I'm jumping in and renting the use of the FJ Owner's Club shim set today. I will have the use of it for only TWO WEEKS (14 days).
I would like to extend the offer to anyone in the area, who might want to check their valve clearances, while I have the kit in my posession.
I'm planning on Saturday, May 4th, weather permitting.
NancyK and Jeff are already taking me up on the offer, and I've spoken with "Brook" (Jeff), "justdon" and "BrekD" who have expressed interest.
Also, I don't want to needlessly terrorize the neighbors, so I'll need to keep this down to about five or six bikes at a time.
Contact me in the next couple of days, let me know if you want to make use of the kit. Remember, I'll only have it for 14 DAYS. After that, you'll have to rent it yourself.
I expect to do the work at my house in South Orlando, off of Gatlin Avenue, near Orange Avenue. If your bike is down for maintenance, and you're close to Orlando, I MIGHT be able to come to you. (The shim kit will NOT be leaving my possession, though. I'm responsible for the deposit!)
Since we have to take the valve cover off to get to the shims, it's an ideal time to replace the valve cover gasket and the eight ( 8 ) valve cover bolt seals (if necessary). Yours may not be old, crusty, and leaking, but mine were.
Also, if you have a slipping clutch, we could add a second OEM clutch spring. You would want to get one of those and the clutch cover seal.
Spark plugs come to mind also.
None of this is required for the operation I propose, but we'll be near the engine, and have the tank off.
I also have a carb sychronizer that we could make use of.
Place your orders with RPM Randy for parts now (if you need any), and RSVP me here or through PM for detailed directions.
Kooky-Lou!
Steve
Steve well done, a "Shim-Dig" sounds awesome. Wish i could join you. :yahoo:
Kurt
Sounds like a great time to have a clutch rod shooting contest!!!
Very cool FJ get together :drinks:
Quote from: fj1289 on April 22, 2013, 09:16:54 PM
Sounds like a great time to have a clutch rod shooting contest!!!
Stay away from my kitty! :blum1:
Also, if you have a slipping clutch, we could add a second OEM clutch spring. You would want to get one of those and the clutch cover seal.
Steve, are you winding me up on this?
Noel
Quote from: ribbert on April 23, 2013, 10:06:13 AM
Also, if you have a slipping clutch, we could add a second OEM clutch spring. You would want to get one of those and the clutch cover seal.
Steve, are you winding me up on this?
Noel,
Not at all!
The fix worked for me, and I mentioned it as something else that could be done quickly and easily. Just wanted to put it out there so people could get orders placed and parts delivered.
I also forgot to mention oil changes and spin-on oil filter mods, but Randy appears to be sold out at the moment.
Steve
Quote from: Steve_in_Florida on April 23, 2013, 10:28:47 AM
I also forgot to mention oil changes and spin-on oil filter mods, but Randy appears to be sold out at the moment.
Steve
I little birdie told me they are on the way, but they are still many days out. Hopefully will be here early the week of 4/29.
Randy - RPM
Quote from: racerrad8 on April 23, 2013, 07:42:32 PM
Quote from: Steve_in_Florida on April 23, 2013, 10:28:47 AM
I also forgot to mention oil changes and spin-on oil filter mods, but Randy appears to be sold out at the moment.
Steve
I little birdie told me they are on the way, but they are still many days out. Hopefully will be here early the week of 4/29.
Randy - RPM
How about clutch springs? You got plenty of those? :bomb:
(popcorn) (popcorn)
Quote from: not a lib on April 23, 2013, 08:31:32 PM
How about clutch springs? You got plenty of those? :bomb:
(popcorn) (popcorn)
Yes, unless there is a run on them exceeding 10, I will be good. But if there is a run they are only a few days away too. :hi:
Randy - RPM
Hey Steve remember its best to do it with a totally cold motor ie not started for 24hrs (this is the way I do it anyways :biggrin
Baldy
Quote from: not a lib on April 23, 2013, 08:31:32 PM
How about clutch springs? You got plenty of those? :bomb:
(popcorn) (popcorn)
But wait!!! There's more!!!! Order your additional clutch spring in the next 20 mins and receive at no extra cost this fabulous "CLUTCHERCISER" That's right, absolutely free and valued at.................
