Took a Valve Adjustment & Belt Replacement Class This Weekend

[Socaldiablo]

and all I have to say is, wow, I have a new appreciation for the techs that have to adjust the shim clearances! That is not easy by any means and requires some very non-traditional tools, to boot. The guy who taught the course runs a valve adjustment service out of his house and it was pretty amazing that he can do this without a second set of hands. He even designed some customized tools to make the job easier, which still looks very difficult. We were working on a 2 valve air cooled engine (I think it was a 95' 900SS) and he was showing us the steps on the 2 top valves. The bottom valves required moving the oil cooler (front) and rear shock (rear) so we didn't mess with those. I was hoping to be able to adjust the valves on my own bike but after the 5 hour course, I still think it would be way over my technical ability & patience, at least on my own the first time. I will attempt to replace my belts, though, which seemed much easier. Now I see why the valve adjustment service is expensive! If anyone is intersted in seeing how this is done and you live in Southern Cal, I can send you the guy's contact info who runs this course. He taught us some other service items and general info on the desmo engines, too. The 5 hour course was $95 and was money well spent!

[thought]

sounds interesting, this is one of those things that i eventually want to learn how to do.

[vij]

Originally Posted by Socaldiablo

and all I have to say is, wow, I have a new appreciation for the techs that have to adjust the shim clearances! That is not easy by any means and requires some very non-traditional tools, to boot. The guy who taught the course runs a valve adjustment service out of his house and it was pretty amazing that he can do this without a second set of hands. He even designed some customized tools to make the job easier, which still looks very difficult. We were working on a 2 valve air cooled engine (I think it was a 95' 900SS) and he was showing us the steps on the 2 top valves. The bottom valves required moving the oil cooler (front) and rear shock (rear) so we didn't mess with those. I was hoping to be able to adjust the valves on my own bike but after the 5 hour course, I still think it would be way over my technical ability & patience, at least on my own the first time. I will attempt to replace my belts, though, which seemed much easier. Now I see why the valve adjustment service is expensive! If anyone is intersted in seeing how this is done and you live in Southern Cal, I can send you the guy's contact info who runs this course. He taught us some other service items and general info on the desmo engines, too. The 5 hour course was $95 and was money well spent!

Not trying to sound bad or anything but ducatis 2 valvers (post panta) are some of the most easy engines that you can adjust the valves on as it is very good access and that you don't have to remove anything on the engine itself except for covers and belts.

Cover of, belts of, measure, pull the clip and change the shims. Recheck and do again if required. Rotate the cam and check so it does not drag. Done.

You should try it on an inline four.

Jocke............

[DesmoDog]

For people who aren't local;

Doesn't Pro Italia still sell a video (DVD now I guess) showing how to do this? And there is a series of videos on you tube that cover it too, or there used to be anyway.

[goyaohboyajr]

Chris at California Cycleworks has videos/tutorials on this subject that can be found on youtube.

[Mblaster]

Can you pm me the contact info... Thanks!

[Socaldiablo]

Originally Posted by Mblaster

Can you pm me the contact info... Thanks!

PM sent

[Socaldiablo]

Originally Posted by vij

Not trying to sound bad or anything but ducatis 2 valvers (post panta) are some of the most easy engines that you can adjust the valves on as it is very good access and that you don't have to remove anything on the engine itself except for covers and belts.

Cover of, belts of, measure, pull the clip and change the shims. Recheck and do again if required. Rotate the cam and check so it does not drag. Done.

You should try it on an inline four.

Jocke............

Jocke,
Yes, you're absolutely right. The 2V engine we worked on was probably the easiest of them all to work on and it still seemed to be a challenge. Measuring and adjusting the loaded setting was OK but it was the unloaded setting that was a bit tricky. Then having to sand down the shims until you get the absolute correct thickness (that is if you didn't have the proper thickness shim) and insert the collets w/o dropping them, making sure the valve doesn't fall into the cylinder, etc, etc. You kind of made it sound real easy but I can assure you the way he taught us was not easy. We were also working on the bike while it was on a bike lift but if you don't have that, then it would be even harder. And not to mention, some of the shim clearance measurements were subjective. Same with the tension of the belts after replacing ..a bit subjective. He had some fancy tool that gave a readout of the tension but most of us don't have that $300 tool.

I think the thing this guy stressed over and over again was to make sure the engine is at top dead center and he mentioned that if the engine wasn't properly lined up before you started your work on the belts and valves (for timing purposes), you could damage it. He stressed it so much that it sort of scared us from wanting to even tackle this on our own.

[vij]

Originally Posted by Socaldiablo

Jocke,
Yes, you're absolutely right. The 2V engine we worked on was probably the easiest of them all to work on and it still seemed to be a challenge. Measuring and adjusting the loaded setting was OK but it was the unloaded setting that was a bit tricky. Then having to sand down the shims until you get the absolute correct thickness (that is if you didn't have the proper thickness shim) and insert the collets w/o dropping them, making sure the valve doesn't fall into the cylinder, etc, etc. You kind of made it sound real easy but I can assure you the way he taught us was not easy. We were also working on the bike while it was on a bike lift but if you don't have that, then it would be even harder. And not to mention, some of the shim clearance measurements were subjective. Same with the tension of the belts after replacing ..a bit subjective. He had some fancy tool that gave a readout of the tension but most of us don't have that $300 tool.

I think the thing this guy stressed over and over again was to make sure the engine is at top dead center and he mentioned that if the engine wasn't properly lined up before you started your work on the belts and valves (for timing purposes), you could damage it. He stressed it so much that it sort of scared us from wanting to even tackle this on our own.

Not saying that it is super easy but if you know a few tricks it is not bad.

*Put something in the oil channels so you the collets does not disaper down the oil channel when, not if you drop them.

* Always take the belts of, put the piston at TDC. If you do this and drop the valve it will not fall in. Just pick it up again.

* Use a small screwdriver, put some grease on it and the collets will stick to the screwdriver. Put the collet on position on the valve and it will stay due to the grease.

* Get a small but very strong flexible magnet to remove the collets from the valve and also to pick up the dropped collets.

* Get a needle nose plyer, cover the nose with tape, put some rubber bands around the handles. Then you can use it to hold the valve up when you install the closer shim and the collets.

For the belt timing you will need a computer and a microphone. Download this software.

HitCounter

You need the one called "Courroies"

Then you have a perfect tool to adjust the tension on your belts.

Some info here but it is in France. See the bottom picture for details. Google translator works.

Ducati diagnostic software for iaw5 ECU

Here is a video.

You Tube

You Tube

Jocke.............

[s74cker]

Could you also PM me the contact info.

Thank you.

Rey