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What You'll Need:
Time needed: Yeesh. Took me three weeks. Subtracting the time spent waiting for ordered parts, I'd say you're looking at one full day, two if you have to replace a shim.

• 5mm hex wrench
• 6mm hex wrench
• 8mm hex wrench
• 10mm hex wrench
• Ratchet wrench and:
• 10mm socket
• 17mm socket
• magenetic pointer
• small amount of engine oil
• Suzuki cam chain tension adjuster locking tool (part #09917-62430; about $20 from a Suzuki dealer)

Note.
I absolutely, positively, would have gone even more insane if it weren't for the help of my friend Derek Jackson. Derek somehow manages to be a great mechanic, amazing photographer, and kickass biker buddy.

background.
Don't do this. Take this to a mecahnic. Yes, I think you're smart; yes, I think you're capable. It's just that this is a huge time suck and a monstrous pain in the ass. Halfway through and I was telling all of my friends and loved ones that if I ever, EVER, mentioned wanting to adjust my own valves on this bike again, to gently take me out into the backyard and shoot me.

What, you're still here? OK, well, read on then, but don't say I didn't warn you.

pre-procedure.
Ah, the beloved "pre-procedure" section. Where it all looks so simple. "Merely take apart the entire bike, twice, and you'll be ready to go!" Unfortunately, that isn't too far off for this charming little bit of maintenance. My deepest apologies and, if you don't already have a factory service manual, stop reading my website and go buy one ASAP.

• Remove the seats.
• Remove the side fairings.
• Prop up the gas tank.
• Remove the radiator.
• Remove the sparkplugs.

Wasn't that fun? Now you're ready to check (and if you're unlucky, adjust) your valves.

procedure.
It will hopefully not come as a surprise that the first thing you need to do is remove the valve covers. Use your 6mm hex wrench.

Next, you want to remove the generator cover plug and the timing inspection plug. They use 10mm and 8mm hex wrenches, respectively.

Using your 17mm socket, turn the crankshaft counterclockwise until the little "F" line appears in the timing inspection hole. Please make sure you remembered to remove your sparkplugs before trying to manually turn the engine, or you'll be in for a world of confusion.

When the nice little "F" is lined up, your front cylinder is at top dead center (TDC) of the compression stroke. Now you can check the clearances for the front cylinder -- but only for the front cylinder. If you try to do the rear cylinder now, your readings will be off. So don't do that.

Checking the valves with a shim-under-bucket bike is exactly the same as doing so on a rocker arm-and-locknut bike. Simply slide a thickness gauge in between the bucket and the cam lobe. It should slide in and out with just a bit of friction; for some reason, the sensation always reminds me of flossing teeth. If you can slide the feeler gauge in and out smoothly, try the next thickest one. If you can't jam the thing in under the cam lobe at all, try the next thinnest. Once you've found the correct feeler gauge, write down the measurement. I always think I'll remember it. No. Write it down.

Repeat this procedure with all four valves on the front cylinder. Make sure you wrote down exactly which valve (intake L, intake R, exhaust L, exhaust R) had which measurement.

Now it's time to move on to the rear cylinder. Go back to the crankshaft and keep turning it counterclockwise, this time until the "R" line on the generator rotor appears in the timing inspection hole. Now your rear cylinder will be at TDC for the compression stroke.

Do the same voodoo magic with the feeler gauges on the rear cylinder that you did on the front. Remember to write down the measurements for each valve.

Gratuitous "girl in tank top working on motorcycle" shot:

OK, now it's the Day of Reckoning. Go get your measurements and let's see if you're within spec. The valve clearances should be....drum roll....

Intake: 0.10mm - 0.20mm (0.004" - 0.008")
Exhaust: 0.20mm - 0.30mm (0.008" - 0.012")

If your measurements fall within these ranges -- and they should unless you have a high mileage bike or ride at redline all the time -- congrats! You're done! Count your blessings, put the bike back together, and forget about this maintenance for another 15k miles. Go have a beer. Live life.

If you're out of spec....you still have the chance to put everything back together and ride to your local mechanic. Seriously, think about it. No? You're in this for the long haul? OK, keep reading.

adjusting the valves.
So, you're still here. OK. When I needed to adjust my valves, the ones out of spec were the rear cylinder exhaust valves. So that's what's in the photos. The procedure is exactly the same regardless of whether it's your front or rear cylinder, intake or exhaust valves. With one minor exception...if it's your rear cylinder, you'll want to remove the gas tank completely. Trust me. So go do that if you have to.

OK, ready? First of all, let's get to the buckets. To do that, we need to remove the camshafts. Aren't you glad you bought a shim-under-bucket bike? Remove the cam chain guard with a 5mm hex wrench. Then remove the six camshaft journal holder bolts with a 10mm socket.

