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400 dolla valve adjustment

  • Thread starter Thread starter hardwareman
  • Start date Start date
H

hardwareman

Guest
At the suggeston of ome of the finest bikers in the world,I decided to have my valves on the 80 gs1000e adjusted.Shop quoted 4.5 hours of labor at 75 per plus parts.Would it take that long?i have never replaced shims before so I thought someone ho had done it before should.But heck,no one wants to pay more than a thousand for these bikes and mine is already over 3000 .Anyone have theirs adjusted by a 'pro' ?
 
How long the job takes depends on how easy things go. If your rocker cover gasket is ok and re-usable things are going to be quicker. If it's all gummed up and breaks it could take a (boring) hour or so to clean it off. Similarly, if you need to swap / replace all 8 shims (unlikely if the bike if running fine) it's going to take longer than if it's just a check.

At best you could do this in under half an hour (but everything has to be going for you). 4.5 hours does seem like your shop is expecting the worst and some - quite a bit of 'some'. I reckon they must think it's shims under buckets and the cams have to come out.

As it's a pretty straightforward job why not have a go at it yourself. Basecliff's tutorial shows it in a very clear and easy to follow way.
 
Wow.... planning on doing my own this weekend, never done a valve adjustment in my life and not expecting it to take much more than 4.5 hours. Though it certainly might. Don't feel bad though, I have about 2500 in mine, and still need a pipe and a paint job.
 
hardwareman said:
At the suggeston of ome of the finest bikers in the world,I decided to have my valves on the 80 gs1000e adjusted.Shop quoted 4.5 hours of labor at 75 per plus parts.Would it take that long?i have never replaced shims before so I thought someone ho had done it before should.But heck,no one wants to pay more than a thousand for these bikes and mine is already over 3000 .Anyone have theirs adjusted by a 'pro' ?
Click to expand...

Pro's have only changed my tires.

I just did my valve shims for the first time, and 4.5 hours for a pro sounds like someone who really doesn't want to work on it. No way a pro should take that long. I'd expect a pro to be able to do it in an hour, including hardened gasket removal.
 
I'll do it for half that!

I'll do it for half that!

Good grief Mr. hardwareman!

Don't give the shop $400 for something you can do yourself. A paper valve cover gasket (10 bucks), replacement shims ($4.75 each), and a couple hours of your time is all you need.

Please visit my little BikeCliff website and check out the valve adjustment guides before you go spending that kind of money.

If yours is the 16-valve motor, you don't even need replacement shims.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Last edited:
where to get the replacement shims? Gasket? I'll be doing this soon on my 450, don't expect it to take more than a few hours.

I'm also gonna do a carb cleaning. And that could take a while.
 
hardwareman said:
Anyone have theirs adjusted by a 'pro' ?
Click to expand...
No.

$75 per hour is pretty much standard these days, and you should actually consider yourself lucky that they would even talk to you about a bike that is more than 10 years old. Don't forget to add the parts to that figure. You just know they are going to bill you for a new valve cover gasket and for every shim that they change. Also, they are not likely to move any shims around. If they take a 2.65 out to put in a 2.60, and need a 2.65 in another location, you will likely get billed for two shims, even though one of them was yours to start with.

What's it gonna cost to do it yourself? Let's go worst case: (assuming you have the basic hand tools)
Gasket $6.83 from Z1
4 shims @ $4.75 from Z1, $19.00
digital calipers from Harbor Freight, about $35 (optional, but helpful to verify the shim thickness)
Excel spreadsheet to track your clearances and shims: FREE \\:D/ (just send me an e-mail requesting your copy)

Total, about $60, plus a little for shipping, so maybe about $75. Next time, you will only be out about $10 or so for a couple of shims, as you will already have everything else.


One other thing to keep in mind: "Pro" doesn't mean they are good at it, only that they get paid for it. :shock:

.
 
On the "consider yourself lucky they would even talk to you" you are right for sure. Most of the shops around here won't touch one more than 10 or 15 years old.
 
