I'm going to adjust my valves

[Night Vision]

sometimes the tool gets misaligned and it catches the edge of the shim depressing the bucket and the shim at the same time...

other times it takes a lot of ummph to pop 'em.... holding your breath helps  ;)

[Kiwi]

Success so far !  Finally got the rest off.  It did take a lot of oomph to get those last 2 out.
I've done the math and will only end up needing 3 extra shims.
All of the valves needed to have smaller shims installed.
I put one back in as a test run, and the clearance seems a bit tighter than the manual specifies ( it's about .15mm on the exhaust, manual states .16 to something higher).
Now my gauges skip .15 ( i have .14 and .16 ) so i am thinking its right at that lower limit. .16 doesnt fit, .14 seems to fit too easily.
I'm thinking its right at that lower limit.  I used the reference guide from the haynes manual in order to get the correct shim size

[Kiwi]

well, i came up short one shim :(.  I have a few more shops i am going to try tomorrow.

[Night Vision]

I'm not going to tell you that you can sand a shim down with emery cloth.... so, tell us which shim you're missing and maybe someone has a spare

[Cdnlouie]

Now my gauges skip .15 ( i have .14 and .16 ) so i am thinking its right at that lower limit. .16 doesnt fit, .14 seems to fit too easily. I'm thinking its right at that lower limit.  

That's a good indicator!  :)  You can also combine the .08 and .07 feeler gauges to make a .15  ;)

[Kiwi]

I am needing a 260 Shim.  There is one other shop close by i am going to try tomorrow, and a few others that are further away.
Oh, and Kawasaki makes a shim that fits (29mm).

[Rikugun]

Kiwi, did you remove all the shims that required changing at once? In other words, you've been turning over the engine with some shims removed?

I checked and don't have a 260, sorry.  :(   Oh BTW, the resident Kawasaki fan mentioned their interchangeability on page one!  :P  :D

[Kiwi]

I got the shim at a local kawasaki dealer :).
It's all put back together, and starts up.
It's running like crud, but i havent re tuned the carbs or anything. I'll have to work on that this weekend.

[AdvRich]

Hey Kiwi,

Thumbs up on persevering through your first valve adjustment! If at all possible, a compression test at this point would further help establish some solid reference points for the bike's health before you move back to the carbs.

Rich

[Kiwi]

I got her nice and warm this afternoon, adjusted the sync and idle screws.  Hopeful tomorrow it will behave and start up and idle !

[Kiwi]

I took her out today.  All seems well.  It has a  little different sound to it as well.
Strangely, i dont need the choke to get it to idle when cold, in fact that causes the engine to die after a few seconds.
But, with the choke off, it warms up quick and idles nicely

[fret not]

very well done!  congratulations.