Mod: original post found at <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.fzr250.com/viewtopic.php?p=13548#13548">viewtopic.php?p=13548#13548</a><!-- l --> . Hi Brad 88 - The valve clearances are easy to check, particularly if you have the engine out. HOW TO: In bike: (1) Remove lower fairings and drain cooling system, 2KR models have a bung at the bottom of the frame, left hand side. (2) Remove radiator, plug leads and plugs. (3) Remove valve cover and crankcase magneto cover righthand side. (4) Align timing marks on magneto/flywheel to crankcase, (refer to manual) ensuring cylinder 1 is on TDC compression (on the spigot end of the camshafts left hand side there are indents that should be at the top and lined up perfectly with mark on cam bearing journal). Camshaft lobes will be pointing directly away from each other for the cylinder on TDC compression stroke. (5) Measure clearances on valves for cylinder 1. 4 - 8 thou (.1-.2mm) for inlets and 8 - 12 thou (.2-.3mm) for exhaust. WRITE DOWN VALUES OBTAINED FOR EACH VALVE (6) Rotate crankshaft 180deg (1/2 turn) clockwise from magneto flywheel side and measure cyl 2 - repeat 1/2 turn, measure cyl 4 and again for cyl 3 If all in spec, reassemble in reverse order. IF NOT, PROCEED AS FOLLOWS (7) If clearances need adjusted remove auto cam adjuster (see this link) http://fzr250.com/viewtopic.php?t=1539 (8) Remove cam chain guide upwards from front of engine. Unbolt cam(s) that needs removing and lift up chain to get clearance to remove cam sideways (to right hand side) Tie up chain so it doesnt fall into engine and put a rag in the chain hole so you dont drop the valve shims down the hole. (9) Remove valve caps with a small suction cup. The shims should be sitting inside the cap or in the valve top. These are 7mm diameter and about 1.6mm thick I numbered the caps as they come out and measured each shim thickness with a dial caliper. WRITE DOWN THE THE THICKNESS OF EACH SHIM NEXT TO EACH VALVE AS YOU PULL THEM OUT. (10) Using the chart in the manual, work out the new thicknes shim required. Some you may be able to get by swapping shims around, but probably you will have to go to a bike shop and exchange a few. A shim that measures 1.65mm is numbered a 165 etc. (11) Put a little moly based grease on both side of the new shims and sit on to the top of the valves (its in the manual). Install the caps. These should spin freely once in position. (12) Re-install the cams and cam chain, making sure the flywheel is on the timing mark. Ensure the dimples on the cams are PERFECTLY lined up with their marks once the chain is re-tensioned. Oil cam bearings when re-installing. (13) Rotate crankshaft several times. Go to step 5 and continue untill valves are in spec. (14) Have that well earned beer.
Cool write up dave. I'm about to do this on my bike, as I have a feeling the valves are probably well out of spec. My only question, what replaceable parts will I have to buy before doing this (ie gaskets, copper washers, etc?)
Good luck CASSO. This is not a difficult job, but does take a while. I never replaced any gaskets as they were all ok. I did put a bit of "loctite master gasket (510 or 515 I think)" on the rubber valve cover gasket, particularly around the semi-circle bits, as they are prone to leakage around there. You won't know what shims you need untill you measure up the clearances and remove and measure the shims. Tell us how you get on..
well, I attacked the bike last night... I need to do some carby work, so I basically removed front fairings, fuel tank, airbox, and radiator - after which it was very easy to get to every thing. Only issue is I can't find the timing marks... are they on magneto? Don't suppose you have a pic? Anyway, going to look at it more this morning, so maybe I'll have better luck in the day light.
Yes mate, they are on the magneto, check the bottom of this post for their location. Happy hunting <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.fzr250.com/viewtopic.php?t=1456">viewtopic.php?t=1456</a><!-- l -->
Sweet. That's an awesome read too, thanks for pointing it out. For anyone else reading, here's the pic (but i highly recomend reading the entire thread).
righto, went through and measured them - although I've run out of time before I've been able to actually pull the shims. Seeing as they're all out of wack (particularly the inlets), I'm planning on replacing all the shims. Do I need to pull them out and measure them to calculate the width of the new shims before ordering them? Or is there a standard width that I can just order, then do it all at once when they come in? exhausts were all just within spec (at .22 - .23 mm). inlets were 0.1 (x1) 0.08 (x3) 0.06 (x2) ? (x1) - couldn't get feeler gauge under, so < 0.04mm Cheers
It seems to be normal that the inlets wear much more than the exhaust valves. You will have to measure all the old shims to work out what the new ones have to be. If there are varying sizes you may be able to re-use some as I did.
