Hints & Tips: Valve Adjustment: Difference between revisions

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*Don't drop one of the spark plug gaskets in the engine. In the pictures those gaskets just sit there all nice and pretty. They have been known to stick to the valve cover then fall off, or find other ways of getting into the engine. Be careful.

*You have to unbolt and remove the left-hand coil, but it isn't necessary to drill the spot weld to remove the ~~brackets~~. The cover is no harder to get out with the ~~brackets~~ left in place than with the ~~brackets~~ removed. Removing the bracket ''will'' make a tiny bit more room for your hands to get in and the valve cover to come out. Should you decide to remove it, one admin insists that a long screwdriver and a bit of rocking back and forth gets it done, while another says he almost pulled the bike over on top of him doing that. ~~Drilling is the safer option~~.

*You have to unbolt and remove the left-hand coil, but it isn't necessary to drill the spot weld and remove the bracket. The cover is no harder to get out with the bracket left in place than with the bracket removed.

:Consider this "optional, but not necessary". Removing the bracket will make a tiny bit more room for your hands to get in and the valve cover to come out, but a lot of experienced 250 mechanics say to skip it. Should you decide to remove it, one admin insists that a long screwdriver and a bit of rocking back and forth gets it done, while another says he almost pulled the bike over on top of him doing that. And remember, it isn't really necessary.

==Moving the radiator==

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*If you want to use a special tool, get the Kawasaki one. Other sets, specifically the Motion Pro one that's designed for use on multiple kinds of bikes, won't fit.

*If you want to try the adjustment without the tool, get a 1/4" drive, 9mm, 6-point, deep well socket. Use it to make the actual adjustment, without a ratchet, but with an eyeglass-type screwdriver through the middle. That way you can turn the nut and use the screwdriver to hold the screw. At the beginning and end, when you're just breaking the nut loose or torquing it back down to spec, you can use your socket with a 1/4" drive ratchet. You might twist the screw a little, but ~~at the beginning~~ it doesn't matter ~~at all~~, and at the end you should have enough leeway that the gap is still in spec. Double check afterwards though, ~~just~~ to make sure.

*If you want to try the adjustment without the tool, get a 1/4" drive, 9mm, 6-point, deep well socket. Use it to make the actual adjustment, without a ratchet but with an eyeglass-type screwdriver through the middle. That way you can turn the nut and use the screwdriver to hold the screw. At the beginning and end, when you're just breaking the nut loose or torquing it back down to spec, you can use your socket with a 1/4" drive ratchet. You might twist the screw a little, but when you're loosening it doesn't matter, and at the end you should have enough leeway that the gap is still in spec. Double check afterwards, though, to make sure.

==Feeler gauges==

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:or have a long [http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=998007220 magnetic pickup] standing by. Alternatively: 1. Don't take the gauge out of your set. 2. Take off the feelers you need and loop zip ties through the holes; if you do happen to drop one, it's not going far.

*~~Finding the correct amount of gap with~~ a feeler gauge ~~is easier if you use a "go-no go"~~, ~~or "stepped" gauge. The~~ old school technique was to feel a little drag on the feeler gauge... it was described as about what you'd feel when pulling a sheet of paper out from under a magazine or two. Slight drag. New way of thought is that ANY adjustment, within spec, is good enough (and it is for street riders). So, just make sure the gauge for the middle spec goes in fine, but the next thicker one doesn't go at all. The stepped feeler gauges have the smaller clearance on the first inch of the blade and the next higher clearance on the upper part. This makes it easy to see where you are with just one gauge instead of flipping back and forth between two different ones. Like this:

*For telling how much pressure should be on a feeler gauge, the old school technique was to feel a little drag on the feeler gauge... it was described as about what you'd feel when pulling a sheet of paper out from under a magazine or two. Slight drag. New way of thought is that ANY adjustment, within spec, is good enough (and it is for street riders). So, just make sure the gauge for the middle spec goes in fine, but the next thicker one doesn't go at all.

*Finding the correct amount of gap with a feeler gauge is easier if you use a "go-no go", or "stepped" gauge. The stepped feeler gauges have the smaller clearance on the first inch of the blade and the next higher clearance on the upper part. This makes it easy to see where you are with just one gauge instead of flipping back and forth between two different ones. Like this:

:[[Image:stepped gauge.jpg|250px]]

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*Sears' automotive valve clearance gauge set is sufficient for the job, assuming you want to adjust your valves to the looser end of spec (as most do). The three thinnest gauges are 0.005, 0.006 and 0.007 inches, marked handily in both metric and SAE. 0.005/0.006 is a usable "go/no-go" pair for the maximum specified intake valve clearance, and 0.006/0.007 is usable for the maximum exhaust valve clearance. This set also has the handy feature of having one tip of the gauges bent up at 45 degrees from the rest of the gauge. Considering you can use either end of the gauge to check clearance, this is very handy, particularly for the rightmost intake and exhaust valves. Stupid cam chain...

*Sears also has another set that has more precision for metrics. This set has .102, .127, and .153mm feelers, which are more precise than the SAE feelers and work well for the Kawasaki tappet clearances. A little bit of confusion is created by the fact that on the back of the ~~card the gauges come on~~ the sizes are rounded to .10mm, .13, and .15, or something like that.

*Sears also has another set that has more precision for metrics. This set has .102, .127, and .153mm feelers, which are more precise than the SAE feelers and work well for the Kawasaki tappet clearances. A little bit of confusion is created by the fact that on the back of the package the sizes are rounded to .10mm, .13, and .15, or something like that.

