shims... what a friggin' pain!

[Marilyn Mason]

Amazing you are the only other person I know that bumps the engine around
with the starter motor.  I tried that shit of putting the bike in 6th gear,
pulling off the timing cover, jamb my face into the  pavement while I try to
turn the motor over using one foot to rotate the back wheel.  After missing
the timing marks half a dozen times and damn near knocking the bike over.  I
sat down and had a beer and thought of pinning it back up and taking it to
Pete's ( shaft 'em & fleece 'em) Kawi/Honda/HD dealer.  Then I thought WTF
there's an electric engine rotator on this POS.  I left it for the day and
concentrated on the beer.  I was and still am scared shitless about losing a
shim some where, and there are a lot of somewheres in the bike, let alone
elsewhere. To prevent shim loss in the spark plug holes, (cause I remove the
plugs to check them) I measured up the spark plug holes and got 4 rubber
bungs from work and bored small holes in them (this prevents the compression
stroke from blowing the bungs out of the holes--I also brought home ones
with no holes--they will hit the garage roof 10 feet above the bike if you
tap them home with a soft hammer) --I had to know.  I don't check for timing
marks, I don't take the timing cover off.  I just do the same as the dirt
bikes.  When the acute (sharpest area) part of the lobe is facing due up its
a good time to slide in a feeler gauge.  Removal of shims I use a dental
pick and a magnet.  I've only had to replace 5 and did that with a cool set
of  soft jawed locking 45 degree haemostat that the nuclear industry used
and I haven't been able  to locate for 2 years.  My wife had a yard sale and
cleaned the garage in the event that her yard sale got rained on.  She made
$123.50 and I'm missing $300.00+ worth of my shit.

Jim
> You DON'T have to drain the radiator as spec'ed in the manual, and you
> don't even have to remove the timing cover. Pull the tank, pull the
> spark plug caps, pull the breather hoses off the little tube thingies
> on top of the valve cover, and pull the radiator hose and all the
> wires and cables and crap up between the frame rails and tie them
> there. Push the lip of the front heat shield down below the level of
> the valve cover and remove the chrome bolts that secure it, then pop
> it (leave the gasket stuck to the cylinder head if possible).
>
> You can maneuver the valve cover out the right side if you wiggle and
> swear at it a bit.
>
> Bump the starter to get the lobes pointing up, check, swap, etc.
>
> Getting the shims in and out is the hardest part, IMO.
>
> On 8/24/07, JOHN SOLIDAY <johnsoliday at msn.com> wrote:
> >
> > I haven't opened my up yet, shouldn't be so lazy and look at the service
> > manual somewhere here in the new house.  Is it like a ZX10 (88), I did
those
> > w/o any problem (not shim under bucket).--
> Utah Jeff
> '96 SheePz1100
>