(http://www.photo-dictionary.com/photofiles/list/4482/5949hand_exercise_grip.jpg)
* Drum brake model shown
Valve adjustment update:
So far, the biggest hurdle to overcome was finding the right feeler gauge set.
The first set I bought from the local auto shop did not have the range that I needed. They exchanged it for the proper set with no issue.
I have attacked the task on my 1990 FJ engine, as the bike is not yet fully assembled, and I felt better about "practicing" the operation on it first, before moving on to my 1992 FJ (which *IS* running).
My first step was to measure and record the clearance on each and every valve, then attach the "special tool" and remove each shim to determine what was already in the engine.
It's a little time-consuming to remove each shim, but once I perfected the technique, things went smoothly. One trick I realized was to measure the clearance at the base lobe of the cam, then rotate the shim bucket so the notches in the edge will accept the tip of a small screwdriver once special tool is installed. The shim buckets freely rotate in their hole when not under tension from the cam.
FJMonkey developed a spreadsheet to help automate the procedure, and once I filled in the details for my engine, used it as a guide to figure out just which shims I would actually swap out.
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=5830.0 (http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=5830.0)
As it turned out, both exhaust valves on my number three (3) cylinder were slightly tight, as were one intake valve each on the number one (1) and number four (4) cylinders.
Well, I'm now off to perform the procedure on the other bike!
Steve
Good for you Steve.
I noticed that I had a hard time getting the prongs on the tool to bite on the edge of the shim buckets... necessary to hold the buckets down.
A quick call to Randy and he gave me this tip: Before you tighten down the bolt that holds the tool, get the bolt finger tight then give a *light tippy tap* on the tool to seat the prongs on the bucket...then lightly tighten the bolt.
Worked like a charm.
Sure is nice having a complete kit of shims to work with huh?
Quote from: Steve_in_Florida on April 30, 2013, 10:20:02 AM
Valve adjustment update:
So far, the biggest hurdle to overcome was finding the right feeler gauge set.
The first set I bought from the local auto shop did not have the range that I needed. They exchanged it for the proper set with no issue.
I prefer to use a set of metric feeler gauges, the increments are right and there is no converting back and forth involved.
Derek
My tip for this is to measure the shims, just because it is marked 275 doesn't mean it is. I use a micrometer to do this, but a caliper will work also. When I did my last adjustment, a 275 was only 271. Sucks when you change a shim to find out no change in valve lash. The fellow who told me to do this, was an old tuner who built way fast drag bikes. Hope this helps.
Kurt
Quote from: yamaha fj rider on April 30, 2013, 04:06:51 PM
My tip for this is to measure the shims, just because it is marked 275 doesn't mean it is. I use a micrometer to do this, but a caliper will work also. When I did my last adjustment, a 275 was only 271. Sucks when you change a shim to find out no change in valve lash.
That's the beauty of having the use of a kit with 95 assorted shims in it. There are several of each of the various sizes, so if one is out-of-spec, another can take its place.
Besides, it really doesn't matter what's printed on the shim, as long as the measured valve lash is within the recommended range, then all is well.
I'm rechecking the valve lash after making any changes, just to be certain.
Having access to this kit has been good practice. I'm glad Randy put it together. Thanks Randy! :hi:
I also found both my metric feeler gauge set (and a second, lesser one that I might donate to the kit) and the compression gauge set that I'd misplaced in the garage.
Steve
Also, remember after the valve shim has been removed the first time, you can not measure and get a true reading on the replacement shim.
The reason for this is the cold oil runs onto the bucket/shim surface when the shim is removed. The oil will not compress fully out of the surface until the engine is run up top operating temperature.