Yeah, after having taken the extra steps and removed the valve buckets to get to the shims, I realise how stupid my question was <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s --> another good read for this is at dan's motorcycle: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.dansmc.com/valveclearence.htm">http://www.dansmc.com/valveclearence.htm</a><!-- m --> Although I'd be relying more on dave's information above than the rather general information there. Anyway, once I read that I realised the stupidity of my question, because it's not the shims that actually wear - the valves just seat themselves further and further into the engine. That's why you can swap shims around without any probelm - but also why you can't just order a set of new shims. You're not replacing a worn part - you're compensating for a worn part (valves & valve seats) that are hard to get to, by replacing an un-damaged part that is easily accessbile. Anyway, back to it. Thanks for all the help so far, guys <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->
It is easy to get a bit confused when tackling a job that you have never done before. Everybody (except me <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_roll.gif" alt=":roll:" title="Rolling LoL" /><!-- s:roll: --> <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_roll.gif" alt=":roll:" title="Rolling LoL" /><!-- s:roll: --> ) does it. Live and learn Casso. Since my boys first started riding dirt bikes 4 years ago I have learnt $hitloads about repairing bikes, mainly becase I am a tight@r$e and won't pay mechanics unless I have to. Most complex jobs are 50% research, 30% work 15% tools and 5% swearing*, which adds up to 100% job satisfaction. *Percentages subject to change without notice. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s -->
Paid for the shims today, and went through Precision Shims (on koma's recommendation in a different thread). $44 for 8 shims + $6.60 postage and handling, was a pretty good deal. Not sure if I dun a bad thing, but I didn't measure the shim thicknesses - mine all had them laser engraved on their backs. Which is fortunate, because I didn't have anything capable of measuring them to that accuracy… Although one of them had been rubbed off, so I put a different sized one in (and also put a thinner shim in the valve I couldn't measure previously), then reasembled the cam shafts, and re-measured clearances. I didn't realise that Dave had posted the shim diameter above - so I measured those myself and came up at 7.5mm (Dave's were 7mm). I hope this is just a difference between models (mine's a 3ln, dave's is a 2kr), as I ordered mine in 7.5mm. If they don't fit, then I'll let you all know <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->
well, got the shims and put them in. 7.5mm is a perfect fit, so it must be a difference between the 2kr's and the 3ln3's. Was a bit disapointed - the shims from Precision Shims weren't laser engraved with their thicknesses, so it's going to be a bit more difficult for the next person to do valve clearances. I'll keep the sheet saying what sizes I used in case that's me <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s --> Haven't had a chance to run it yet, as one of the bolts for cam cover snapped off in the engine (and I was even using a freakin torque wrench). Closer inspection of the others showed that several of them were stretched, indicating that the last person probably WASN"T using a torque wrench. Anyway, i'm going to replace the whole lot just in case.
Ok Casso, looks like your well on the way. I may have mis-read the shim diameter and I still have one around somewhere. If I can find it I will re-measure it. I doubt they would change sizes as it would just increase costs. Perhaps I made a mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mis....mistake
well, actually, I noticed on precision shims site that the 7 mm shims are actually quite a bit more expensive than the 7.5mm ones (probably just a more common size). So it may be possible that they made the change to decrease costs *shrugs*
Did mine today and 7.5mm shims fit perfectly into a 3LN7 so you were wrong . Both 2K3 and 3LN use 7.5MM shims. One problem though, how the hell do I align the cam chain with the cams, I see no marks at all.
Tha cams don't line up with the chain. Make sure that flywheel is on the zero mark. The marks on the cams line up with the marks on the camshaft caps when installed and the chain fitted.
The marks are at the end of the cams on the left side of the engine. All you need to do with the chain is make sure the slack is between the rear cam sprocket and the crank sprocket so the tensioner can do its job. Double check the crank timing mark is in the right spot as well.
(when he says left side, he means as you're sitting on the bike... ie if you were standing infront of the bike and looking at it, it would be the right side
need help hey dave just join`d the site and saw you have a pc copy of the jap owners manuel in another post, could i ask a favor? could you email a copy to me please please as i have been looking ever where for 1!!! also do you happen to know where i can get parts? i need a full fairing, rear shock and front exhaust with exup and maybe an end can! my front exhaust is fine and the exup works but it rattles, any help would be great thanks danny p.s my bike is a fzr 250r 1991 3ln thanks danny
Here is a link to the manuals -> <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://fzr250.com/viewtopic.php?t=2499">http://fzr250.com/viewtopic.php?t=2499</a><!-- m --> look half way down the page to download the manuals. As for parts it may be worth looking at bike wreckers or on E-Bay, even to the point of buying a donor bike. It may work out the cheapest option seeing you want so many parts. There may even be a member in the UK with a bike or parts. Exup rattles are common and annoying but dont really affect the bike. It is only a matter of putting new bushes in. Sometimes the cables can be loose and tightening them a bit will reduce the noise, as a temporary measure.
