Hi guys, thought I'd try and give a little back to the community as a new member. I've had problems with oil ending up on my spark plugs so before going to the extent of stripping out the heads and swapping out o-rings and piston rings I thought that I would start by ruling out the easy options first. So while going in to change the valve stem oil seals it gave me a chance to go through checking the valve clearances and also to measure up the shims for replacements if needed. Now, in reading up online I found an abundance of information with a million different ways to achieve the same end results but what I did notice was that everything I was after was scattered across several places or didn't quite answer my questions. So I've tried to put together all the info that I found useful as I went through the work. I've tried to keep it as comprehensive as possible and aimed it at someone like myself who was going in from scratch knowing nothing, but anything that I've missed or anything that you guys find wrong then please let me know and I'll happily get it changed to make it accurate for members to use in future.
Before I get started I want to point out that this isn't only my first Ducati, it's my first bike too. I've only had it a couple of months and I'm going in at the deep end. I've had it out on the road three times and already stripped, re-jetted and rebuilt the carbs, then swapped the seals and looked at the clearances, and from here I'm going onto removing the heads... so if this post goes well then that one may follow. As I am new to working on bikes then some of the seasoned pro's on here may cringe at how I go about some of this but, again, it's a learning curve. Tell me what I've done wrong and I'll happily get it changed out to improve the thread.
This thread will be pretty big so I've reserved the first few posts to break it up and I'll build it up over the next few days. This will be a work in progress for a while but bear with me and hopefully it'll be a worthwhile guide.
The thread will be broken down as follows:
1. Desmo’, how it works.
2. Checking valve clearances.
3. Removing/refitting shims
4. Measuring shims.
5. Swapping out valve seals.
6. Additional Info
7. Remarks
*** Usual disclaimer: The info contained in this thread is what I have pieced together to use on my own bike. I am very definitely not a mechanic. Use this information at your own risk as it worked for me but may not gO so well for you. I am not responsible for the work you carry out on your own bike. Do your own research, find your own sources, put together your own plan that you're happy with and if in any doubt ASK A PROFESSIONAL!! ***
Cheers guys, enjoy the thread.
