Valve Clearance for 1978 Gs750E

[shadley]

Hello! I bought a 1978 GS750E from my buddy, and I've been working on these past couple months.

I do not have a service manual, but I think I found the correct one online, and what I've found my valve clearance should be 0.03mm - 0.08mm (0.0012" - 0.0031")

When adjusting do I want them on the tighter side of 0.03mm or the looser 0.08mm? I've read on a forum here that looser is where you want to go, but that doesn't make too much sense in my head. My under standing of usage would ware down the lobes or shims causing the valve clearance to grow in size resulting in a larger shim.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, thanks!


I'll attach an image of my clearances, along with the size of each shim. I did mess up in recording clearance in inches, and shim size in mm, but an easy conversion imo.
IMG_5429.jpg

[tkent02]

The other way. The valves wear into the head, the clearances get tighter

[shadley]

Oh that makes sense! Thank you. So going off of that I should have my valves lean towards the "looser" side?

[fastbysuzuki]

Oh that makes sense! Thank you. So going off of that I should have my valves lean towards the "looser" side?

personally I along with others on here run them at .004" never had a problem with that clearance.

[Steve]

Yes, looser is better, but I have to ask ... since you don't have a manual, did you have the cam lobes in the correct positions when you made your measurements? Since you don't have a manual, it's very likely that you did not, as the correct position is not intuitive. The correct position is NOT with the lobe pointing away from the valve.

The correct position will have BOTH valves on one side of the cam pointing away from the valves at an angle, but neither one pushing on a valve. Doing it in any other position will give you false clearance in one of the valves.

While you have those numbers handy, I will invite you to take advantage of the offer in my signature. It will help you figure out what shims you need and will keep track of your clearances and shims in the engine.

Also, be sure to visit our library, where you can download a copy of your manual.

.

[shadley]

Thanks for the answer! I did a little bit of research on this website, and what I found was do two valves at a time, with one lobe facing upwards and the other facing back or forward (i forget). I started with cylinder #1 and #2 on the intake side, then did their exhaust, and repeated for cylinder #3 and #4.

[bobgroger]

Thanks for the answer! I did a little bit of research on this website, and what I found was do two valves at a time, with one lobe facing upwards and the other facing back or forward (i forget). I started with cylinder #1 and #2 on the intake side, then did their exhaust, and repeated for cylinder #3 and #4.

Here is a link to the Service Manual: http://zeus.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage...anual_1983.pdf
Everything else you need to know: http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/
Everything you will do wrong: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...ewbie-Mistakes

[Steve]

Bob, that link is for the 16-valve 750s.

I already gave him links to the proper manual and the library in post #5, but I did miss the link to the newbie mistakes thread.

.

[shadley]

I appreciate all the replies, thanks guys!