Who has ever had to have valve shims changed?

I know that we all read that we should have the valves checked at 16,000 miles, but I am wondering who has actually had to have the shims replaced to bring the specs back to stock?

Having read most of the posts on this and the other Silverwing site, I think very few folks ever really needed the valves adjusted.

My bike just turned over 16,000 miles and runs like a champ. Starts instantly and never misses a beat. I have no intention of getting the valves checked - I am concerned that a mechanic might goof something up putting it back together, and can't see any possible improvement.

Please let us know your experience.

Thanks,
Philip

x

Actually made it a poll.

Sorry Dale. If you want to move or delete my post, be my guest.

No need, just seemed odd to call something a poll when there was no poll attached.

What you added was good info.

I have the mechanical aptitude of a chimp. Actually, that's an insult to chimps. I like having the factory manual, because it makes it very apparent to me which items of preventative maintenance I am capable of carrying out and those which are better left to people with actual skills.

Valves are something I wouldn't personally try, but again, the manual is of value because at the least, it shows me what the mechanic is going to do. Bigbird's description of the process is excellent...

I know this thread is 12 years old but I wonder if anyone has does this procedure; checked valve clearances and replaced shims?

My SW has made a 'tapping' noise, usually during steady, long-run conditions, like motorways.. It's never got any worse over 9 years and 18000 miles. I realize that it could be a number of things but I think I've covered all the usual suspects.

This is an easy job, right?...coz if it ain't, I wont bother

There's three parts to this exercise:
1. Remove lots of bodywork
2. Use feeler gauges to check the clearance
3. If needed, remove the cam(s) to access the buckets/shims

I did check my Swing at 70,000km and they were all in spec, which was a relief, as I don't enjoy wrestling with camchain tensioners and chains. I have slightly cheated (on my VTR1000F which has a similar cam drive layout) and cable tied the chain to the sprockets, and unbolted the sprockets from the cams so that the cam/crank timing never gets affected. Probably just paranoia on my part.

I have swapped out shims on my VFR800 and ST1300 as well. One just needs patience, and a set of Hotcams shims.

Due to the design (direct actuation of buckets on the valve stem) the valve clearances normally decrease with wear as the valve wears into the head, so valve noise is unlikely to get worse with wear.

OK, my $0.02…and applies to another Honda product, the ST1100 (which has the same design shim under bucket). After several valve checks and near 50K miles on each of the 2 bikes, they are in the middle of spec, so most people on the ST-Owners.com forum basically leave them alone- I guess if you’re north of 70-80K miles, might be worth a check, but overall, these Hondas keep their valves in spec even though the service manual indicates need for checking them, and on the SWing, it does look like a pain to check (on the STs they’re pretty easily accessible to check the valves)

You are quite right that the STs and the FJS share very similar valve gear, these are photos of the Swing, ST11 and ST13. The Swing has more in common with the 1300 as it has chain drive, where the 1100 uses belt and gears. The ST1100 gets my award for being the easiest engine ever for vlave checks and adjustments. The 1300 is painful as accessing the right bank camchain tensioner requires minor airbox surgery and crossed fingers. The VFR800 is mixed blessing with an easily accessible rear bank balanced by a difficult to access front bank. Thankfully, they don't need looking at very often.

Two purchased new SilverWings, each ridden rather quickly to 50,000 miles...at the point I trade or sell. Never touched shims, never valve noise or problems, WalMart 10-40 house brand oil changed regularly. But know could be expensive to have valves checked.

I do keep having guilt trips about this. The engine is nice and quite still at 35k, but valves don't get noisy do they, they tighten up and eventually go pop (or pfft). Perhaps this winter I'll pop the head off and wave a feeler gauge that way, I might even fix the stator wire oil seep at the same time.
Or I might continue to be a lazy sod and leave it all alone.

Thanks for all the input and the pics. I guess I will leave well alone for now. I might get around to the stator leak myself one day too!

Loosemarbles wrote:

Thanks for all the input and the pics. I guess I will leave well alone for now. I might get around to the stator leak myself one day too!

I bought my Silver Wing brand new and it is nearing 30K. I have never checked or adjusted the valves on it. To date it has never given me reason to mess with the valves. As the job appears to be a big PAIN I guess I will continue on my merry way! LOL Good luck with yours.

So it's going to be down to me and Loosemarbles to see who cracks first and has a look-see...

Is this not more tinkering just for the sake of it. It's mid May,the weather is improving, isn't this the time to be doing some riding. The only maxi riders I see on a regular basis are those Deliveroo blokes on L plates, and an annoying prick also on L plates with with a furry Bugs Bunny helmet cover.

Meldrew wrote:

The only maxi riders I see on a regular basis are those Deliveroo blokes on L plates, and an annoying prick also on L plates with with a furry Bugs Bunny helmet cover.

I think it is perfectly acceptable to kick the annoying prick off his scooter for wearing the Bugs Bunny cover. You know you want to.

Back in my day, some hooligans used to put a long-hair wig over their helmet to make it look like they weren't actually wearing a helmet. It made for some confusion in the Police department.

Anyway, back to the topic of shims, I won't be going in there any time soon. When I do, I'll record it all. It might be useful for those who keep their SWs into the grand old age of my 'second oldest SW known to man'!

Loosemarbles wrote:

Back in my day, some hooligans used to put a long-hair wig over their helmet to make it look like they weren't actually wearing a helmet. It made for some confusion in the Police 

Really? I find that hard to believe that you'd be able to easily buy any long haired wig large enough to fit over the shell of a motorcycle helmet. 

It would need to be the same size as one of the helmet bags I have, and a wig that size would be far too large for a human head.

But I digress, tinkering is obviously more important than riding.

Tinkering is a winter activity at keeps some of us sane Mildred
Tinker in the winter, ride in the summer.

Who's this f****** Mildred for a start? 

So you don't ride during the winter months, that says all I need to know about you. All summer rides and coffee and cake.

Predictive text ay? It can get you in all kinds of trouble.

Surely we all agree that owning a motorcycle is a purely personal experience; isn't that the whole point? This forum is an opportunity for us to share our commonality and to learn and enjoy.

Let's keep this topic on track.

Temper, temper. It was just autocorrect doing it's usual thing.
I never realised you where such a sensitive soul.

steve_h80 wrote:

Temper, temper. It was just autocorrect doing it's usual thing.
I never realised you where such a sensitive soul.

I'm not in the least sensitive, and neither am I gullible enough to believe it was autocorrect. I've had Mildred, Mildew etc on here and on other forums.

It's easy enough to correct genuine spelling mistakes you've made online. Just as it is to read through a preview or draft before posting.

Alternatively you can very easily edit any mistakes you've made after it's posted.

As I'm typing this any spelling errors are highlighted on my keyboard. In fact I've edited this post twice.

Apart from that, have a nice day.