Valve Adjustment

[Chris P]

I am looking to adjust the valves on my 82 650e. After reading many threads on this forum about bike maintenance and such, and my bike not particularly starting well, I am hoping that this will help. I am wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of a procedure or some images. I only ask because I am still a beginner when it comes to working on a bike. I have rebuilt my carbs(which upon further investigation is a typical newbie mistake), changed my starter, changed my front tire, rebuilt my front brake master cylinder, and changed my oil. Hopefully this is enough experience to be able to adjust these valves. Does anyone know if I need to purchase shims? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[tom203]

You've been busy! Checking/adjusting valves is pretty easy- basscliff has the basics using the bucket "depressing" tool or try the ziptie method that I used...

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/valve_tool_zip_tie.pdf

of course, you will need a new camcover gasket- halfway thru 82 model year they changed cover slightly (an extra bolt was added in tach drive area), so make sure you get right one.
You might be able to rearrange shims and only need a few- join the shim club (member ghostgs1 , as I recall). Steve has spreadsheet to keep track of your next check

[Chris P]

Thanks tom203, pretty sure you've given me tips before on most of those jobs. This all started when the bike stopped starting on a trip from connecticut to new york, had to bump start it every time we stopped. Fun stuff! Anyway, thanks for the links, anywhere in particular to get the cam cover gasket?

[tom203]

Bunch on ebay right now (genuine suzuki )- look at front of cam tunnel opposite from tach drive side- is there a cover bolt? back up in link and look at earlier models that did not have this extra bolt

http://www.alpha-sports.com/spst/1982%20GS650E/14.htm?q=suzuki-parts

[Chris P]

Great thanks again. Also, BikeCliffs PDF uploads just fine, however your "zip tie supplement" does not load up at all. Maybe just a problem on my end, but figured I'd let you know.

[tom203]

Just checked, the ziptie supplement loaded up fine on my old decrepit windows xp.

[Chris P]

Probably my crappy windows 8 screwing something up, no worries. Last question, Can i do this adjustment without removing the spark plugs?

[tkent02]

You can, but it's a lot harder to turn the engine over. If you are planning on zip tying it, that would be a real bitch.

More to the point, why would you want to?

[Nessism]

I never pull the plugs when performing a valve adjustment.

Oh, and hope the valves aren't all burned up now. Neglecting valve adjustment until running problems show up is recipe for disaster.

[Chris P]

The answer to that rests with another problem the bike had.



When i changed the spark plugs one them came out with a washer and some hard material attached. after clearing this away and changing the spark plug without reusing the washer i could hear a distinct "puffing" noise, as if air was being pushed through the hole where the spark plug goes. I removed the plug,it came out cleanly, and discovered what you can see in the picture is some of the thread missing, looking closer i saw that this was a replacement thread(forget the name). A mechanic buddy suggested i use lots of anti seize and a putty compound that hardens to cover the hole and insert the plug. I did that, and its has worked. When starting, there is no longer the puffing noise and the bike has ran for some time without fail. The issue i have is taking that whole area apart again and redoing it. I was trying to avoid that, but it looks like i cant.

[Chris P]

[Nessism]

So again, you don't have to take out the plugs to perform a valve adjustment.

[tom203]

Looks like some PO helicoil a stripped plug- not sure how I would approach this- maybe a thin flat washer ??? or rehelicoil?? Anyways, I had poor luck with the valve depressing tool-worked on some buckets, but others fought me, so I jumped to zipties and let my wife remove her earplugs.

[bwanna]

Here's a really good video on valve checking/adjustment procedure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4vRm9xADa8

[WilliamGLX81]

That looks like it may be a thread insert. I put one in my volvo when I had a loose spark plug eat the threads. Boy was that an interesting sensation when I was cranking to start .... chk chk chk chk BLAMplunk.

Anyway, they may have goofed. If it's a thread insert and it's already tapped, you're in luck. All it needs is some red (high strength) loc-tite between it's OUTER threads and the hole in the head. If it's a helicoil ... well, that's some janky stuff on just about everything. I would put a solid thread insert in it (I have some and can post photos/brand), but that may require tapping new threads. I liberally greased the tap, and it caught all the shavings. Not so much grease that there's no room for shavings, but a medium coating all the way around. It worked great until I wrecked the engine for unrelated (overheated) reasons.

It's better to fix it sooner rather than later, I think. You'll need to change the plugs eventually.