Thread: Valve adjustment and valve shims

Okay, I finally finished everything yesterday. What a pain that was. It felt good today to finally get back on the bike.

It was a bit of a challenge to get to this point, so here is the story.

Right after my last post I went to the garage and removed the valve cover without incident. I got to the point where I needed to lock back the cam chain tensioner so that I could get enough slack in the chain to remove the cams. It was not to be. Honda, in their infinite wisdom, decided to allow about 1.5 inches of clearance between the frame and the cam chain tensioner. No screwdriver I had would fit. I even bought a cheap screwdriver and cut it to length, but I couldn't generate enough torque to turn the holder.

I finally decided that I would need to buy the factory tool. The only problem with that option was that the part number given by the manual was not available at any of my typical online resources. I was lucky enough to find an alternative part number on a dirt bike forum, of all places. I found the tool on crfsonly.com for a decent price ($80). I decided to wait until Tuesday, when the shops open, to try to procure the part from the local stealer, hoping that I would not have to wait a week for shipping. I called around and found one that said they could get me the part in two days. Two days roll by and I call them to check for status (Thursday). I was told that their shipping policy was just changed on Tuesday: it is no longer two days, it is three. I figured that this wouldn't be a problem because Friday would be the earliest time that I could work on the bike anyway. I call them Friday and am told that the part will not be in until the following Tuesday. I'm pissed. I go to the shop and tell them to give me one of their tools from their shop. They already have my fucking money and I'm sure that they one in the back since they service a lot of bikes. I get stonewalled. These pricks will never get my business again, and I've purchased two new bikes from them. I call them on Tuesday and my tool has arrived, but not my crush washers (which I also ordered). I make two trips. One on Tuesday for the tool and one on Wednesday for the washers. I should have just ordered it online...

Anyway, I finally got around to working on the bike last Friday. At 22K miles, 3 valves were out of spec. The tolerance is +/-0.001in. Intake3R and Intake4R were -0.002 and Exhaust3R was +0.003. I spent a few hours on Saturday and Sunday putting the bike back together and I finally got some water wetter/water in the bike last night.

BTW, that $80 Honda cam chain tensioner holder is a POS. Basically, an overcomplicated, overpriced tool that is required to accomplish simple maintenance. It is an interesting design, if only it worked. The tool has a one way cam that allows you to back out the cam chain tensioner and it will lock in place and hold once you stop turning it. The problem is that the cam is not strong enough and you must continually turn the tool to keep slack in the chain. The fool that designed this must have never heard of Occam...