Valve Clearance Completely Wrong!?

[skiri251]

'82 GL1100A

I did valve clearance adjustment the other day and found that PO (or whoever before that) set zero clearance to inlet valves. 3 exhaust valves were too tight also.

Is this on purpose? There is no way to set zero clearance by mistake, correct? If Engine is not stone cold or piston is not compression TDC, those make too loose clearance.

Is there secret engine tunig trick like this?

 

[AApple]

Sounds like Gomer was just setting the valves for no slack, instead of having the specified clearance. Perhaps whoever did it before wasn't qualified to do it, and just thought it was like setting something with hydraulic lifters... :builder: :builder: :builder:

 

[skiri251]

Ahhh hydraulic lifters.
Backyard car mechanic w/o proper shop manual at work?

Good to find it early though I don't know how many miles PO put on it with valves adjusted like this.
He did replace timing belt (I saw his writing inside the cover.) Then he must have done the valve clearance too.

PO also told me he rebuilt carbs. Should I trust him? That's the question.

 

[toytender01]

:hi: If the PO could not set the valves right ...
Do you realy want to trust him to do the carbs???????? oh2: oh2: oh2: :help: :whistling: :doh: :doh:

 

[joedrum]

i just did this today the valves set at .004 ....if you need to know anything about how to do it post back....check out my thread titled cam change .... :mrgreen:

 

[dan filipi]

As far as the carbs go, if it runs good and mpg is acceptable then they should be fine.

 

[slabghost]

Valve clearances always close over time in use. Set them right and on the loose side. As long as it's running good and there are no fuel leaks the carbs should be good.

 

[skiri251]

I think carbs are working okay. I re-sync'ed them after the valve adjustment but they weren't that off.
I got terrible mileage on freeway (26 MPG) but I guess that's sidecar's wind resistance.

I went camping to Salton Sea. On the way home, hit terrible head/side wind on I-10 around Banning. It was scary.

 

[carl62cycles]

'82 GL1100A

I did valve clearance adjustment the other day and found that PO (or whoever before that) set zero clearance to inlet valves. 3 exhaust valves were too tight also.

Is this on purpose? There is no way to set zero clearance by mistake, correct? If Engine is not stone cold or piston is not compression TDC, those make too loose clearance.

Is there secret engine tunig trick like this?

If piston are in wrong position,he could have left little clearance and by engine heat got even tighter clearance.Anything is posible if !PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHAT THERE DOING! or if done in a rush with someone busting your :swoon: :mrgreen:

 

[carl62cycles]

Ahhh hydraulic lifters.
Backyard car mechanic w/o proper shop manual at work?

Good to find it early though I don't know how many miles PO put on it with valves adjusted like this.
He did replace timing belt (I saw his writing inside the cover.) Then he must have done the valve clearance too.

PO also told me he rebuilt carbs. Should I trust him? That's the question.

It's not as bad of deal if little or with no clearence.I'll run like crap .But with an excesive clearance,valves will open slightly and the result will be a burned valve or valves :shock: ,No clearence can also damage valve tip and rocker arm from heat buildup and poor lube when grinding against each other (If not caught on time).Check them out if your serviceing it this time.
PO should you TRUST HIM :smilie_happy: I would start checking the tire pressure :smilie_happy: and end up doing a thorough check of the HOLE BIKE.Would do that with any bike unless your allright on cruising it and seen things fly off.Be on the safe side and you'll be able to ride another day or at least make it to your desired destination Goldwing engines are tough to a certain point,but not from wreckless hands oh2: :mrgreen:

 

[skiri251]

Ahhh hydraulic lifters.
Backyard car mechanic w/o proper shop manual at work?

Good to find it early though I don't know how many miles PO put on it with valves adjusted like this.
He did replace timing belt (I saw his writing inside the cover.) Then he must have done the valve clearance too.

PO also told me he rebuilt carbs. Should I trust him? That's the question.

It's not as bad of deal if little or with no clearence.I'll run like crap .But with an excesive clearance,valves will open slightly and the result will be a burned valve or valves :shock: ,No clearence can also damage valve tip and rocker arm from heat buildup and poor lube when grinding against each other (If not caught on time).Check them out if your serviceing it this time.
PO should you TRUST HIM :smilie_happy: I would start checking the tire pressure :smilie_happy: and end up doing a thorough check of the HOLE BIKE.Would do that with any bike unless your allright on cruising it and seen things fly off.Be on the safe side and you'll be able to ride another day or at least make it to your desired destination Goldwing engines are tough to a certain point,but not from wreckless hands oh2: :mrgreen:

I guess I should check the compression. Goldwing is new to me and I don't know what kind of torque/power I should expect. Plus I have a sidecar. My recent experience on freeway: I can cruise at 65MPH in 5th gear if it's level and no wind, but uphill or head wind I needed to use 4th. I understand it's a high reving engine but I feel I want more tractability. Maybe it's okay w/o the sidecar..

 

[dan filipi]

My recent experience on freeway: I can cruise at 65MPH in 5th gear if it's level and no wind, but uphill or head wind I needed to use 4th. I understand it's a high reving engine but I feel I want more tractability. Maybe it's okay w/o the sidecar..

That is pretty much the performance you'll get out of the 1100.
The 1200's are still a bit short.
1500 has the power to stay in 5th.

