valve timing

[SoCal600]

for those who havent read my previous post, i went to adjust my valves and ended up getting sand and other road debrie down my #2 and #3 cylinders. i took off my cylinder head and cleaned the cylinders out with compressed air. cross hatches on all 4 cylinders looked great no scaring or anything looked great to the naked eye, i should probably add that i have 42,xxx miles on the engine with no issues. bought brand new in 2010 and broke it in. moderate carbon deposits on the combustion chamber's. parts washing machine at work cleaned 70% off it off. put #1 piston at tdc and installed new head gasket and torqued the head bolts per factory yamaha manuel specs. working from inside out 18ft/lbs each head bolt (minus the two allen head bolts on timing chain side; they are 8ft/lbs) jump to 34ft/lbs and then loosen up each head bolt at a time and re torque to 8ft/lbs plus 120 degrees. now install the exhaust cam and try to keep the chain tight on the exhaust side cuz if not it could put uf timing off. look for the E on the exhaust cam and line up the _ on the top of the head. lube up the exhaust cam and caps with engine oil and tighten from the inside out in a criss cross manor. snug all down and tighten to 7ft/lbs. make sure the crank is still positoned right were the T line _ is meeting with the case mating line. (hard to explain but u will see it when u get to the step) and the E _ is lined right. install the intake cam same as exhaust cam and line the I _ flush with the top of the head. the #1 cylinder valves should be facing away from each other. if all is good take ur timing chain tensioner and reset it. push in the rod and take the swing flap and hold it in place. install it in its location and tighten down. take ur ratchet and turn counterclockwise just a tat MAKE SURE TO WATCH YOUR CHAIN AND THAT IT DOESNT SKIP A TOOTH OR UR TIMING WILL BE OFF AND U WILL NEED TO START OVER. now turn clockswise slowly u might feel tention, its ok just go slow and the tensioner should pop out of the holder and put pressure on the chain guide. turn the engine over several times SLOWLY to make sure the timing is still good and return to tdc on #1. check your valve specs along the way. Intake is .13-.20mm and Exhaust is .22-.30mm check and check again everything if anything is out of spect you have to remove either cam and take the bucket out and install a different shim that sit on top of the valve keeper. repeat the installion process all over again and recheck the difference. install radiator, install the valve cover, spark plugs, throttle bodies. throttle cable. air box gas tank. re-fill coolant, change oil and filter. adjust throttle cables. warm up to temp and ride. check for leaks. this write up is for information use, this isnt my best "how to" if u need more indepth information or specs from the manual send me a pm and i will email u anything u will WANT to use to repair your fz6r. it takes time for me to organize it but i help anyone that takes pride in their bikes. -cheers-

 

[Bruno]

Nice job... I did part of this work when I swapped for the fz6 camshaft, but I didn't need to remove the cylinder head... I didn't check my valve clearance either, but I think it is not necessary yet, cuz my bike has 12k miles only... But it is a great tutorial anyway!

 

[SkyOrDie]

So, after 42,000 miles, how many shims needed to be replaced and how far off were they?

 

[SoCal600]

they were only off by a thousanth or two on the loose side. i think a total of 5 out of 16 valves. its a pain and i know why they charge so damn much at the shop. im a heavy equipment mechanic so i work on big stuff, these little things are so much smaller and sensitive you just gotta be careful and READ the entire instructions as of tonight im exactly 42,900 miles on the bike and no problems so far. got the bike brand new with 1 mile on it and im hoping to get 100,000 out of the engine..... we will see when i had the head off there was normal deposits on the piston and the cross hatches on the cylinder walls were still very visable and very clean. thats a great sign meaning that the piston rings are seating and everything is moving right and the rings arent getting stuck or much blow by pass the pistons. its amazing how much power you get out of an engine with the head about the size of a loaf of bread lol and the pistons looking a tad smaller than a tennis ball. yamaha power !!

 

[cloudfire]

Great tutorial, but it would be a little easier to read if you broke up the paragraph into steps instead of one large block. Thanks for the expertise, though!