Valve Adjustment

[surveywaters]

I've been wrenching old Hondas for sometime with fair success. I am now building this 1982 XS400 DOHC and am forced to learn something new. I have only dealt with adjustable tappet screws and now I'm looking at shims. The manual seems pretty straight forward, nothing tough; I just get to make a new tool. My question is where can I get valve shims for this bike? Are these standard to the point that an auto store would have them? I would like a kit so when I get to it I won't have to measure, order, inevitably screw up and do it all again.

Thanks in advance and great forum here, glad I found you guys!

 

[drewpy]

the normal way to do it is, measure the gaps first, shims are really accruate and rarely need doing. you will find each shim a differnt thickness and basically you need to mix and match to get the gaps you need.

eventually you will end up with a couple that will need different thickness shims which you don't have.


Yamaha will still have them and you just order the sizes you need

 

[surveywaters]

got this taken care of, easy job, first measurement was perfect and individual shims are widely available. Thanks

 

[drewpy]

your welcome

 

[freelancethink]

what is the intake and exhaust valve clearance specifications?

 

[Scorpio1963]

Im going to keep this thread in mind cause I know my valve lasy will need be done sometime soon.

 

[bentwrench]

They're in the manual - all DOHC have the same clearances, and the manual makes it really easy to figure out what sizes you need.

For the record, I just traded with my local motorcycle mechanic. $5 per trade, and I only needed to trade 3, as I was able to transfer one shim to a different valve to bring them in line.