[spasonatwin]

Well folks, just did my 15K valve inspection/adjustment (actual odo reading was like 15280). A set of hex keys, 10mm - 17mm sockets, a thickness gauge that can give you a good range between .101mm through .301mm, and the service manual are all you really need....

Tore it apart after failing to shake off the hangover from the previous night. Stayed at my buddies you see; the bike has to be STONE cold when you do it, and he's done a few suzuki valve/cam jobs before. Yanked the tank off (easy to do), yanked the radiator off (easy to do, but next time I won't... just un-bolt it and let the hoses hold it on. It will clear the head with the hoses still attached. The thing is more of a bitch to put back on and refill: the cooling system is a closed loop/sealed system that has to be bled.... just easier not to fuck with IMO). The valve covers pop right off after the plug wires and PAIR tubes come off. *PooF* instant cam access.

Truth be told, this cam design is just art. The cam chain is some sort of 'hybrid' set-up... it never actually touches the cams directly. Meaning: as long as you don't take both cams on the same head out at the same time, you don't have to mess with the chain or tensioner at all. TOO DAMN EASY :headbang:

Both intake valves were in spec. Very nice... I want to say they were .130-ish appiece, well withing the .1-.2 range. The exhaust valves both got tight though, reading .16/.17 on one head, and .17/.18 on the other head. :nutkick: Out come the cams, off come the buckets, out come the shims... then down to the dealer to see if we could get some exchanges. Wierd note though... one set was a 2.95, but the other was a 2.92... not a shim size that's in the SV1000's service manual. WTF, right? Well, down at the dealer I get some drama from the old hag at the service desk, but the nice cuttie on the other side of the shop goes back and exchanges the shims for me... a set of new 2.90's... but could't find ANY 2.80's or 2.85's (either would have brought the valve back into spec.. the book referenced the 2.85). Somehow, though, she found a set of 2.82's, and I was back in buisness. That size isn't on the chart anywhere, but they were the right deal. Strange, but they didn't charge me for the exchange :beer: . Picked up some Water Wetter for the radiator and back we went.

Everything went back in smooth as could be. You just have to pay -special attention- to the cam position when you re-install them. It is well addresssed and illustrated in the service manual; but ONE tooth off on the cam is bad news. They're well enough marked to get in with very little drama, however. Used just a -touch- of RTV on the valve cover seals... the big rubber parts that had stock suzuki black RTV on them when it was installed. Not necessary I believe, but better safe than sorry (ie: reasembly). As mentioned, the radiator/cooling system was a bit of a bastard, and a mess, to bleed. The coolant was cavitating at first and not wanting to flow through the thermostat. After some more running and shaking and bleeding, it came back to life. Good as new.

All in all, the job was 100% easier than I thought it was going to be. Attention to detail, soft hands on the wrenches (all that stuff is soft magnesium and aluminum) and torque specs, and adherance to the shop manual is all it takes. My dealer wanted 3 days and over $200 for the job, PLUS more if any were found out of spec, PLUS parts (the shims are 6 bucks appiece... the 'Shim Set' is $548!! :blink: ). Sod that folks, you can do this one yourself. I can't stress enough how COOL the camshaft set-up is on this machine, and how easily accessable everything is with the tank/radiator removed. Feel free to fire off any questions... this is a great way to get intimate with your machine, and saves you an ass load of money to boot.

Cheers :beer:

 

[Chainsaw Willie!]

Good useful post. Thanks for the clue about not completely removing the radiator. Tips like that make the job much easier.

 

[drmudd]

What a great post I'm about due to check the valve adjustment; which I was going to let the dealer do, service contract and all that, but now I'm inspired to do it myself. Thanx!

 

[SVBoss]

Hmmm..... How much were those JHS cams again?
Again, great post. This will come in handy when it's time to do the job. I'm not all that experienced with motorcycle engines but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty either.

