Engine sounds a little tappitty and is idling at an rpm slightly slower than normal - both symptoms only noticeable until the bike gets up to full operating temperature…plus bike is now at 30k miles which according to the manaul means valve clearances should be checked.
I’ve got a Haynes Manual and have read through the valve clearance check procedure and I think I’m fairly comfortable with it.
However, any real-life pointers as I’ve never done it before?
do you have tools required? can you refit the camshafts correctly? do you understand how the top of the engine work? if so, then go for it.
Checking the clearances is not that difficult. Take the rocker cover off + the pulse generator cover and follow the instructions in the Haynes carefully and methodically with your feeler gauges.If you are lucky everything will be within clearance.
However if your valves are out of clearance - then replacing the shims requires quite a bit more knowledge and experience - as getting it wrong will result in a lunched engine.
Personally I would check the clearances yourself - and if you need to replace the shims I would get a reputable mobile bike mechanic in to take the cams out and replace the shims etc.
You will still have saved yourself a lot of money as you will have completed a significant percentage of the work yourself - while leaving the critical bit to someone who does it for a living.
i’d have a read of the kawasaki service manual which is no doubt online somewhere, i’ve never had much luck with a haynes manual on its own, but with both of them it just clarifies stuff with added pictures etc
I checked mine on my ZX6R a couple of thou ago, was SOOO glad they were in tolerance. I like to try most things myself but I think removing the cam chain etc. would have been a bit too much.
Soemtimes I yearn for my old Bandit - valve clearances were done with a screwdriver and a spanner for the locknut. Happy days :rolleyes:
Yeah - Bandits rock - valve clearances were a piece of p1ss! :PPersonally I leave shim changes to a brilliant mobile mechanic I know. I reckon I could do it if pushed but i’d reather leave it to someone who has done it hundreds of times and is insured! 
Thanks all for the advice.
Got most of the bike stripped down last night - just the valve and timing rotor covers to unbolt then I can get on with the clearance measurements themselves.
Unfortunately I broke a tiny plastic connection point for one of the rubber tubes that connect on to the ‘Clean Air Control Valve’ because the rubber was so badly diminshed/welded to the connector …and guess what…thats right…£118 for a new one! Been having a phone around the scrapies today so I’m hopeful I get some luck with a cheap second hand one.
As for the shim replacement - if the bike needs it - I’m going to give it a go…nothing ventured, nothing gained right??! It can only make my spannering skills better.
You’ll be reet - just take one cam out at a time to keep the camchain taut - once the bike is stripped down to the cam cover, you’ve done all the hard work.Just take your time, and be careful with the cam bearing cap (s).
Let us know how you get on! 
You don’t need to remove the timing rotor cover, you can either:
a) If the bikes on a stand & the rear wheel’s off the ground then stick it in gear & rotate the rear wheel until the cams are in the correct position. Obviously this is easier if the plugs are out & if you’ve got the top end stripped down you may as well take the plugs out & check them whilst you’re at it anyway.
b) Stab at the starter until the cam lobes are in the correct position, may take a few trys but will get there. If doing this then connect up the plug caps to the plugs & if the plugs are out, connect them up to the caps & make sure they’re earthed as failure to do so can possibly damage the ECU otherwise.
Assuming that like the older 6r model the shims are under the buckets, you’ll need a magnet to lift the buckets out although I guess it could be done with some sort of sucker attachment. If you’re then lucky the shims will have been inserted correctly - ie. with the identifying code away from the valve stem so it’s still readable, if not then you’ll need a micrometer to measure the thickness so you can order the correct size replacement according to the table in the manual.
If you’ve had to remove the cam(s) to replace some shims then it’s worth making a note of the codes/thicknesses of all the shims under the cam(s) even the ones within tolerance as it’ll save time when you next need to do it.
As mentioned before, be very carefull torqueing down the cam caps afterwards.
OK, update:
I took off the valve and rotor covers earlier this evening and attempted to measure the clearances, but having tried to follow what is said in Haynes I don’t think I actually have enough knowledge to do the job properly…now I feel like a clown after my earlier confidence!
The haynes manual says I can do this procedure with the engine in the frame, but things seem quite tight for space particulalry on the exhaust valves becuse of the rubber heat shield and radiator.
Also, when I align the timing rotor as it suggests in Haynes, the cam lobes don’t point vertically downward into the followers like I expected them to…instead they sit a bit skew-iff.
Would anybody on here be able to lend me a hand so I don’t get this wrong? Or perhaps you could let me know who a good mobile-mechanic is?
Thanks,
Stuart
A main dealer in Hungary wanted to charge me to take the cams off my ZZR1100 to do the shims…I pointed out that the rockers are simply pushed aside to access the shims…He shrugged and said " yeah I know" :w00t: Main dealer I guess:)
Yeah mate - it gives me the creeps too - I prefer to leave this job to the pros. Adz on here sounds like a really good mechanic - give him a shout?Don’t know your location - but if no joy give this a guy a shout - he’s ace.http://www.juliancameron.co.uk/
I’m now into my third week of my bike being out of action sitting on the Abba stand in the back garden due to checking/adjusting the valve clearances, rebuilding the rear suspension, deep cleaning as I go along and replacing any rusty bolts and perished rubber tubes, but I’m pleased to say I’m almost there and have done all the work myself (except for pressing bearings into the swingarm and rocker)! Shame the weather has been so good and I’ve been missing out on some quality riding time!!
I’m refitting the cam-shafts at the minute after fitting 16 NEW SHIMS, which is proving a bit tricky in some ways, but not as scary as I first thought…its really quite obvious when the cam-shafts are orientated correctly. Anyway, I’ve got the cams in and lined up properly, but the cam chain sits a wee bit funny when I’ve torqued up all the cam holder bolts. The chain seems to pick up a little bit of slack on the exhaust cam side, just where the cam chain dissapears down inside the head - this isn’t the case until the bolts are all torqued. The slack in the chain at this location is obviously no good as all the slack needs to be on the intake side to be taken up by the tensioner - I guess I just need to take the holder off and give the chain a bit of a tweek, although I was fairly sure I had counted the 28 pins on the chain correctly between the marks on the sprockets.
So fingers crossed, I’ll have the thing built by Thursday ready for the bank holiday…I just hope I haven’t done anything wrong with re-fitting the cam otherwise the engine might go bang when I try to start it up :w00t:
Fair play to ya mate you’ve gone a lot further than I would do myself !!
Hope it all goes together smoothly and you get some dry miles in before the summer vanishes…
Yeah - nice one - hope everything goes ok.
