Valve adjustments

[Joho]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

Adjusting the valves is a couple of orders of magnitude more difficult than those things.

Touche!

Let the record note, that "The valves are terribly easy to adjust on our GZ's, compared to other bikes.

:neener:

[burkbuilds]

I paid the local dealer to do it for me the first time out, they charged about $75 which wasn't bad, and they did a good job. A few weeks ago I mentioned to my friend Jim that I needed to have this done again since it had been 6 months and 6,000 miles since the dealer adjusted them. Jim told me to bring the bike to his house and he'd teach me how to do it. I jumped at the chance since Jim worked (rode) for Suzuki for years in the 70's, taught at a motorcycle mechanics school for several years and was the service manager for my local Suzuki dealer a few years ago. He talked me through it and checked behind me to make sure I was setting the valves correctly, it was great to have someone there to confirm that I had it right, or show me why it wasn't! He had me set them at the "mid point" in the specs, Intake 5mm Exhaust 10mm. I really appreciated his help because I'm not sure that I would have done it correctly on my own. Sometimes the printed words can only take you so far and then somebody has to pull a feeler guage through and tell you "that's what it should feel like". Jim describes the correct amount of resistance as "magnetic drag". It's a feel, and it took me a couple of tries before I understood if I had it to loose or to tight, not really sure how you can put that in print so there's no confusion about what you should end up with. I'm very thankful for a good friend who knew what he was doing and was willing to teach me!

[Canuck]

in response to burksbuilds...

I am totally baffled with the feeler gauge section of the valve adjustment...
i dont know and cannot find the solution..

I have the feeler gauges and everything is set for adjustment..

how do i position these things to find out how loose or tight the valves are...


YARR!!!

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Canuck

......and everything is set for adjustment..

how do i position these things to find out how loose or tight the valves are...

Well not quite "everything", it would seem !! :roll: :biggrin:

You see which is the largest one you can slip into the space between the top of the valve stem and the bottom of the rocker arm adjustment screw (the thing that pushes on the valve stem) without binding.

You DO have to bend them a bit to get the right angle.

[Canuck]

YES!!! i just finished my first Valve Adjust at .003 and .003 for both sides

sounds good . idols great. rides great

BTW i used the how to guide on the website and Dans Motorcycle Valve adjustment help



BTW (2)......did i even need to buy the .004-.005 Feeler Gauges???

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Canuck

BTW (2)......did i even need to buy the .004-.005 Feeler Gauges???

They usually come as a set......and the probable answer is YES but it's too late now.

If the spec. is .003 to .005, then if you can get ANY ONE of them in but not the .006, then you did not need to do any "adjustment" in the first place.

P.S. If the spec. IS .003 to .005......why did you set them to .003 ?? The odds of them getting tighter on their own is just as great as going the other way......maybe even more.

[Canuck]

ya know now that i think about it .... .005 on the exhaust would be better . Ill have to wait to do the whole thing over but i just have to go 4 kms to work and back for 3 days .. cant hurt to much it does still sound ok just doesn't have the acceleration... so i bunged up.. Damn..

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Canuck

ya know now that i think about it .... .005 on the exhaust would be better .

And what exactly leads you to believe that ??
A few minutes ago, it seemed that you didn't even understand what valve lash IS. :roll:

In general, more lash equals less valve opening and less performance......intake or exhaust.
I strongly suggest that you NOT putz around with it; if they are within the spec range, leave them alone.

[dhgeyer]

I've checked/adjusted the valve clearances on several bikes, including all three that I now own. The Concours has 16 valves, and it's a full day's job to strip off all the plastic and other parts, remove the valve cover, do the valves, put RTV on parts of the valve cover and/or mating parts and the gasket, and put it all back together. The BMW can be done in an hour or so. The GZ250 in about the same time or less.
I have said before and I will say again: anyone with any mechanical ability at all would be very unlikely, in my opinion, to pay to have this job done, once they have seen it done. It's really not that hard.

The advantages to doing it yourself are:

1. Less money - the tools you need will pay for themselves in short order.

2. You don't have to deliver the bike somewhere the night before so that the engine will be dead cold, which it needs to be for this job. Unless you can pretty much walk home from the shop, you'll spend less time doing it yourself than getting the bike to the shop and getting it back again.

3. The tech at the shop will check each valve to make sure it's within spec. If it is, they will leave it alone. They make no attempt to match pairs of valves, or to set them on the loose side, on the tight side, or in the middle according to your preference. In some cases they don't touch valves that clearly should be adjusted. It's not their bike. You will be much fussier. Watching someone do it once is a big confidence builder.

I only wish Suzuki (or someone) would publish a torque spec for the locknuts on the adjusters. They are a smaller diameter screw than on bigger bikes, so I don't want to use the bigger bike's torque specs. With no specs, I don't even use a torque wrench on those nuts, relying on feel. But I'd be more comfortable with a proper spec to go by. Has anyone ever seen such a spec for this bike?

[Canuck]

Easy,

I definetely learned my lesson on this one... however, i think the exhaust side needs to be opened up abit or SOMETHING... because the overall performance of the bikes low and mid-range are how should i say.....muffled...especially the feel of the bikes acceleration between gear changes and from a start.


I used .003 feeler gauge and slid it into the opening and felt resistance but could still move the gauge back and forth.
checked both sides of the rocker arm over and over to make sure they were tight and at .003

It had been 7500 kms since my last one so i figured with the long distance riding i had been doing all summer, it was sure to have moved out and it wasnt idoling as well as before.


am i correct at guessing i need to open it up abit at least on the intake side?? or .. what.


thanks for your patience.