Tank is off.
The throttle bodies are protected.
Its the job that everyone is scared of doing and people get ripped off by paying
hundreds of pounds to a stealer to do.
Its a myth. Its not hard. Just work methodically , take care and the jobs a good
'un.
Pull the coilsoff the top of the plugs
Disconnect them from the loom and put them in a toolbox draw.
Or a tray.
Or a workbench.
Or throw them in a corner. Just dont lose them.
Unhook the secondary air injection unit from the pin thats
holding it in place
Undo the secondary air injection hosesfrom the top of the rocker cover. Dont
throw these in a corner, put these somewhere safe, keep the faces clean and
protected
Remove or roll out out the way the rubber protective sheet
You can leave this step until later, but either way they have to come out, so
take out the plugs.
When they are out, get three sheets of the same disposable paper towel that
you used to block off the throttle boddies and block the plug wells. You really
dont want any bits of shit getting in there.
Remove the bolts securing the rocker cover
And take note that the two on the right side over the cam chain are a different
size
Unhook the throttle cables and move them right out the way orit will prevent
you lifting the rocker cover easily.
And CAREFULLY lift the rocker cover. It may be stuck. GIve it wiggle, push it
[ull it and if its stull not moving, tap it GENTLY with a small block of wood.
Whatever you do DO NOT hit it with a hammer. It is cast and so its brittle.
When its off, clean it and store it carefully in a safe place.
Breaking it will be expensive and bad.
You will hate yourself. You will hate your bike and you may end up killing
yourself.
That leaves you with this.
Remove the rubber seals. Throw them away, they will be
squashed and deformed and will be replaced with new ones.
You should have done this already but if you havent, remove the
oil filter and drain all the oil.
remove the crank cover inspection cap
Look at the markings on the end of the crank. You should be able to see three.
"T1", "T2", and "T3".
Use a hex socket to turn the crank until the T1 mark is lined up exactly with
the arrow pin on the bottom of the opening. It should turn without too much
effort as the plugs have been removed to there is no compression and all the
resistance will be caused by the valvesprings
Now look at the camshafts. The four cams over cylinder one should all be open
with the longest point of the elipse on each one pointing upwards. If any of
them are pointing down and any of the valves depressed, rotate the crank
another 360 degrees back to the T1 mark and check the cams again.
When they are all open get a metric feeler guage and check the gaps on the two
inlet and the two outlet valves for cylinder one.
Write them down as you go.
Then repeat the procedure by turning the crank to the T2 mark and checking
the gaps on cylinder 2, and then repeat a third time by turning the crank to the
T3 mark and checking the gaps on cylinder three.
This picture is taken from the perspective of facing the front of the bike and
shows the feeler guage checking the gaps on the cam for exhaust outlet 2 on
cylinder 3.
This ia a good way of noting the gaps on all valves. It provides an easy reference
to see the exact records of the gaps in the right positions alongside the target
ranges for comparison.
As you can see, all my valves are withing target tolerence range, but someof
them are right on the range limits.
A dealer would say these gaps are ok and close the rocker cover.
In theory a valve gap wont open, it will only get tighter as the valve seat wears.
However I know from experience on the speed triple, that small carbon deposits
can cause them to open too.
Being as I dont know what the gaps were or who did the last service I have no
way of knowing if these have moved either way or have remained static.
Neither would a dealer, which to my mind means they are doing half a job and
making assumptions that could be wrong.
Thats why I do my own service work and dont trust it to people who are
1. rushed for time.
2. dont know my engine or its history
3. stealing my cash for half a job.
So for my own peace of mind Im going to swap the shims out and put each valve
bang in the middle of its target range.
That allows for movement or wear and I can track it so I know whats going on in
my engine.
If your gaps are right on tolerence range like mine are in this picture, you have a
choice. You can do it the half a job with assumptions dealer route which MAY
mean remedial work later on, or you can do it once and do it right.
