Valve check?

[Phat Ham_imp]

Anyone know how easy or difficult the valve check procedure is on these bikes?

[the Ferret]

Checking them is not that difficult. Adjusting them is pretty difficult and requires different thicknesses of shims.

[Deftquiver_imp]

Checking them is not that difficult. Adjusting them is pretty difficult and requires different thicknesses of shims.

Although I kind of like dealing with shims better than the old overhead valve design on my XS650... It's super annoying to check the clearance... only to have it change when you tighten it down.

[the Ferret]

I had 3 Yamaha 650 s, a 73 TX, a 79 XS and an 81 XS Special. You have to have a real feel for using feeler gauges, but at least you didn't need an assortment[/i] of shims. The best set up was the hydraulic valves on the Nighthawk 750 which never needed adjusting. I wish this bike had those.

[flynrider]

I had 3 Yamaha 650 s, a 73 TX, a 79 XS and an 81 XS Special. You have to have a real feel for using feeler gauges, but at least you didn't need an assortment[/i] of shims. The best set up was the hydraulic valves on the Nighthawk 750 which never needed adjusting. I wish this bike had those.

You can say that again! I put away my feeler gauge back in the 90s, when I no longer had to measure valve clearances or point gaps.

I wonder why Honda chose not to use hydraulic tappets on this bike? Generally, you don't use them on high revving engines because the rpms will ovewhelm the rebound capabilities of the lifter (called float). The CB1100 has a nice low redline, just like the last series of Nighthawks. I just can't figure why they wouldn't incorporate such a great feature when designing an engine from scratch.

I'm really disappointed because I truly hate adjusting shim and bucket valves. On the bright side, they usually don't need actual adjustment that often.

[the Ferret]

I read somewhere that the Japanese, all of the big 4, really believe in the bucket and shim valve adjustment system. i have seen over the years fewer adjustment issues using this system over the old locknut and screw system, but as Flynrider said, in this low revving application, hydraulics would have been fine.

[Lord Popgun]

I read somewhere that the Japanese, all of the big 4, really believe in the bucket and shim valve adjustment system. i have seen over the years fewer adjustment issues using this system over the old locknut and screw system, but as Flynrider said, in this low revving application, hydraulics would have been fine.

You're really gonna love it when you find out you have to remove the cams to get to the shims--its in the manual...

The service manager at the dealer said that shim under bucket (I think he called it) was historically very reliable on other engines and didn't need a lot of adjustments.

[Phat Ham_imp]

What's interesting is a lot of car engines have gone back to solid lifters even in applications that don't rev past 6 or 7k. Of course their service intervals are much longer than on our bikes at 100k miles or so.

[jimgl3_imp]

I might check mine at 100k miles...

[Scotty_imp]

I read somewhere that the Japanese, all of the big 4, really believe in the bucket and shim valve adjustment system. i have seen over the years fewer adjustment issues using this system over the old locknut and screw system, but as Flynrider said, in this low revving application, hydraulics would have been fine.

You're really gonna love it when you find out you have to remove the cams to get to the shims--its in the manual...

The service manager at the dealer said that shim under bucket (I think he called it) was historically very reliable on other engines and didn't need a lot of adjustments.

You're really gonna love it when you find out you have to remove the cams to get to the shims--its in the manual...

The service manager at the dealer said that shim under bucket (I think he called it) was historically very reliable on other engines and didn't need a lot of adjustments. I've got two 1993 Toyota Land Cruisers one with 178,000 miles and the other 260,000 miles. They have shim under bucket and are still within spec after all these years and miles. I don't rev 'em as hard as my CB though!