First Valve Adjust 80 850GL

[EJMAMMO]

I am doing my first valve adjustment on my 80 GS850GLT. I don't know if the valves were ever done on this engine but I was pretty pleased that they are pretty close.The engine has 24,000 miles on it. Here are my numbers.

1E <.04 2.60 shim
2E <.04 2.60 shim
3E <.04 2.55X shim
4E <.04 2.60 shim

1I .04 2.60 shim
2I .04 2.60 shim
3I .05 2.55X shim
4I .04 2.65 shim

My number of questions are, for the less than .04 exhausts should I shop for a .03 and .02 feeler gauge to get a true reading, or just drop down .05? Even if at .03 that would put me OK at .08 right? My issue is more with the intake side, while they are within spec, should I just leave them alone, or try to come up in size some, from what I have read, .09 would not be bad, but not sure if I should just leave them alone. I need to purchase a micrometer or digital feeler gauge to check that they are in fact what is printed, recommendations on which is better. That should do it for now, and by the way, the zip-tie method is PRICELESS!!

Thanks for all help.......Jay

[Steve]

It would be nice to know just how much less than .04mm your clearances are, but it's not really necessary. If you do drop a shim size for more clearance, you will be at no more than .09, which is not all that bad, especially for a street engine. You could move your 2.55x to one of the other spots, but you would still have to purchase three shims. Z1 is probably the best place to order shims. They are hard to find unless you know the trick. Go to the Z1 home page, type "29.5" (without the quote marks) in the search window. That takes you right to the GS shim pages.

Since you have all these numbers fresh in your mind, you wanna keep track of them?
Check out the last part of my sig.

.

[EJMAMMO]

Thanks Steve,
I have your shim managing sheet, it's great, I thought I would get at least one 2.55 and then check all the less than .04's with it, to see where they were all at before buying more, I hope the local has some (they said they did) Would you leave the intake alone for now? Thanks

[Nessism]

If I were you I'd order a half dozen 2.55's and at least 3 2.50's. You can leave the intakes alone but while you are in there it wouldn't hurt to move them down one size, or better yet, use a micrometer to find some inbetween sized shims and move them to those valves.

[AirCooledFour]

Best feeler gauges?

What should be the range for a good set of feeler gauges?

[Steve]

Thanks Steve,
I have your shim managing sheet, it's great, ... Would you leave the intake alone for now? Thanks

OK, it's been a while since I sent it, I did not remember.

If you have access to a dealer that will exchange shims or sell them cheaply, AND if it were my bike, I might go half a size thinner on all the intakes. That would involve moving your 2.55x to one of your 2.60s, then finding another 2.55x, a 2.55 and a 2.60x. Lots of work, but it would keep them all close to the same clearance and near the upper limit.

You can get a good guess how many sizes thinner you will need for the exhaust valves. True, you can't fit your .04 feeler in there, but can you spin the shim/bucket? If you can, you will likely only need to go down one size.

.

[robertbarr]

... and you'll certainly get different answers to that question. My take is: spec is spec. If you're measuring .04, you're fine on the intakes, especially if you intend to check your valve clearances on schedule.

The engineers knew what they were doing, which is why so many of these machines are still doing fine after 30+ years. If they wanted 0.09, they would have said so.

Just a stubborn engineer's opinion...