Now comes a fun part -- you need to remove the cam chain tensioner. Yes, you do. I thought I didn't -- I was wrong. The fun part about removing the cam chain tensioner is that it is in the least accessible part of the bike to date. You thought the front carb vacuum nipple was bad? The front carb vacuum has nothing on the cam chain tensioner.

To get to the rear cylinder tensioner -- and yes, I'm serious -- remove the righthand footpeg and bracket. Trust me. But, Carolyn -- no. Off it comes. Now you have to shove a 5mm hex wrench up into the bowels of the motorcycle, where you can see exactly nothing. It feels like midwifing a cow.

The shiny bit with the hex bolts next to the header pipe is the rear cylinder cam chain tensioner. I want you to appreciate this photo because it was a huge pain in the ass to take it.

OK, for the sake of argument, let's pretend that you've managed to remove the tensioner with a modicum of skill and grace (and you front cylinder people probably have, too. Be kind to us rear cylinder folks.) Once that's off, the cam chain will be loose, and you can remove the offending camshaft.

And now we can see the buckets, under which lie your shims. Shim-under-bucket, and all. Use a magnetic pointer to lift up the bucket (I'm sure your fingers would work, too, but it's pretty slippery and the pointer makes this really easy) -- inside should be your cute little shim.

Hopefully you have your service manual, right? Because I told you to go get one if you didn't have one. What you need to do is find the little number printed on your shim. Now turn to page 2-11 or 2-12 of your factory service manual and look at that nice little "tappet shim selection table". Do exactly what it says under "how to use this chart": match the measured valve clearance (which you wrote down earlier, right?) in the vertical column with the present shim size in the horizontal column. If you're like me, your factory shim will not match anything in the factory service manual. So, just round to the closest one. Seriously. My shim was 162; I just used the 160 column in the chart.

If you do not have a factory service manual, and you email me saying "Carolyn, I have a blah blah sized shim, and my clearance was blah blah, what shim should I get?" I will not email you back. Call your local dealer and ask them, or, better yet, buy the service manual. Heck, a Google search will find them in PDF form online.

Now that you have the measurement of the shim you need, you get to play Call The Dealer. Because of the Law of Motorcycle Inventory, no one will have your shim size in stock, and you will have to wait eighteen weeks for them to order this tiny piece of metal from Japan. But, while you're ordering that anyway, also go ahead and order the "special Suzuki cam chain tension adjuster locking tool" (part #09917-62430). It's $20 and will save your ass. Oh, and you need valve cover gaskets and a cam chain tensioner gasket, too. Have fun on the phone.

Thanks to the magic of the internet, eighteen weeks have passed, and you are now in possession of all of your needed parts. Whee!

First thing yer gonna do is put the new shim in place. Just stick it on into the depression on top of the valve with the numbered side against the bucket (so that you can't read the number). This prevents the valve stem from wearing against the edges of the number and keeps the number itself from wearing off (thanks to astute reader Brian for that tip!). Then, replace the bucket and coat it with a light layer of engine oil to keep everything nice and lubed up.

Once both buckets are in place, you can go ahead and replace the camshaft. Now pay attention. You need to do this correctly or else you're going to be in a world of very expensive pain. So, dammit, do this right.

Sadly, this is sort of a Choose Your Own Adventure. Work with me.

Read me if you've only had to remove ONE camshaft:

• If you've removed the EXHAUST camshaft of the REAR cylinder, or the INTAKE camshaft of the FRONT cylinder:
• Your life is (relatively) easy. Taks a peek at the sprocket on the remaining camshaft sprocket. It will have an arrow marked "1". On my bike, there was a white paint splotch from the factory here, too. The arrow should be roughly parallel to the gasket edge of the cylinder head and pointing OUT. If so, you're good.
• If the arrow is not in the right place, go back to the crankshaft. Make sure that the "F" is lined up in the timing inspection hole. If it's not, rotate the crankshaft SLOWLY until the "F" is lined up. Pull the cam chain upwards gently as you turn, or it'll get all caught up in the gears due to having no tensioner. Check the arrow again.
• Once the "1" arrow is pointed OUT, you're good. Skip down to the "second camshaft" section below.
• If you've removed the INTAKE camshaft of the REAR cylinder, or the EXHAUST camshaft of the FRONT cylinder:
• Go ahead and remove the other camshaft so that there are no camshafts in place. Trust me, this makes life easier.
• Go back to the crankshaft. Make sure that the "F" is lined up in the timing inspection hole. If it's not, rotate the crankshaft SLOWLY until the "F" is lined up. Pull the cam chain upwards gently as you turn, or it'll get all caught up in the gears due to having no tensioner.
• Replace the INTAKE camshaft of the REAR cylinder or the EXHAUST camshaft of the FRONT cylinder by finding the "1" arrow carved into the sprocket. On my bike, there was a white paint splotch here from the factory, too. Insert the camshaft so that the arrow is parallel to the gasket edge of the cylinder head, pointing OUT.
• Put the cam chain on the camshaft sprocket.
• Once the "1" arrow is pointed OUT, you're good. Skip down to the "second camshaft" section below.