Your lower mpg could be from lugging the engine.
Try running it in lower gears at higher rpm for awhile.

 

[joedrum]

i guess that might be right but it seems to me that i can see running in forth at slower speeds .....but at hiway speed i dont see it being short on power not an 82 it sould pull .....but i dont have much experience with pulling anything but my wife and shes not much weight.... :mrgreen:

 

[skiri251]

i guess that might be right but it seems to me that i can see running in forth at slower speeds .....but at hiway speed i dont see it being short on power not an 82 it sould pull .....but i dont have much experience with pulling anything but my wife and shes not much weight.... :mrgreen:

Sidecar rigs generally suffer from poor fuel economy. It's frontal projected area is twice that of a regular motorcycle, but I don't understand why they are so inefficient compared to cars...

Weight-wise, my sidecar weighs only 150 lbs or so and my son weighs 40 lbs.

I will try lower gears next time.

 

[carl62cycles]

Ahhh hydraulic lifters.
Backyard car mechanic w/o proper shop manual at work?

Good to find it early though I don't know how many miles PO put on it with valves adjusted like this.
He did replace timing belt (I saw his writing inside the cover.) Then he must have done the valve clearance too.

PO also told me he rebuilt carbs. Should I trust him? That's the question.

I guess I should check the compression. Goldwing is new to me and I don't know what kind of torque/power I should expect. Plus I have a sidecar. My recent experience on freeway: I can cruise at 65MPH in 5th gear if it's level and no wind, but uphill or head wind I needed to use 4th. I understand it's a high reving engine but I feel I want more tractability. Maybe it's okay w/o the sidecar..

Also looking at the pic,it seems like a bigger side car than usual or is it me?If thats so....plus wind...plus uphill doesn't seem that bad.

 

[skiri251]

> Also looking at the pic,it seems like a bigger side car than usual

The sidecar body is from Velorex 562 which is on smaller side of all the sidecars. But it got almost vertically mounted wind shield. The storage area (painted in gray) below the body won't help aerodynamically either.

 

[carl62cycles]

> Also looking at the pic,it seems like a bigger side car than usual

The sidecar body is from Velorex 562 which is on smaller side of all the sidecars. But it got almost vertically mounted wind shield. The storage area (painted in gray) below the body won't help aerodynamically either.[/quot

Nice looking sidecar :good: ,seems to be mounted pretty tall for my liking thou.If the storage area could dismounted,it would help a bit more windwise probably driveability too.Thought it was a one piece unit :doh: .

 

[skiri251]

Nice looking sidecar :good: ,seems to be mounted pretty tall for my liking thou.If the storage area could dismounted,it would help a bit more windwise probably driveability too.Thought it was a one piece unit :doh: .

Two reasons for high mounted body.

1) It is a full leaning sidecar (sidecar leans in unison with the motorcycle in corners) and there is a control arm for that. Mounting the body low requires cutting out the part of the body to avoid interference. And because it's a leaner, I don't have to worry about the effect of high CoG while cornering not as much as regular rigid sidecar rigs. (I had rigid rigs before and while flying the chair is fun, I couldn't stand slow right turn speed.)

2) I just wanted my son (the only passenger) to have a better outside view. I had a semi-leaner rig (only the bike leans) before with stock Velorex sidecar frame. He was kinda looked down by cagers. With this new rig, he has about the same or slightly higher eye position compared to passenger cars.

High CoG isn't a good thing and now I have a better idea for the frame/control arm design so if I build another one I can mount the body lower but since the current one works okay so...

For an adult passenger I think I need to mount the body lower but again this is just for my 6-year-old son and by the time he grows to an adult size, I don't think he wants to sit in the sidecar anyway..

The storage area is just a plywood box around the frame. I can take it off but I don't know what reduction in wind resistance I can gain.

I need a wind tonnel!

 

[carl62cycles]

Nice looking sidecar :good: ,seems to be mounted pretty tall for my liking thou.If the storage area could dismounted,it would help a bit more windwise probably driveability too.Thought it was a one piece unit :doh: .

Two reasons for high mounted body.

1) It is a full leaning sidecar (sidecar leans in unison with the motorcycle in corners) and there is a control arm for that. Mounting the body low requires cutting out the part of the body to avoid interference. And because it's a leaner, I don't have to worry about the effect of high CoG while cornering not as much as regular rigid sidecar rigs. (I had rigid rigs before and while flying the chair is fun, I couldn't stand slow right turn speed.)

2) I just wanted my son (the only passenger) to have a better outside view. I had a semi-leaner rig (only the bike leans) before with stock Velorex sidecar frame. He was kinda looked down by cagers. With this new rig, he has about the same or slightly higher eye position compared to passenger cars.

High CoG isn't a good thing and now I have a better idea for the frame/control arm design so if I build another one I can mount the body lower but since the current one works okay so...

For an adult passenger I think I need to mount the body lower but again this is just for my 6-year-old son and by the time he grows to an adult size, I don't think he wants to sit in the sidecar anyway..

The storage area is just a plywood box around the frame. I can take it off but I don't know what reduction in wind resistance I can gain.

I need a wind tonnel!

Oh allright :yes: you couldn't have explained it any better.I guess it's pros & cons in certain setups like usual.