I was reading through my service manual last night, attempting to figure out what needs done on my 37k bike to get it up to date on service. Valve adjustment came up. It talks about using valve shims. Does anyone know if these shims come in a kit or even where to purchase them? I am assuming the dealership but I figured I would check, before I started calling.

 

The shims don't come in a kit. You won't know what shims you need until you've taken the bike apart, measured the clearances and determined whether or not any of them are out of spec. If they are out of spec, then you take the cams out (it sounds scarrier than it actually is) remove the lifters and find out what shims are in there now. You do a little math to determine what size is needed to bring the clearance back into spec, and then order those size shims. Most likely the dealer is not going to keep any of them in stock. I went through this process earlier this year on my wifes F3. You may want to look it over to see what's involved.

https://cbrforum.com/m_453228/mpage_3/key_/tm.htm

Good luck...

 

thank you. thats extremely helpful!

 

Not a problem. I seems like a lot of work, and I won't kid you, it is. But you figure it's going to take someone several hours to do it. Stealers charge anywhere from $80 to $90 per hour. It adds up. Or if they quote you a flat rate, the faster they do it the more proffit they make. When you're checking tollerances that are down to a few thousandths, I want someone that is focused on quality and nothing else. It's a very satisfying job to do when you're done. I don't recommend doing the carbs at the same time. Do one, make it run again, then do the other if you're going to. That way if something doesn't work, you know where to focus. If you've got any questions, bring them up on the forum, there's plenty of help here.

 

you guys have been great. I've always done the car thing, and this is an entirley different world.

 

You can get a shim kit, but I think it cost me $80.

I didn't want to go through taking it apart and not having the shims to adjust and put it back together.

It is an aftermarket thing. I got mine at an independent dealer.

 

Yes, you're right, there are aftermarket shim kits. I did consider going that route, but a couple of things steered me away.
[ul][*]The variety of shims that they have usually come in increments of .05mm, whereas the factory ones come in .025mm steps. The fact that the engineers would make them available in those fine of increments says something.[*]There is something to be said for factory parts, particularly when they're internal moving parts. What they're made of determines how long they'll last.[*]The cost of the kit was high. A single shim is about $6. You can buy 13 shims for that. The probabability of needing that many is pretty slim. On my job I only needed 4.
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