First valve adjustment! - Ducati.ms

Hazzbin · Jul 30th, 2011, 9:05 am

7450 miles. We got it all apart and everything measured, so I'm off to the dealership today to get a couple of shims, O-rings and new belts. The actual valve part was the easy part... getting the tank and airbox off were the pain in the ass. I have to say that if you're a backyard mechanic, there's nothing to be afraid of but Id have a friend handy as especially the first time through, some of it's a lot easier with help.

I'm running LV slipons & cat eliminator with an MWR filter and a full system ECU. The plugs look perfect.

Valve measurements in thousandths were as follows:

Front intake open .05
Front intake close .03

Front exhaust open .04
Front exhaust close .01

Rear intake open .04
Rear intake close .06

Rear exhaust open .05
Rear exhaust close .01

As you can see, both exhausts were very close on both opening and closing, while both intakes were close on opening and way off on closing.

The valve covers were also a total bitch to get off. Three of the four O-rings looked fine but I'll replace them anyway. Everything under the covers in the valve area looked nice and clean.

I'll try and post some photos later.

Rango · Jul 30th, 2011, 10:14 am

I'd love to see pic's.

I will have to do this sometime in the future...

So these are shim and bucket? What's the "acceptable" range on the spacing?

How is it to work on after the value cover is off? Easy to get the feeler in to get a good measurement?

Hazzbin · Jul 30th, 2011, 10:39 am

The acceptable range depends on who you're talking to. Ducati has loosened their specs and increased the length between service but I've chosen to stick with a spec of .004 on the openers and .001 on the closers. With the choices of shims it's not really possible to get exactly the lash you want but you can get close. For example, I can get one of my openers to a loose .004 or a ridiculously tight .005, so I stuck with the loose .004.

Checking the lash is easy with the covers off so long as you've moved things out of the way.

acoolsubi · Aug 4th, 2011, 9:28 pm

I am doing this myself now for the first time and feel I am getting bad info on finding TDC. The hor. cyc is easy with lining up the pulley marks and crank mark but what about the vert. cyc.? Can you please advise? I can manually find it by feel the rockers and looking in the cyc. but the timing marks don't line up and I wonder how I would ever figure out to put it back together if the belts were off. I am soooo frustrated!!!

DosHypers · Aug 4th, 2011, 11:09 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by acoolsubi

I am doing this myself now for the first time and feel I am getting bad info on finding TDC. The hor. cyc is easy with lining up the pulley marks and crank mark but what about the vert. cyc.? Can you please advise? I can manually find it by feel the rockers and looking in the cyc. but the timing marks don't line up and I wonder how I would ever figure out to put it back together if the belts were off. I am soooo frustrated!!!

do one cylinder at a time, mark the timing belts and pulleys with white out at a point where the piston is backed off a bit from tdc (pull a spark plug and watch it go down a bit if needed) pull the belts off and do your thing, then once they are all adjusted and everything is back together line the pulley up with the belt and put it back on

RichardU · Aug 5th, 2011, 8:12 am

Here's a good article on the process.

http://www.ducatisuite.com/valves.html

Nginear · Aug 5th, 2011, 10:19 am

http://www.ducatisuite.com/valves.html

Try this link instead.

RichardU · Aug 5th, 2011, 10:23 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nginear

Ducati Suite- Valve Adjustment

Fixed.

v12gte · Aug 5th, 2011, 11:08 am

thanks for the link, guys. I also have this planned, but I have another 4K miles ahead of me. I plan to do it at the same time as the installation of the larger cycleworks tank (let me know if anyone is selling a used one, or I will put a new one in my letter to Santa this year).

acoolsubi · Aug 5th, 2011, 10:34 pm

Ok so I got my numbers too.

Can anyone explain what the ramifications are for being too tight or too loose?

I remember hearing a Ducati tech say that he liked to see different numbers for vertical versus horizontal cylinders. Any info here either?

My #'s:

Hor. Cyl. Opener Closer
Int. 0.12mm 0.02mm
Exh. 0.10mm 0.01mm
Vert. Cyl.
Int. 0.08mm 0.06mm
Exh. 0.07mm 0.06mm