Valve check/Adjustment video ( ST1100 ) *

[KoTAOW]

original post by Will England
I've downloaded, re-rendered, and uploaded the ST1100 Valve Adjustment Video that is found in the Shim Kit to Google Video. 
You can find the video and Bob Meyer's errata* at:
http://will.mylanders.com/mc/st1100/valve_adjust.php

The Google Video page for the valve adjustment video is at:




You can also download a 320x240 version of the st1100 valve adjustment video from the Google Video page.

If anyone has any concerns, questions, etc. please let me know. 



reply by Tom Melnik
* The errata data that Will refers to follows:

Video Errata

Courtesy Bob Meyer

ERROR 1: In the shim kit video, the narrator explains that you can push a feeler gauge in between the camshaft and bucket with as much force as is necessary to get it in. He says "you can't compress the valve spring with the feeler gauge."

THIS IS A MAJOR ERROR. While it may be true for the very thin feeler gauges used on the intake valves, the feeler gauges used on the exhaust valves are definitely thick enough to compress the valve springs. Jamming the feeler gauges in with the force shown in the video will give erroneous readings.

There is a bit of art involved in knowing how a feeler gauge should "feel." Attached to this explanation is a series of e-mails from the STOC mailing list on this topic. The best advice I've seen in all my years wrenching bikes come from John Walters (aka PenguinBiker):

So the question is: how hard should I have to push the feeler gauge in? Howmuch drag should there be on the gauge that accurately measures the gap?

Get (buy or borrow) a micrometer. [Note: a micrometer is included in the shim kit. Ed.] Take a feeler gauge that is roughly the size you intend to use, then set the micrometer at whatever size the feeler gauge is, drag the feeler gauge through the micrometer.

_That_ is how much drag you should have on the feeler gauge. (Note: if there is a sharp angle on the gauge when you push it in then there will be more drag.)

Error 2: The narrator in the video removes the black plastic covers on the front of the engine that cover the timing belt and cam drive gear. This is not necessary unless you rotate the engine while a camshaft is removed. Needless to say, do not rotate the crankshaft while one or more cams are removed. Removing these covers won't hurt anything, but it's unnecessary work.

Error 3: This one is actually caught and corrected in the video, but the narrator still makes things harder than they need to be. The error is that the narrator confuses metric measurements (the shims) and English measures (the feeler gauges), This is caught and corrected, but the narrator goes to a great deal of effort to convert metric to English and back. The conversion is unnecessary. All the feeler gauges in the kit are marked in metric. If you do all the measurement and calculations in metric, everything will be much simpler.