nath981

this was suggested here earlier. I didn't use a skewer but a 15 " allen shaped rod with a feeler gauge welded to the end at a 60 deg angle. Works well because you really have to go easy right before TDC, esp since it gets harder to crank and therefore easy to overshoot the mark, so this was great to determine that the piston topped out because it doesn't move despite the fact that you are moving the crank a hair.

Speaking of the marks RT_ and FT_ , when you put the crankshaft exactly on the mark, that is matching the line on the crank to the indent on the case, and then check the marks on the outside edges of the sprockets, RI(Rear Intake) and RE(Rear Exhaust), they are not exactly even with the top edge of the case. Instead, since you moving counterclockwise, the RI is a little higher than the edge, and the REis a slight bit lower than the the edge if you get eye level with the lines. You can't see the RE very well because it is behind the frame, but if you lay a thin straight edge (like a new Hack saw blade) across the edges, you'll see how it matches the lines on the sprockets at TDC. If you move the crank an 1/8" past the mark on the crank, he lines are then straight in line with the top edge of the cylinder case. Also, this 1/8"movement past the TDC mark does not cause any movement of the piston(as per the skewer) or of the valves of course.

7moore7

Yeah, I read it earlier, and thought, "hey, pretty cool idea!"

Did you get that timing to work out?

nath981

Determining the shims you need to purchase was a little confusing until I got a system and this helped a lot, but I'm slow. It took me a while.

first valve adjustment @25,000miles:

I wanted to do the rear first, and then move the crank around and do the front. As it turned out, I still need one shim for the rear... Had to order it from honda ($9)....so I put the old one back in temporarily so I could put the cams and sprockets/chain back in. Then the crank could be moved around for FTDC so i could find out what shims I needed for the front cylinder. But of course, somehow the the sprockets moved a little bit despite having them tied and paint marked, so I had to remove the CCT to take off enough tension so the chain could be pulled up to allow the sprockets to be rotated into alignment, i.e., TDC_ on the crank and the RE and RI lines even with the outer edges of the cylinder top edge.PIA

A word about shims. I was going to order a Hot Cams kit for $90 plus ship, thinking that I would have a selection to finish the job and not have to go running around and leave freakin parts all over the garage. Am I glad i didn't get the kit because I never would have known that they only come in increments of 5 mm instead of 2.5mm as Honda. All the motorcycle shops seem to have the Hot Cams shims. As it turned out, I only could use 4 Hot Cams shims and had to order the other 4 from Honda.

this is stupid: 175(1.75mm), 180. 185, 190 , etc. Hot Cams
175, 177.5(1.7750mm), 180, 182.5, 185, etc. Honda shims

The intakes are supposed to be .006 in+-.001, Exhausts .012 in+-1. My plan was to go for the +1, that is .007 Intake, .013 Exhaust so that they would be in spec much longer given that the tend to tighten over time and miles.

It turns out that all the Intakes were at .005in except one which was .006in. and all the exhausts were at .010in. Someone did a pretty good job setting them anyway.

All the shims i removed were different:200 178 208 182 175 198 180 205. As you can see, only 4 of these are even in terms of increments of 5, so that shows that the Hot cams deal is not gonna get it unless for divine intervention or unless you are willing to make them work by the +- tolerance.

Anyway, what i did to get to my +1 goal was to calculate the the increase needed in clearance,
subtract that amount from the removed shim and this tells you the shim you have to purchase. Of course you need to change inches to mm, so i used google fro the conversion numbers. For example, the exhaust was at .010in and i wanted to get to .013in(+1). So google ".003in to mm" and it replies ".003in=0.0762mm". So now you want to deduct this amt from the shim you removed. So I took a 182 shim out of the Exhaust and wanted to make it thinner by .003in or 0.0762mm.

1.8200mm
-0.0762mm(minus .003in to increase clearance from .010in to .013in or +1(in spec)
1.7438mm or 1.75mm(175 shim)



So that's how I computed all of them. It's easy if you just goggle .001,.002,.003 inches to mm, get those numbers and then subtract from shims you want to change.

After I get all the shims from honda, I'll put them in and post the actual clearances I end up.

Sorry for the laborious bullshit, but maybe it'll be easier for another first timer to get through.

nath981

yeah, thanks for the haynes pages. i had to remove the CCT to get enough clearance to move the sprockets one tooth but it seems ok. PIA At least it's the same as the front in terms of how the sprocket marks line up at TDC. I can't figure out how that happened since I had them plastic tied and painted, but the freakin paint came off the chain edges.haha stupid ****. I cleaned the oil off the front sprockets before painting marks. We'll see.

VTRsurfer

A big +1. However it seems like nath has this taken care of now

But for future reference, it's quite common (with timing belts at least) on car engines for the marks to end up 1 tooth off after rotating the crank through a 4 stroke cycle. Then you have to move it 1 tooth on the cam sprocket to get it right, then rotate 2 revs of the crank and check it again. Always double or triple check before buttoning it up.

Oh, and have any of those batteries popped yet?

8541Hawk

Good job and now you see why I said stay away from those kits....

nath981

Well i didn't understand how it worked. I thought, maybe somewhat naively , if we all trusted each other to send shim kits to others when needed, that one kit would last indefinitely given that the shims taken out of the kit would always be replaced one for one. And this method might work for the most part in that as more use it, they would replace 5's with 2.5's. Users still may have to buy a couple that wouldn't be in the kit, especially because they would always be a needing thinner ones like 168, or 172.
Evidently, people who rely solely on the kit to set their valves are willing to go both above and below spec, i.e., plus and minus 1, to be able to replace their shims with only 5's, which by my way of thinking, is unacceptable. esp considering the labor involved.