ZZR250 Valve clearance --- Cheap solution

[bonester]

the hole point of having more than one cylinder/piston is so that on e is at the point of exsplosion wile the other is compressing or what eva so that u dont have any dead point . . . so what would the point in having 2 cylinders that are at the same place all the time ???


that is one hell of a DUH moment !!!

On my Z440, both pistons rise and fall together.

[Gosling1]

Kawasaki have some tools you can buy that make your life easy and they are not too expensive and pay for them selves when you use them once.

Amen to that brother........its a 'one off' expense only as well.

25 years ago I bought the Z9 'shim adjustment tool' from Kawasaki - Part # 57001-113 - it has been invaluable ever since, in fact its impossible to imagine doing valve clearances without it !!

but some tools are easier to make yourself......clutch-holding tools, the tool for *splitting* forks ( ie holding the fitting located at the bottom of the fork leg ), etc.

[Lainie]

How's all this going? Keep us posted can ya?

[stevew_zzr]

Will try and chase it up tomorrow (Monday) hopefully won't have to buy the service tool - but either way, it'd cost at least $100 in labour to do it once, so $100 for a tool that i can use again and again isn't all that bad.

[Lainie]

Move to Melbourne

[stevew_zzr]

Managed to find a deep socket (it's a 9mm one btw) in the shed so after about 10 seconds with the grinder and a bit of filing it came up alright-ish. Ground two flat sides so it's 10mm wide.

It's not as quick as if you have the service tool handy, and already I can see that it will eventually wear out and the 10mm spanner will start to slip off (could weld one on i suppose) but it's a cheap solution none the less.

Anyway saved me a bunch of cash - thanks guys!

All exhaust valves are set to 11 thou, and the intake ones well get done after i get some lunch into me stomach.

[Steve_TLS]

We could spend a lifetime discussing this..........there are *heaps* of 360deg twins out there......and plenty of 180deg twins as well....

And the 270 degree TRX parallel twin

[Lainie]

So this is all fixed now?

[Gosling1]

.....And the 270 degree TRX parallel twin ...

.

brrrr, 270deg......

Heh did you know that according to Phil Irving, the *ultimate* twin was phased at 76deg ???

a bloke in SA built a triumph for Classic racing a few years ago, and had the crank re-phased to 76deg ( plus cam & ign. timing), it went like shit off a shiny shovel, sounded fantastic, had nil problems with balance etc, apparently Mr Irving was right.....

Back on topic - Steve, hope you get the inlets sorted out......I must say 11thou is a big clearance - is this recommended factory clearance ?

[Tones]

It's not as quick as if you have the service tool handy, and already I can see that it will eventually wear out and the 10mm spanner will start to slip off (could weld one on i suppose) but it's a cheap solution none the less.

I hear you there, was in a similar situation and thought it was a way out. Of course could do with soime refinements. Sometimes you need to get the rocker "rocking" to be able to get the right angle on the lock nut.

And there can be some differences in how people use feeler guages. Some like them tight, some like em loose.....emmm..maybe I should shut up..

Cheers

[stevew_zzr]

11 thou (to 16 thou) on the exhaust is what's in the manual 8 thou for the intake.

[stevew_zzr]

I checked the feeler gauges with a micrometer, and basically sort of used a bit of 'feel' as to how tight it was in the micrometer, and how they felt on the rocker. Not the most accurate method, but a method none the less.

[Tones]

These are the clearances I run (from the manual I have)

.08mm - .13mm for the intake valve clearance
.11mm - .16mm for the exhaust valve clearance

Just in case some people are confusing "thou" with "mm".

Hope it helps

Cheers

[Tones]

Running the clearances too tight is worse than running too loose. Too tight and you can run the risk of the valve not closing properly (burning the seat or worse allowing the collets to pop out resulting in valve dropping). If you are too loose on the clearances then the same can also occur as you will notice there is a small guide in the nose of the rocker. If it is too loose then with enough revs and too much of a clearance the rocker can bounce away from the valve and the "guides" have a habit of taking out the collets as well. So best to make sure it is within spec, and then double check!!

Cheers

[stevew_zzr]

Hmm didn't state units in the GPX manual (ie either mm or thou) which i d/led off KSRC, if it's 0.11mm then i'll have to re-do them all again (not a big deal at this stage as i'm still playing around a bit with the top end). But that does suck because it's hard to measure that kinda clearance without using something like plastiguage and a good micrometer.