be sending some your way soon.

[P09luis]

Many moons ago I had the pleasure to chat with Ray, I got a few shims and i also sent him some shims from my KZ and GS since I knew weren't going to be needed. Good old days, but now you can buy it online.