Help with that one, last valve shim... Ugh!

[wirehairs]

So I'm catching up the 93 FJ1200 I bought last fall, and have swapped shims on 9 of my valves, and now I'm having problems with the last bugger.    Of course, it's the intake on cylinder four, so the one all the way to the end.  It took me a while to get the tool to hold down the bucket, and now, I just don't seem to have the room to slip out the shim, and I'm worried about rotating the cam anymore, as I think it's against the tool.  I've done shims on other Yamahas, but this is my first time doing it on an FJ.  

Any ideas?  I'd like to get this fine shim kit back in the mail to RPM.  

[simi_ed]

Keep rotating that cam lobe up.  It's a bitch, but you can rotate enough to get it out.
BTDT!

Ed

[Pat Conlon]

Before you compress the bucket with the cam lobe, before you install the tool, with the cam lobe pointing up take a pick and rotate the bucket until you see the little notch. After you compress the bucket and install the tool and then rotate the cam lobe away from the tool, that little notch is there for you to get a pick or small screwdriver in to lift (carefully pry up) the shim.
Shims have a tendency to be held in by the suction of the oil...you can't get them out with a magnet alone.
You need to physically lift the shim to break the suction, once that is done a magnet can pull the shim out.

The only way to lift the shim is getting to that notch.

Yea, I hear ya, it always seems to the the last one that gives trouble.

[wirehairs]

Keep rotating that cam lobe up.  It's a bitch, but you can rotate enough to get it out.
BTDT!

Yeah, I finally got it out.  Not sure, but I'm guessing that with the FJs (versus the XJs that I'm used to), there's more room between the cam lobe and the shim tool, so you indeed, you can rotate the cam until the lobe is close to vertical; only needed apparently for the ones on the ends.

I did have that one exhaust valve that was either 0.15 or 0.21 depending on the shim;  I just couldn't get it in spec.  So, I went with the 0.21 as valves only seem to get tighter over time.  Is my thinking correct?

[FJmonkey]

I did have that one exhaust valve that was either 0.15 or 0.21 depending on the shim;  I just couldn't get it in spec.  So, I went with the 0.21 as valves only seem to get tighter over time.  Is my thinking correct?

You are correct. Better to be tad loose than tight, as they tend to tighten over time.

[Bminder]

The shims also rotate as the cam acts on them, so you can get slightly different readings on the same shim every time you rotate the engine.