One question though, are the shims pretty standard stuff or are they specific to the SV engine? I'd hate to get the thing all apart and the shop not have them. It'd probably take them weeks to get them in.

It's posts like these that I copy and put into my SV1000 folder for future reference. This is great stuff and it keeps my hard earned dollars in my pocket while giving me a better bike.

Thanks all.

 

[rjk]

Rep points for that description! I'll cut/paste your hints and add it to my SV folder. Cheers!! :beer:

 

[complete]

Spas, Are you planning on visiting the uk soon, ill pick you up from the airport, and offer you free accomodation for a couple of days.
Excellent post mate.
Cheers
Adam

 

[andyw]

Spas, Are you planning on visiting the uk soon, ill pick you up from the airport, and offer you free accomodation for a couple of days.
Excellent post mate.
Cheers
Adam

Seconded...........how many could you do in a day? :supsmiley

Great post, might even have the nerve to go for it myself now! Do you mind if I copy this over to www.sv1000.inuk.com?

Any more servicing guides?!

 

[one2many]

Rep points for that description! I'll cut/paste your hints and add it to my SV folder. Cheers!! :beer:

Same here :niceone: Great post Spas unk:

Did you ever post about your Deals Gap ride? Sorry if I missed it.

 

[spasonatwin]

Actually folks, I've always wanted to visit while not in uniform.... Could do several in a day, if they were all in the same place

Those shims by the way, are Suzuki specific for sure. They work with all the Suzuki "Shim Under Bucket" valve systems. The GSXR models, and I believe the TL's (as well as the SV's, of course) use the same system. However, not all suzuki's do: some of them use the 'ol locknut set-up (the marauder is one I believe... I think the cruisers in general do)... I looked at the dealer service reference chart and it seemed that anything that required a valve check/adjustment as part of the first service does not use the shim under bucket set-up. (note: the Sv's, TL's, GSXR's do NOT require valve checks as part of the initial service).

IT was an easy job, but I can't stress enough how very very slow and careful you have to be if you do it. All that stuff is sensitive; if you rush it, you'll probably fuck it up. Set aside an entire afternoon (WHEN YOU LOCAL DEALER IS OPEN! You won't know what shim/s you need, if you need them, untill it's apart. Then you're going to have to have a mate drive you down to the dealership to get them. Also make sure that your dealers aren't total wankers, and that they will trade you if they have them in stock. If they end up out of that particular shim, you're either gonna have to put it all back together and do it again when they get in, or leave the bike apart untill they come in. That was the only part of the job, other than making sure I didn't drop a little shim down alongside the cam chain, that had me worried.). It's easy, but only if you go slow, by the book, and pay close fucking attention to what you're doing. But hell, it's still only 8 freakin' bolts per head Also a great time to get your plugs while you're in there; they say to replace them every 7500 miles. I, uhm, forgot until 15k and they were pretty well used. Servicable, yes, but they electrode was visibly starting to wear away.

As for any more guides...? Hrmm... I'm about to do a throttle body sync here soon. I guess I can break out the digital for that.... heheh we'll see.

Cheers :beer:

 

[spasonatwin]

Hehe Yea, I did forget to post the Gap pics/review... I'll get on that when I get the damn scanner working: biligerant mutts my roomates own chewed the cable all to shit. *growl*. It was great, but I didn't get that many pics... I was there all week, but didn't stick around for the weekend.

 

[Tundra Tom]

Thanks for usefull post spas. When the clock ticks 15000 or probably less I will use your post as a guide.

Cheers! :beer:

 

[Bish]

I don't suppose you took any pictures?

Cheers
Bish

 

[andyw]

Spasonatwin has kindly agreed to do a re-write of this 'FAQ' in even more detail for the FAQs section at www.sv1000.inuk.com....I'll post once it's live.

 

[spasonatwin]

As a mechanical update, she still runs perfect and there are no leaks (a surprise too with those damn coolant hoses) of oil or coolant. The spark plug change helped a bit to... she's running and idling a touch smoother.