I have race car guys calling all the time trying to figure out why the change from a 265 to a 260 does not change on the feeler gauge. Once they run is and cool it down they can now see the change.
Randy - RPM
Quote from: racerrad8 on April 30, 2013, 05:54:24 PM
Also, remember after the valve shim has been removed the first time, you can not measure and get a true reading on the replacement shim.
The reason for this is the cold oil runs onto the bucket/shim surface when the shim is removed. The oil will not compress fully out of the surface until the engine is run up top operating temperature.
I have race car guys calling all the time trying to figure out why the change from a 265 to a 260 does not change on the feeler gauge. Once they run it and cool it down they can now see the change.
Randy - RPM
Thanks for this info, Randy. This whole process is quite the learning experience!
Steve
Update:
This past Sunday, I was preparing to finalize my use of the FJ club shim kit and send it back to Randy.
Most of the valves on my `92 FJ were on the loose side, just outside of the tolerance range. I decided to make one final adjustment to bring them right within tolerance; neither too tight nor too loose.
Swapped out the last shim, and buttoned everything up. Rolled the bike outside, and cranked her up. On the first engine rotation, I heard the distinct "ping" sound of a shim being seated (I'd heard them do this before when turning the crank over by hand after a shim swap), followed by the tapping of an extremely LOOSE valve.
Not good.
Shut her down, rolled her inside, and opened her back up.
Sure enough, the VERY LAST shim I had swapped, had not fully seated, and proceeded to SHATTER into four large pieces when I cranked the engine over. Additionally, the edges of that camshaft lobe had evidence of having contacted the shim bucket.
I called Randy (RPM) as soon as he opened Monday morning. I feared the worst!
Randy reassured me that this was not the catastrophe I imagined it was, and said he had dealt with that at the racetrack on several occasions.
I retrieved all four shim pieces, and ran a magnet through the oil pool around that shim bucket, attracting the minuscule amount of shim dust that remained. Replaced the broken shim with a fresh one, and put everything back together.
Took her for a ride, and things seem back to normal.
One final check of the clearances and I'm boxing the kit up to send back to Randy.
It's always SOMETHING! I'm just relieved that it wasn't much worse.
Steve
Wow! Thanks for posting the lesson Steve. (I`m surprised to learn of it`s common occurrence at the track.) How many times do you reckon I should manually crank her over (as a check) for normal precautionary practice? Then maybe starter motor without spark plug leads?
Quote from: The General on May 14, 2013, 12:43:13 PM
Wow! Thanks for posting the lesson Steve. (I`m surprised to learn of it`s common occurrence at the track.) How many times do you reckon I should manually crank her over (as a check) for normal precautionary practice? Then maybe starter motor without spark plug leads?
Well.....
I don't know if it's actually considered "common", but Randy stated that he had seen it before (just not in the bikes), out on the racetrack with the Legend cars.
Honestly, I don't recall if I actually *DID* turn the engine over manually before I buttoned her up. Last valve in a long line of swaps. Complacency? Maybe.
On previous shim swaps, the new shim would (sometimes) "snap" into place in the shim bucket within the first couple of rotations of the cam, often accompanied by a slight spray of oil droplets. I
DO recall that on the last shim, a bit of a stream of oil sprayed out for a second from the notch in the side of the bucket (no more than 1/8") when I installed it. None of the others had done this, that I had witnessed.
I'm guessing that the shim was somehow resting on the lip of the shim bucket, and couldn't drop into place when the cam lobe came around like the others had done, and instead, gave way with a BANG!
Randy suggested that next time, CAREFULLY rotate the crank by hand FIRST, then crank the engine a couple of times before putting the valve cover back on. If something is amiss, you've saved the step of having to remove and replace everything AGAIN.
All seems well, now. I have the bike back at the maintenance facility, cooling down for the final check.
Steve
Steve glad that everything turned out ok. As they say "all's well that ends well". Thanks for the posting.
Kurt