==Leaking coolant pipe==

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 *Don't drop one of the spark plug gaskets in the engine. In the pictures those gaskets just sit there all nice and pretty. They have been known to stick to the valve cover then fall off, or find other ways of getting into the engine. Be careful.
-*You have to unbolt and remove the left-hand coil, but it isn't necessary to drill the spot weld to remove the brackets. The cover is no harder to get out with the brackets left in place than with the brackets removed. Removing the bracket ''will'' make a tiny bit more room for your hands to get in and the valve cover to come out. Should you decide to remove it, one admin insists that a long screwdriver and a bit of rocking back and forth gets it done, while another says he almost pulled the bike over on top of him doing that. Drilling is the safer option.
+*You have to unbolt and remove the left-hand coil, but it isn't necessary to drill the spot weld and remove the bracket. The cover is no harder to get out with the bracket left in place than with the bracket removed.
+:Consider this "optional, but not necessary". Removing the bracket will make a tiny bit more room for your hands to get in and the valve cover to come out, but a lot of experienced 250 mechanics say to skip it. Should you decide to remove it, one admin insists that a long screwdriver and a bit of rocking back and forth gets it done, while another says he almost pulled the bike over on top of him doing that. And remember, it isn't really necessary.
 ==Moving the radiator==
@@ Line 44: / Line 46: @@
 *If you want to use a special tool, get the Kawasaki one. Other sets, specifically the Motion Pro one that's designed for use on multiple kinds of bikes, won't fit.
-*If you want to try the adjustment without the tool, get a 1/4" drive, 9mm, 6-point, deep well socket. Use it to make the actual adjustment, without a ratchet, but with an eyeglass-type screwdriver through the middle. That way you can turn the nut and use the screwdriver to hold the screw. At the beginning and end, when you're just breaking the nut loose or torquing it back down to spec, you can use your socket with a 1/4" drive ratchet. You might twist the screw a little, but at the beginning it doesn't matter at all, and at the end you should have enough leeway that the gap is still in spec. Double check afterwards though, just to make sure.
+*If you want to try the adjustment without the tool, get a 1/4" drive, 9mm, 6-point, deep well socket. Use it to make the actual adjustment, without a ratchet but with an eyeglass-type screwdriver through the middle. That way you can turn the nut and use the screwdriver to hold the screw. At the beginning and end, when you're just breaking the nut loose or torquing it back down to spec, you can use your socket with a 1/4" drive ratchet. You might twist the screw a little, but when you're loosening it doesn't matter, and at the end you should have enough leeway that the gap is still in spec. Double check afterwards, though, to make sure.
 ==Feeler gauges==
@@ Line 60: / Line 62: @@
 :or have a long [http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=998007220 magnetic pickup] standing by.  Alternatively: 1. Don't take the gauge out of your set. 2. Take off the feelers you need and loop zip ties through the holes; if you do happen to drop one, it's not going far.
-*Finding the correct amount of gap with a feeler gauge is easier if you use a "go-no go", or "stepped" gauge. The old school technique was to feel a little drag on the feeler gauge... it was described as about what you'd feel when pulling a sheet of paper out from under a magazine or two. Slight drag. New way of thought is that ANY adjustment, within spec, is good enough (and it is for street riders). So, just make sure the gauge for the middle spec goes in fine, but the next thicker one doesn't go at all. The stepped feeler gauges have the smaller clearance on the first inch of the blade and the next higher clearance on the upper part. This makes it easy to see where you are with just one gauge instead of flipping back and forth between two different ones. Like this:
+*For telling how much pressure should be on a feeler gauge, the old school technique was to feel a little drag on the feeler gauge... it was described as about what you'd feel when pulling a sheet of paper out from under a magazine or two. Slight drag. New way of thought is that ANY adjustment, within spec, is good enough (and it is for street riders). So, just make sure the gauge for the middle spec goes in fine, but the next thicker one doesn't go at all.
+*Finding the correct amount of gap with a feeler gauge is easier if you use a "go-no go", or "stepped" gauge. The stepped feeler gauges have the smaller clearance on the first inch of the blade and the next higher clearance on the upper part. This makes it easy to see where you are with just one gauge instead of flipping back and forth between two different ones. Like this:
 :[[Image:stepped gauge.jpg|250px]]
@@ Line 72: / Line 76: @@
 *Sears' automotive valve clearance gauge set is sufficient for the job, assuming you want to adjust your valves to the looser end of spec (as most do). The three thinnest gauges are 0.005, 0.006 and 0.007 inches, marked handily in both metric and SAE. 0.005/0.006 is a usable "go/no-go" pair for the maximum specified intake valve clearance, and 0.006/0.007 is usable for the maximum exhaust valve clearance. This set also has the handy feature of having one tip of the gauges bent up at 45 degrees from the rest of the gauge. Considering you can use either end of the gauge to check clearance, this is very handy, particularly for the rightmost intake and exhaust valves. Stupid cam chain...
-*Sears also has another set that has more precision for metrics. This set has .102, .127, and .153mm feelers, which are more precise than the SAE feelers and work well for the Kawasaki tappet clearances. A little bit of confusion is created by the fact that on the back of the card the gauges come on the sizes are rounded to .10mm, .13, and .15, or something like that.
+*Sears also has another set that has more precision for metrics. This set has .102, .127, and .153mm feelers, which are more precise than the SAE feelers and work well for the Kawasaki tappet clearances. A little bit of confusion is created by the fact that on the back of the package the sizes are rounded to .10mm, .13, and .15, or something like that.
 ==Leaking coolant pipe==