s4 valve check / adjustment tips

[wheelybin]

My S4 has now got old enough to need a service, I intend to do this myself having cut my teeth on my old ST2. Does anyone have any tips or hints from checking and setting the valves? Any bits of useful info appreciated. I am assuming that checking valve clearance is the same method on the 4 valve head as it is on 2?

thanks.
Weely bin:worried:

[jerry]

No its not ....u must remove the airbox,EFI,belts ,cams etc to check the rockers for wear on an S4 its absolutely important as they are prone to serious wear and are expensive to replace but worse if they have eaten the cams.Its a much bigger job , just takes more time and of course the clearances are not same as 2 valve.I do it often on 2v and 4 v but 4v needs a lot of bits removed .

[Stafford]

Funnily enough I was playing this job last night on some ST4S heads, as Jerry says above and it's really easy with the heads on the bench. In fact I'd wonder how you'd do it with the heads on the bike, it must be tricky to get a good feel from the feeler gauges.

[dunlop0_1]

They are a bit more fiddly than the 2 valve. I do them without the belts on and set the closers first. I find that spinning the cam by hand gives more of a feel. If you are fitting new c rings then this can affect the size choice of the new closer shim as new c rings are not as bashed flat as the originals.

The first time I did my 748 I did one set of valves per night over 4 nights. This way was much less stressfull when something goes wrong. A must is one of those telescopic magnets (pound shop or wilko's) and on the horizontal head I do the inlet first as i usualy drop a c ring or shim and it falls into the exhaust side.

If you can afford it the EMS shim kit is a must. Great guy to deal with.
http://www.emsduc.com/

[wheelybin]

thanks for the advice,

I think I will try cheking the gaps with the heads on and take them off if they need adjustment. its only done 6000 miles and if its like the ST2 should not have changed yet!!!

re worn out cams / folowers, what should I be looking for? pitting or wear marks??


cheers....

[Capo]

re worn out cams / folowers, what should I be looking for? pitting or wear marks??

Flaking

[dunlop0_1]

Opening rockers are more prone to damage and easier to check.

The one onthe left has normal wear and the one on the right is sh***ed

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q289/dunlop0_1/rockers.jpg

[wheelybin]

thanks for the advice.

After finding out the price of the gaskets, I think I will have a good go at checking the clearences with the heads in situ. I hope that after 6000 miles from new they will be OK!!

:(

[jerry]

I have seen loads of dud openers , which are easy to check. Never yet seen a dud closer.