Winter maintenance ?...on generic parts

[Anonymous]

Well, it's winter in West Virginia, and my 82 GK is in for some heavy maintenance. When I put it away it was idling funny, not charging, bogging down, etc. I really beat her up over the summer, I guess.

Here's what I want to do:
Charging - Bought a used Electrex RR on ebay, waiting for new stator and will clean connections & rewire then.
Carbs - Rebuild.
Valves - Check, and I suspect they are wearing tight because I coulda sworn I felt an intermittent burst of air coming OUT of #1 intake boot when I started it after sitting for a few weeks. It did go away, and I couldn't determine for sure if it was sucking or blowing.

As far as the charging system, you know, that has been the usual headache. I just removed the carbs yesterday, and not gotten into them yet. And I anticipate I'll get into the valves soon.

Now, understand, I'm the kind of guy that uses hardware store bolts when ones on my GS break or strip - no OEM allegiance here. So my question is this: can I, and should I, use non-Suzuki parts for (i) the o-rings on the carb fuel/vent tubes and (ii) valve shims. I am particularly concerned about the shims, because if I do need them, they will be very difficult to get - especially when I have to get many sizes to "measure" a valve of unknown tightness.

[redliner1973]

No, and Definately No. Use OEM seals on the boots, and OEM shims.

[Poot]

stick with OEMS and your safe........go with hardware store, and buy from Mao and his buddies working for .02 cents per hour....

[bwringer]

I use aftermarket shims from Cycle Recycle II. I looked all over for a Suzuki dealer that stocked shims and never found one. I hate waiting a week for a simpler service part.

$4.95 each: http://crc2onlinecatalog.com/valve_shims.htm

The only issue I've seen is that these shims consistently measure .02 mm thicker than the marked size. The original Suzuki shims are always dead on, or marked with an "x" if they're a little thick. If I can't decide which size I want, I just buy two -- they're cheap.

Once you know to add .02mm to the aftermarket shims, it presents no problem at all. They seem to be just as hard as the Suzuki shims, in that they don't show visible wear.

If the valve clearance is so tight that the next size smaller shim still won't give you any clearance, you have a burned valve.

I think aftermarket shims might have a bad rap because some unsavory and/or ignorant characters will try to sell you shims for Kawasaki/Yamaha/BMW that are .5mm too small in diameter. (29 instead of 29.5mm). These are a Bad Idea, since they will almost certainly pop out at an inconvenient moment.

[Anonymous]

Poot - Mao and his buddies are conspicuously on the rise. This story is about how they have bought IBM: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/10395123.htm Kinda scary, huh?

bwringer - You gave me some good info there. I am a little worried about a burned valve, but I'm hoping that's not the case here since the incident that's prompting me to check these is on the intake side. Who knows what's going on on the other side though.

Obviously I need to do some compression tests and really figure out what's going on.

Thanks!