To Get Valves Adjusted or Not on 998?

[Easy Rider]

LOOSE valves do not burn.
TIGHT one do.

 

[motoswami]

why valves out of spec can cause damage

My hat off to you sir; you have nailed this issue.

Many will not pay $800 on the hopes their machine will have been right from the assembly line and the valve seat material is holding up to and beyond the service interval. I get that; $800 ain't chicken feed. For that money you should expect a shim map at beginning and end of the adjustment process. Reference to that map during subsequent clearance checks will tell you the speed at which change is occurring.

Too much to be bothered with? Maybe, given the reliability of modern engines, but it ain't gonna be cheap if you burn a valve seat due to insufficient clearances (i.e. "tight" valves).

Pete

The problem with waiting to do this maintenance is that by the time your engine starts running poorly you've potentially already done damage. Thus the reason for checking clearance is to ensure you don't damage your engine. I don't have much experience with the internals of this engine yet, however I have maintained the valve clearance on a bmw motorcycle and two kawasakis. All three of those bikes needed adjustment at the first interval. All engines are different and so are manufacturer specs. Im positive that the kawasaki plant rolls out engines with the valves in tolerance with no regard to how close to the minimum they are. As valve seats get broken in the valve sets further into the seat. That causes the valve stem to tighten the clearance between the cam lobe and bucket. If the clearance deteriorates enough you can actually smack a valve with the piston. I am not the type to pay some kid the exorbitant amount of money to do this task. I think dealers blow off the maintenance and just charge you for it. If anyone decides to have this done at the dealer demand a shim map with all clearances listed. I will make a how to and video when the time comes to tear into my wifes spyder. Once again I won't say your crazy for not doing the maintenance but there was a mistake in an earlier comment (no offense to that poster) and I wanted to at least set that straight. I hope this helps with understanding for those of you with less experience. Another way to beat the dealer is to insist on them setting the valves to the upper tolerance which is what I do when I do mine. Once again demand a shim map as found and then another one as adjusted. This ensures the maximum amount of time between checking vs adjusting the clearance.

One last thing to make things clear. There is an argument that your bike will run the best at the tightest tolerance. This makes sense because the less clearance will actually open the valve wider. Thousandths of inch we are talking. This does allow that much more air into the cylinder for combustion. I'll take my valves on the loose end of spec though to ensure maximum intervals between adjusting. Getting to the cams is one thing (clearance check) pulling them to adjust the shims is a whole other task and truthfully the part that scares me every time I do it. I once dropped a shim into the head of the bike and they can travel down into the depths of the engine. Luckily mine landed in the top of the engine and I found it with a magnet. I hope this helps.

Semper Fi,

Corpssgt