just ordered morgan carbtune

[Jon Burke]

Just ordered a valve cover gasket, shim tool, and a morgan carbtune ($99.56 from california sport touring). After a good carb cleaning and intake boot o-rings, last step is a valve adjustment. Have to be patient now. Local bike shop has a good asortment of shims, so hopefully won't have to order those too. Saw several favorable reviews on the morgan. Any other tips for my first valve adjustment?

[Steve]

Any other tips for my first valve adjustment?

Just a couple (or so).

Be sure you are starting with a COLD engine. Do not fire it up to get it into the garage. The engine should not be run for at least 12 hours before starting a valve adjustment.

It is handy to have digital calipers or a micrometer on hand. Some of the shims are not labeled very clearly and you will not be able to read the size, so you must measure them. You may use a Sharpie to label them if you are removing them. If you use a Sharpie and put them back into the engine, the oil will wash the marks away, but there will be no damage caused by that.

Take a look through your manual and the tutorial on BassCliff's website. Between the two of those, you should have no problems.

Send an e-mail to some guy named Steve (just click on the name in this post for his e-mail address :-\") and he will send you a copy of his nifty Excel spreadsheet that will help you keep track of your valve clearance and shim sizes.

After you are done with your valves, go for a celebratory ride to warm up the bike, then bring it back to do the carb sync and idle mixture tuning while it is hot.

.

[cloudbreakmd]

I am still considering the Colortune. Let me know how how it turns out for you in terms of a noticeable difference in driveability or performance.

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Jon Burke,

I also like the Real Gaskets for the valve cover and breather cover. They are reusable and can save you money in the long run. I have to check my valve clearances at least twice a year. I have no more old gaskets to scrape or new ones to buy. Take special note of the torque differences between the paper gaskets and the silicone gaskets.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[catbed]

i have used a colortune, but im not sure it was a motorcycle colortune, and it didnt work that well. it fired irregularly and the engine just died usually. maybe i need the coil realy mod.

[hikermikem]

I have a Morgan colortune & have used it 3 times, on 3 different bikes.

I thought it was quite helpful in getting all the carbs "on the same page" so to speak. I usually adjust each carb by ear, but since I'm "tune deaf" they weren't perfect. The colortune brought them all to the same level (based on sight, not sound), but I think a real experienced mechanic (NOT ME) would argue his ear is better than his eyes.

Of course I used it backwards the first time, meaning I leaned them out too much by turning the mixture screw in until the nice blue color went away. Then I had an epithany (coinsided with actually reading the directions). Make sure you lose the blue color by makng the mixture richer turning the mixture screw out until the color turns orange. My experience is that you want to set each carb a bit on the orange/blue side, not just blue. It's great fun!!

Good luck - let us know how you made out with yiour new toy.

[hikermikem]

Any other tips for my first valve adjustment?

One thing I learned the hard way on my first valve job:

DON'T remove all the shims as you go along, thinking you'll just put back the "new" shims in the proper places once you know what sizes you have!!! The cam shafts will not rotate freely without having all the shims in the shim buckets.

Use Steve's excellent excel worksheet to catalog & determine what sizes you need to put where. It's slow methodical work the first time, but quite easy actually - not brain surgery.

Also, that valve shim removal tool is a bit of a trick to use the first few times - it likes to slip to the side as you compress the valve springs and go SNAP. You have to pay attention as to how you place it into position every time to avoid that problem.

Good luck

[Jon Burke]

Good advice...especially about having a digital caliper on hand. Another good reason to buy one! Better see what i can find. Looked at the colortune also. Would like to see it work. Ordered the carbtune...bank of 4 vacuum gauges, not the colortune.

[Jon Burke]

Just a couple (or so).

Be sure you are starting with a COLD engine. Do not fire it up to get it into the garage. The engine should not be run for at least 12 hours before starting a valve adjustment.

It is handy to have digital calipers or a micrometer on hand. Some of the shims are not labeled very clearly and you will not be able to read the size, so you must measure them. You may use a Sharpie to label them if you are removing them. If you use a Sharpie and put them back into the engine, the oil will wash the marks away, but there will be no damage caused by that.

Take a look through your manual and the tutorial on BassCliff's website. Between the two of those, you should have no problems.

Send an e-mail to some guy named Steve (just click on the name in this post for his e-mail address :-\") and he will send you a copy of his nifty Excel spreadsheet that will help you keep track of your valve clearance and shim sizes.

After you are done with your valves, go for a celebratory ride to warm up the bike, then bring it back to do the carb sync and idle mixture tuning while it is hot.

.

Already read through BassCliff's tutorial on valve adjustent (very helpful btw) and the clymer manual. My work email address jon at steensmalawn.com Thanks!

[jknappsax]

For street use, it's better to set the valve clearances at the LOOSE end of the range, as they will wear tight. You'll get a little tappet noise, but the oldtimers say that this a sign of the valves being right.