Its a bit of a pain due to the lack of room.
Before starting make sure you have a good complete set of feeler gauges on hand.
Got mine from NAPA I believe.
Also check with your local Kawi dealer and make sure they have shims! (and gaskets)
Hate to tear in there and not have parts!
A huge tip is to have the rubber cover (over then engine)spotlessly clean before going farther.
I pushed it back and used duct tape to keep it out of my way instead of removing it.
For the 1st time of a disassembly I take pictures of every stage in. (camera phone is current fav)
Marker all connections if needed with masking tape.
Of course read the manual first so you know the sequence of upcoming events.
Getting to the valve cover is the hardest part! Bodywork, wiring, hoses etc.
Once finally in its fairly straight forward.
I keep a notebook and made a schematic( hand drawn picture) of the valve arrangement similar to the manuals.
And then wrote all the clearances for later reference.
I put slight bends in my gauges to get good alignment between cam and valve bucket.
Naturally check with 3-4 different feelers to know how tight/loose each tolerance really is.
I will assume you have done valves before on other motors.
Some of the inner valves are tricky to get a good feel for, because of the lack of clearance.
In the 2 times I've done it, only one clearance was close.
If you do need to adjust a valve or two make sure you have a good pic or memory of
the cam timing marks and chain tension.
That is the one thing I was concerned about the most.
Probably the simplest thing but it was the part I had the trouble with being comfortable with on assembly.
The shims will still be marked on the underside as to what size they are.
If unreadable calipers will work.
Cleanliness is huge.
If you have a leaking cover gasket now is the time to REPLACE it.
I have a 06 so I added washers to the cover bolts to add pressure to the cover.
Never leaked again.
If yours was good it can be reused. Up to you.
I used cinch a gasket sealer applied to the contact area of the gasket.
Most just put them on dry. I forget what the manual suggests.
Its a tedious little job because of all the extra components in the way, but worth it to Me.
I'd be surprised if any need adjustment.
But at 20k miles, many will be close. Dont be worried about getting them all right in the middle of spec.
I checked mine at 10k and then again at 20k and clearances didn't change except for 1 valve each time.
And they were just right at allowable tolerance (tight) so for peace of mind I changed them.
Have fun!!!
* Last updated by: skiffman on 9/28/2010 @ 11:06 AM *
06 14 Tuskigi stainless pcIII w/custom map.
Penske shock. GP North forks
Custom Leather seat
And too many other mods.
Track Bike morphing into a sporttourer
ZG touring screen, risers, Buell pegs, etc.
And a couple of other Kawi's
