Valve Adjustments 800 Intruder

VS 800 Valve Adjustment Procedure

800 Valve Adjustment

Do not attempt this procedure unless you are mechanically inclined. Valve adjustment has always been one of my pet peeves. I love to have them well adjusted, hate to adjust. One of the many reasons why I have a 1400. I figured this procedure out when my friend sold my other friend his 800 and I gave the bike a complete service. I thank Bill Akins who, although never having done the procedure himself, was kind enough to check his manual and e-mail
me the necessary technical information to carry it out.

Background:If valve clearances are too tight, the valves can be seriously damaged by
warping or burning and compression will eventually suffer from lack of proper valve seating. Valves are cooled by resting against the valve seat—if they're open too long, they have insufficient time to rest against their seats and transfer their heat to the cylinder head. On the other hand, if the clearance is too loose, the result will be rough running, loss of power, and excessive wear of the valve train components. Therefore, if you must choose, remember that a little looser is better than tighter.

Before you adjust the valves the engine must be dead cold. In other words, the engine must have been left to cool overnight. The cold clearance is .003—.005 thousands of an inch on all valves. I ended up setting them at .004 all around. However, if you have a bike that tends to overheat, you can set the exhaust to .005 You can also do the opposite, set your intake valves to .005 for better breathing.

Procedure:If you have a stand or lift, raise the bike; if not, place a 2X4 block of wood under the side stand to prop it up, but make absolutely sure it is firm to avoid having it fall down.

Remove seats ( Check Here ) and gas tank.

Remove the front cylinder right hand chrome head cover and take the spark plug out. Remove the rear cylinder left hand chrome head cover and also take the spark plug out (this makes it easier to turn the engine over by hand ). You will be working on the front cylinder valves from the right side of the bike and working on the rear cylinder valves from the left side of the bike.

On the top front and top rear of each cylinder head are the valve covers (four in total). Remove them. Make sure you note exactly where and how each cover is placed. It's a cumbersome process and you will have to loosen the wiring straps and move around the wiring harness that runs along the top of the frame to get better access. The valve covers have rubber O-rings which must be cleaned before reinstall (if the O-rings are flattened or in bad condition, buy new ones). Also clean the valve covers well and make sure you place the O-ring back in correctly, since it fits in a certain manner. Coat the O-rings with a little oil before reinstall.

On the left engine case cover is a large slotted plug, remove; be very careful since the plug is chrome and sometimes very tight, therefore you can mess it up real easy. This plug has a rubber O-ring which you must cleaned (replace if damaged); smear a little oil before reinstalling. Under that is a nut you use to turn the engine crankshaft counterclockwise. Just in front of this large plug is a smaller plug on the front side of the left engine cover. Remove the smaller plug with an Allen wrench. This is the sight glass used to align your valve timing marks. I noticed the sight glass did not have (or I couldn't find) a stationary pointer to align the marks (more on this later).

Turn the crankshaft (counterclockwise) [ I turn the engine over a couple of times to take up any slack ] until you see on the flywheel very close to each other one F/F and one F/T marks (meaning that the front cylinder piston is at top dead center and its exhaust and intake valves are either fully closed or open ). If you keep turning you will also reach the R/F and R/T marks (meaning that the rear cylinder piston is at top dead center and its exhaust and intake valves are either fully closed or open). If for some reason you go past the marks, do not turn back, just keep on turning counterclockwise until you reach them again. Remember that you might have to go several turns because what you are trying to achieve is to place the piston at TDC with the valves in the fully closed position, ie. "relaxed". The F/F and R/F marks are for ignition timing (yes, although the ignition is digital, it is timed at the factory). The F/T and R/T marks are for adjusting the valves. Adjust valves at these marks. You will work on the front cylinder first so get to the F/F F/T marks first. Now, since there is no stationary pointer on the sight glass to align the marks (or at least I couldn't find one), once they are in the center of the sight glass you must check to see if there is free play at both the intake (on the rear part of the cylinder) and exhaust (on the front part of the cylinder) valve rocker arms by jiggling them up and down. The movement is slight. If not, rotate the crankshaft 360 degrees (counterclockwise) and check again until the valves reach what I call the "relaxed" position.

Loosen the valve adjuster lock nut. It is tight, so be careful not to scrape your knuckles. After the lock nut is loose, hold it with a wrench and work the adjusting bolt back and forth to get the threads in a little easier adjusting shape. You need a special adjuster wrench since the top of the adjuster nut is square. I used needle nose pliers because that's all I had at the time, but buy the wrench.

Insert a feeler gauge between the exhaust valve rocker arm adjuster bolt and the end of the valve. The fit is really tight and you've got to struggle, bend and move the feeler to get it right. Turn the adjuster until you feel a slight drag on the feeler gauge when it is inserted and withdrawn. Close your eyes and feel the slide of the feeler blade to become acquainted with the sensation. If you have a friend who knows how to work a feeler gauge ask him to check it. You should hear and feel a particular rubbing sound as the feeler slides between the metal surfaces. Once you've got it, press the opposite end of the rocker (opposite to where the feeler is) to make sure it's down and you are not getting a false reading. If everything is OK, carefully place a wrench on the adjuster lock nut and on top of that wrench place the special adjuster bolt wrench and tighten the lock nut while holding the adjuster bolt to keep it from moving. Tighten partially, recheck the clearance and if it's right, tighten the lock nut all the way. Repeat for the remaining exhaust valve and do the same for the intake valves. (800's have four valves per cylinder).

Now turn the crankshaft counterclockwise until you reach the R/F R/T marks and repeat the above for the rear cylinder. Make sure you do not go past the marks as the turn will be about 285 degrees. Make sure the valves are in the "relaxed" position.

The biggest hassle when adjusting is being able to slide that straight feeler gauge into a most restricted space, but curving the blade and a few McGyver style moves should do it. If you have never adjusted valves get ready to spend a good while, some cussin' and adjusting several times 'till you get it down pat. Once you have some practice it's faster and easier.

Install the valve, timing and crankshaft covers.
Organize your wiring and straps.
Replace tank and seat.

Further Notes

The valve adjuster lock nut should be torqued to about 14—19 ft/lbs, in order for the valves to hold their adjustment; the valve cover 6mm flange bolt (8 mm head, small flange) should be torqued to about 7—10 ft/lbs. Be careful 'cause they can break. I would let common sense dictate. What you want is for the o-ring to make a good seal. The left crankshaft end cover slotted bolt should be torqued to about 9 foot pound. Again let common sense dictate so you have a good seal. The sight glass Allen bolt to about the same. If it seeps, just tighten a little more. The problem with torquing the valve cover bolts is the difficulty of getting a torque meter to fit, the space is just too tight. I just use a wrench. Torquing the crankshaft end cover is also problematic 'cause you need a large slotted head to fit the torque wrench

Info Courtesy Of Chuck From The IA Cafe

There is a lot of useful information on this site, but errors are possible
All Images/external links open in New Tab
Helpful answers are $1.00 each dumb looks are still FREE
These Tips come from many people, on the various
motorcycle forums I frequent.

If You Attempt Modifications & Ruin Your Motorcycle
It Is Your Problem.
If You Are Not Mechanically Inclined,
Get Help From Someone Who Is
I Am Not Responsible For Use/Misuse Of These Tips & Tricks
Use @ Your Discretion