Ok, Text file Part one of Three. I'm going to break them down like this for ease of read and proofread (courtesy of you all, anyway ). Let me know if anything doesn't 'make sense', or if there are any spelling errors etc. Some tools are called by different names over there, and I don't know all my arcoss-the-pond conversions by heart yet. This way is MUCH more wordy, but informative I think. I'll continue to post them over then next few days as I get them done.

Pictures? Damn BJAM... I wish I would have thought of that when it was apart. But why I didn't; The pictures in the suzuki manual are spot on... you couldn't ask for more, with the exception of pictures of little things like individual parts like the buckets and shims. I'll make a glossary of terms/parts at the very end and attach pictures w/descriptions from the manual.... will that help? I may need a photoshop guru there... or maybe I can get some points toward one of those nifty GFX awards heheh. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Cheers :beer:

 

[LVNLRGR]

Its nice to see that your using your bike. You have almost three times the miles I do and its still running well despite your quarter mile jaunts. Proper maintenance is key, thanks for the informative write up.

 

[spasonatwin]

1/4 mile jaunts... 2 open road trips.... Deal's Gap.... I've been hit by TWO different cars.... and one wash out in an intersection with deep sand.

Yea, I'd say it was almost fucking bullet proof, just like the 650. :rockon:

 

[Old Dawg]

Shim source?

Perhaps we can find a source of shims at a decent price. I would like to have a couple of the most common sizes on hand before I start. The local dealer here is closed on my days off work. Any suggestions?

 

[LVNLRGR]

Hammer time

1/4 mile jaunts... 2 open road trips.... Deal's Gap.... I've been hit by TWO different cars.... and one wash out in an intersection with deep sand.

Yea, I'd say it was almost fucking bullet proof, just like the 650. :rockon:

Don't matter if they knock because its solid as a hammer. :bash:

 

[Chainsaw Willie!]

Perhaps we can find a source of shims at a decent price. I would like to have a couple of the most common sizes on hand before I start. The local dealer here is closed on my days off work. Any suggestions?

Due to manufacturing tolerances I would assume that one bikes common sizes are different than another bikes common sizes. So I don't think you would know the neighborhood of sizes you want untill after the first time your tear-down and adjust.

Also even a small library of shims, say 3 sizes per valve, would be fairly expensive, even if you could find them at only $5. I did this about 22 years ago with a KZ650. I had about $120 in shims, and then never actually had to change them that much. Overall it is better to let the dealer suck up the cost of storing a large set of shims.

However I do see that you have a point about the local dealer being closed when you have time. That does suck. Even if you can get shims from one of the online dealers, it means you have to wait a week. Which means of course that you cant just open your motor on a saturday morning, and be done with it by noon. Dang.

 

[andyw]

As a mechanical update, she still runs perfect and there are no leaks (a surprise too with those damn coolant hoses) of oil or coolant. The spark plug change helped a bit to... she's running and idling a touch smoother.

Ok, Text file Part one of Three. I'm going to break them down like this for ease of read and proofread (courtesy of you all, anyway ). Let me know if anything doesn't 'make sense', or if there are any spelling errors etc. Some tools are called by different names over there, and I don't know all my arcoss-the-pond conversions by heart yet. This way is MUCH more wordy, but informative I think. I'll continue to post them over then next few days as I get them done.

Pictures? Damn BJAM... I wish I would have thought of that when it was apart. But why I didn't; The pictures in the suzuki manual are spot on... you couldn't ask for more, with the exception of pictures of little things like individual parts like the buckets and shims. I'll make a glossary of terms/parts at the very end and attach pictures w/descriptions from the manual.... will that help? I may need a photoshop guru there... or maybe I can get some points toward one of those nifty GFX awards heheh. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Cheers :beer:

Nice work, Brian has competition!!!...........pictures next time though!! :supsmiley

I may need a photoshop guru there

....not a guru but pretty good....let me know if you need help.