I did not think that sounded right but in my experience if they do not want to fool with you they overprice to drive you off.No fuss or hard feelings that way.The shims are something that I have never done and just thought a hour or two should do it.Now tell me about Z1.Are you referring to a particuliar place or Kaw parts that interchange?
 
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Erich Z said:
where to get the replacement shims? Gasket? I'll be doing this soon on my 450, don't expect it to take more than a few hours.

I'm also gonna do a carb cleaning. And that could take a while.
Click to expand...

Hi Mr. Erich Z,

For a list of our favorite online vendors, please visit my little BikeCliff website and check out the Greeting-Basic Info-Vendors Page.

I get most of my parts from either Z1 or BikeBandit, but I use others as well. Shop around.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff



 
hardwareman said:
I did not think that sounded right but in my experience if they do not want to fool with you they overprice to drive you off.No fuss or hard feelings that way.The shims are something that I have never done and just thought a hour or two should do it.Now tell me about Z1.Are you referring to a particuliar place or Kaw parts that interchange?
Click to expand...

Z1enterprises, the preferred internet parts house around here. They have the best prices and seem to just be good guys. That being said, they don't have everything, but they have what you need. I got my shims and gasket from them.
 
hardwareman said:
At the suggeston of ome of the finest bikers in the world,I decided to have my valves on the 80 gs1000e adjusted.Shop quoted 4.5 hours of labor at 75 per plus parts.Would it take that long?i have never replaced shims before so I thought someone ho had done it before should.But heck,no one wants to pay more than a thousand for these bikes and mine is already over 3000 .Anyone have theirs adjusted by a 'pro' ?
Click to expand...

Thanks for reminding me that I saved $400 doing my own valve adjustments.
Steve was right about a new $7 valve cover gasket, probably 4 new shims = $20, but add $20 for the shim tool or use a good zip tie like I did for $0.
I did not use the calipers as I got a spare shim to easily do some swapping of shims and getting a sense of sizes before ordering others.
Because I was careful, I spent extra time cleaning the cover and head surfaces of old gasket material. I used a shop vac to clean up any pieces that dropped in but watch out as there are pockets of oil sitting in the head. Be sure you plug the spark openings with rags to avoid anything falling in there.
Go for it!
 
hampshirehog said:
How long the job takes depends on how easy things go. If your rocker cover gasket is ok and re-usable things are going to be quicker. If it's all gummed up and breaks it could take a (boring) hour or so to clean it off. Similarly, if you need to swap / replace all 8 shims (unlikely if the bike if running fine) it's going to take longer than if it's just a check.

At best you could do this in under half an hour (but everything has to be going for you). 4.5 hours does seem like your shop is expecting the worst and some - quite a bit of 'some'. I reckon they must think it's shims under buckets and the cams have to come out.

As it's a pretty straightforward job why not have a go at it yourself. Basecliff's tutorial shows it in a very clear and easy to follow way.
Click to expand...

I am of the opinion that they have no desire to work on it, and likely wouldnt know WTF they were doing anyway. Even if it WERE shim under, with my LIMITED experience, ive had the entire TOP end of one of these torn down, and back together and timed in LESS than 4.5 hours. I am with everyone else, get yourself a manual (Clymer, Haynes, Suzuki, or best, all of em) and do it yourself. Its quite the gratifying experience, plus, as said, you're saving a TON of money (and not just by switching to GEICO) You'll learn alot, and knowing that after a while of studying and working on it yourself, its comforting knowing that just about anything that goes wrong on the bike, YOU can fix. There are PLENTY of us round here that would be happy to help you do it the RIGHT way, and field questions and such. :-D
 
Its REALLY not hard. Just have a new gasket ready and be prepared to get the old one off. Or you can bring the gasket and bike to my place and I can do it for you for the cost of a 12 pack ;)
 
I have about 4 grand into my bike now and after blowing a lot of that on labor, I now refuse to take the bike somewhere for maintenance. I've spent too much money on work I could have done a better job on.

Even non maintenance like electrical work, was done poorly and I had to fix it anyway.

Now that I have an air compressor, I'm going to take a whirl at painting this summer too.
 
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