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I think I might do my valves tonight, any tips?

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The wife and kid are out of town (I'm going to meet them after work tomorrow) and I've got some time to kill. I've been meaning to do the valves on the XR400, so tonight just might be it.
Any tips, or sugestions before I dive into it?
 
Got the Factory Service Manual, or Clymer or something similar? If so, follow it along and you should be fine.
 
I have the factory service manual.
It doesn't look too hard on the XR
 
haven't even started :mrgreen:
 
good light, good music, and a good previous nights sleep, and good luck!
 
Well with no experience armed only with a service manual, I finaly got out there and did it, and it wasn't as hard as I thought [I knw what you're thinking, don't speak too soon :mrgreen:].
They were all too tight, I couldn't get the feeler gauges through.
Of course now, I can hear them tapping, that wasn't there before so, it looks like I get to do it again before the next ride :doh:
Oh well chaulk it up to learning curve
 
They were all too tight, I couldn't get the feeler gauges through.
Of course now, I can hear them tapping...

Nice tight quiet valves are a precursor to disaster... a nice tapping sound (think mice on typewriter sound) is a good thing.
 
To a certain extent, yes.

I'll fire it back up Sunday when I get home. At what point is it too loud.
I don't remember it being that loud just noticable, but I was in the garage to sounds get amplified, and it was pretty late.
 
Any good project requires at least three trips to the store and as many restarts or redo's. Remember, its not the destination, its the fun getting there. :thumb:
 
I'll fire it back up Sunday when I get home. At what point is it too loud.
I don't remember it being that loud just noticable, but I was in the garage to sounds get amplified, and it was pretty late.

The mice on a typewriter analogy is a pretty good one. If it's not too hard to do on the XR, can you just run the bike a bit, then access the valves to check them? Or is it kind of a pain in the rear? If it's not too hard, then a double check wouldn't hurt anything.
 
they're pretty easy to get to. taking the seat and tank off makes it much easier to see, but that's it
 
The mice on a typewriter analogy is a pretty good one. If it's not too hard to do on the XR, can you just run the bike a bit, then access the valves to check them?

With 16 valves that's what it sounds like - can't really speak for an XR.

Also - some valve clearances should be checked/adjusted on a cold engine - check your owner's manual for specifics.
 
yeah it was cold
 
Stupid question.... you were using millimeters and not inches, right?
 
yeah, my gauges have both the mm and inches measurement on them

its funny you ask that, i got asked the same thing on TT, the dude said it happens more than you think :lol2:
 
So after some reading, I discovered that the fist time I adjusted the vavles I wasn't at TDC. I misread the manual on how to tell, and had it backwards.
Adjusted them again yesterday [it goes really fast your second time], and they sound great. Light taping [mouse on a keyboard]. The kicker felt like it had better compression, though its hard to tell in the XR because of the auto decomp. It may be a plecebo effect, but it felt a little better on the test ride too.

Oh and I'll share my funny brain fart.
After I got done, I pulled it out to test ride. I'm kicking and kicking and kick, and it keep dying. At this point I think I've done something wrong and messed up the bike. I look down to choke the carb and, you guessed, I hadn't turned the gas on :rofl:
 
The kicker felt like it had better compression, though its hard to tell in the XR because of the auto decomp.

Just get it to TDC without letting the kick return all the way to the top. The auto decomp only work on the first portion of the kick through.;-)
 
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