(Proposed) Central Florida "Shim-Dig" Event

[Steve_in_Florida]

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

[yamaha fj rider]

Steve well done, a "Shim-Dig" sounds awesome. Wish i could join you.   

Kurt

[fj1289]

Sounds like a great time to have a clutch rod shooting contest!!!

Very cool FJ get together   

[Steve_in_Florida]

Sounds like a great time to have a clutch rod shooting contest!!!

Stay away from my kitty!   

[ribbert]

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

[Steve_in_Florida]

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

[racerrad8]

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

[rktmanfj]

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?   

[racerrad8]

How about clutch springs?  You got plenty of those?   

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.

Randy - RPM

[baldy3853]

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

[ribbert]

How about clutch springs?  You got plenty of those?    

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.................



* Drum brake model shown

[Steve_in_Florida]

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

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

[Pat Conlon]

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?

[Derek Young]

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

[yamaha fj rider]

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