BakerBoy
It's all small stuff.
The color-matched pigtails on the battery tender are a nice touch Chuck.
My picture isn't as pretty as Chucks' lol... doing 1st valve check/adj... all the exhausts were tight so they needed to be done but the intakes were close to the middle and in spec. The nice part is that means just one cam comes out but holy cow... remove seat, tank, airbox, throttle bodies, about 10 electrical connectors, disconnect several hard line brake and clutch connections to the frame and then, maybe, you have enough room to take off the valve cover... Then, drain oil and remove the clutch cover...
The adjustment was good.. although at first I added instead of subtracted but I figured that out before I put the cam chain tensioner back in which is a royal pain... had to take mine to a dealer and it took 5 of them to finally get it set. I'll install a manual one on the next check, I fooled with that thing for a whole day.
After 28k miles the spark plugs still looked good, the gap was at the end of the range.
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Ughh, not looking forward to this though it is a way to "become one with your machine". What diameter shims are used are they different to the ST1300? Hoping not to have to buy another Hot Cams Kit.
Different shims diameters - 9.48mm - but I have a kit so let me know when and I'll send it to you to use.
That's very generous Joe! Thanks, I might take you up on that. Not sure when or if I'll get into it myself or not. ~$400 at the local dealer here is looking better all the time. How much trouble was it to maintain the timing when the tensioner was removed and replaced?
Wow, working on a valve check/adj today a little... what a pain!... I really miss the ST1300 now. You don't realize how spoiled you are.. You would think the frame was welded around the engine as getting the valve cover off is ridiculously difficult. I'd say it's worth $600 to have the dealer mess with this thing. Love the bike, but not at all user friendly when it comes to this particular maintenance item. I may do this one and then trade it in on another V4 before the next check..
I wish the manufacturers would all go to hydraulic lash adjusters. There are some fixed in-head designs that will work with high RPM engines.
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Yeah, but... how much dealer revenue would be cut by no longer having valve checks/adjustments to do? I'm not usually so 'conspiracy-minded' but sometimes some things just don't make sense on a bike that's otherwise so well thought-out.
The "Baby Block" V4 derived from the same basic engine architecture as the small block V8 used in the racing Corvettes is used in the hottest ST bike around, Motus. Like the Chevy small blocks, it has hydraulic lifters in the engine block. Of course, it's a slow revving engine by motorcycle standards, but like the big V-twin cruisers it has gobs of low end torque.