Read me if you've had to remove BOTH camshafts:

• Go back to the crankshaft. Make sure that the "F" is lined up in the timing inspection hole. If it's not, rotate the crankshaft SLOWLY until the "F" is lined up. Pull the cam chain upwards gently as you turn, or it'll get all caught up in the gears due to having no tensioner.
• Replace the INTAKE camshaft of the REAR cylinder or the EXHAUST camshaft of the FRONT cylinder by finding the "1" arrow carved into the sprocket. On my bike, there was a white paint splotch here from the factory, too. Insert the camshaft so that the arrow is parallel to the gasket edge of the cylinder head, pointing OUT.
• Put the cam chain on the exhaust camshaft sprocket.
• Once the "1" arrow is pointed OUT, you're good. Skip down to the "second camshaft" section below.

the second camshaft:

No matter which cylinder you're doing, to do the second camshaft:

• Look at the camshaft you just did. Its other arrow, marked "2", should now be facing straight up.
• Starting from the roller pin that is directly above the "2", count out 16 roller pins towards the center of the cylinder. I marked the pin with a black Sharpie pen so I wouldn't have to worry about losing count.
• Engage the 16th roller pin on the cam chain with the arrow marked "3" on the second camshaft sprocket.

I promise, this really isn't as hard or scary as it sounds. Once you look at the sprockets, it's actually pretty intuitive. They're well-marked and it's easy to make sure that the little 1, 2, and 3 arrows line up the way they're supposed to. Just take your time and double- and triple-check everything.

Once your camshafts are in place, go ahead and put the camshaft journal holders back in place. Use your 10mm socket and tighten the bolts down sequentially and in diagonal order. So, if the bolts are numbered clockwise starting from the upper lefthand corner, you'd tighten bolts 1, 4, 2, 5, 3, then 6. Tighten the bolts to 10 newton-meters (7 ft-lbs).

Guess what you get to do now! That's right, replace the cam chain tensioner. You thought getting it off was fun, just wait til you put it back. Hooray! See, I told you to just take the bike to a mechanic...

So, go find the cam chain tensioner and the "special Suzuki cam chain tension adjuster locking tool" that you ordered along with the shims and gaskets from your dealer. Yes, I'm aware that you paid twenty US dollars for effectively a piece of plastic attached to a piece of cable. As did I. It's still easier than making one of these tools from scratch, which would invariably cost more than $20 of your time. Anyway, first take off the gasket on the cam chain tensioner (if you hadn't already) and replace it with a new one that you ordered from the dealer, right?

Now, take your cam chain tensioner and remove the tension adjust bolt (10mm, if I remember correctly) and gasket. Have the locking tool handy. Stick a tiny flathead screwdriver into the resulting hole and turn it clockwise, shortening the pushrod. By god, do not let go of that screwdriver, or it'll spin out like mad and take your eye out.

Now, hold the pushrod down with your thumb as you remove the screwdriver and insert the locking tool. You've gotta put a bit of pressure on the pushrod to get it to stay; it may take you a couple of tries.

Now comes the fun -- you get to shove this tensioner back up into the bike bowels and install the mounting bolts again without letting that locking tool snag on anything and pull out. Whee! Fortunately, it doesn't pull out very easily, but it's still a pain in the ass to remount the tensioner (front cylinder people, shut up.). Once you've got the mounting bolts back in (5mm hex), just yank out the locking tool. The pushrod will shoot out and apply tension to the cam chain once more. Insert the adjuster bolt (10mm). The service manual says to torque these bolts (10 n-m for the mounting bolts and 8 n-m for the adjuster bolt), a feat that I laughed at. If you can figure out how to get a torque wrench in there, you're a better mechanic than I.

Don't forget to replace your passenger foot peg and bracket.

Wow, wasn't that fun? Go back up to the camchain and make sure that the chain is taut on the sprockets. If it's all good, replace the cam chain guide. Put the new valve cover gaskets on and replace the valve covers.

Almost done! I promise. Now you've just got to replace everything (yet another "easier said than done"; sorry). Here's the front cylinder valve cover and the replaced crankcase plug bolts. Don't forget to replace sparkplugs, too.

And...here's the radiator and gas tank.