Yes thats the one

Well I found the problem.

7 out of my 8 intake valves have less than .005mm clearance (my smallest feeler gauge), the 8th valve has only .005mm clearance. Yep, that'll do it.

Oh boy, this is gonna be fun!

That's a bit extreme?
Are you sure you mesure it right?
BTW my smallest feeler gauge blade is 0.04mm (0.0015")
Maybe you mean 0.005" (0.129mm)?
In that case you are right

I'm pretty sure I measured it right, I'll mess around with it more tomorrow. Maybe it was .05 mm, just checked what I think is the same set of gauges online and they say .05mm, if so then that's a relief, but I'll have to double check. I was definitely reading mm not inches though. Hopefully a smaller set of gauges will fit otherwise I'm going to have to do some shim swapping to get a bass line clearance for new shims, won't be fun to do with how technical getting the cam holder off and back on is. Luckily I measured one exhaust valve (the only easy one to get to) and it was in spec so hopefully the other 7 will be like that.

Screw shim under bucket valves! I love my Ninja the adjustments take me 2 hours tops because it's screw and locknut lol.

How many miles are on your bike? I was under the impression these bikes held their valve clearance for quite awhile unless they are abused.

it's at 23k. I was under the same impression which is why valve clearances were a last resort to check. Fact of the matter is not all bikes hold their clearances as well as others, but I'll bet how the bike has been ridden has something to do with it. Mine has probably had a pretty hard life lol

Intake spec clearance is 0.20mm +/-0.03mm

If yours is 0.05mm means they are waaaay off

Post up the clearances for them when you go to adjust them. What makes you think your bike has had a hard life?

Mine has been running similar on start up and occasionally the FI light would stay on. Yesterday it gave me 2 flashes of the FI light which apparently means the hose to the map sensor is disconnected or there is a problem with my map sensor. I shut the bike off after I saw the code, restarted it and it was fine. I'm gonna have to take a look at the map sensor and see if the hose is disconnected when I have some time.

Alright got all of the intake valves measured, they're between .038 and .061mm, three of them were smaller than .038 but that's the smallest set of feeler gauges I could find so I made an educated guess of .025mm to figure out a shim size. All of my exhaust valves are in spec though... A few are closer to .25mm than .28 but that's still in spec. Tomorrow I'm going to run around to the various shops and see if I can buy some individual shims, then if everything checks out I'll button her back up sync the TBs and she'll be as good as new <3 as much as I've started to hate this bike because of all this ****, I'm excited to have it back on the road lol. I didn't spend big money on it to let it sit and collect dust while I ride my Ninja that needs it's own TLC. Go figure, my honda has given me tons of problems, my kawasaki is mechanically flawless *shrugs*. Hopefully all of the bugs will be worked out after this.

If you saw my bike you'd understand, rough plastics, obviously not maintained as well as it should have been, I've ridden the hell out of it and so did the PO who was a total squid so...

If you're having an FI light with this issue then it is most likely your map sensor. Check all the vacuum hoses on the 5 way splitter that goes into 4 ports on the throttle bodies and into the map sensor, either one has come loose or they've corroded. Or your sensor is shot, you can check the voltage on it, you'll want to doublecheck this but it should read somewhere around 5v. If the sensor is shot just get a honda automotive one, same part used between almost all mid 90s through early 00s honda/acura cars. Same connector and voltage as the F4i, the sensor housing it's has an extra mounting hole and that's it.

Thanks, that's good info. I pulled the plastics and tank the other day and unplugged the sensor and checked the the hose and it all looked fine. Plugged it back in and started and no light. The light came and went but the other day was the only time I got a code. Hopefully mine is fixed without anything else.

Glad to hear you are getting your bike straight.