When you guys do your own valve clearance checks ..... what do you do if you need new shims? Just order what you need and wait ( likely option ) Or Buy a valve shim kit before you start ( costly ) Going to change my belts and check the clearances in a few weeks ... so another question. OE Ducati belts? Exact fit belts?
My opinion before buying ExactFit belts and prior to importing them: all the evidence on the internet forums from customer feedback was that although better value on price, the ExactFit belts had 6 years of building up an enviable reputation in the US. They appear in tests not only to be stronger than OEM belts but far more accurately produced: hence the name 'Exact Fit' I was more than happy to buy them and subsequently very happy to represent California Cycleworks here in the UK. Of course there are always people who say they will never trust other than OEM which does surprise me, certainly on launch several year ago this opinion could be a valid one, the scare stories do not include Exact Fit belts having been established and proven over many years. Since starting to import them last April I have many satisfied customers and no one unsatisfied with price, service or quality. My customers include independent Ducati Specialists. I also have collectors who trust their premium models with our belts including 916SP's, SPS's, 996R's, 998R's 999R's to name but a few. And even an Engineer from the Force India F1 team who values the engineering of our belts Incidentally the CCW TPS's have also gone down well, even with several main dealers and I have a prestigious customer for PF09's in Aston Martin Works. You can also, as you will probably have realised :Angelic: get a Forum Discount of 15% being a Forum Subscriber. http://ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/exact-fit-timing-belts-forum-subscriber-discount.38123/ There will of course be other opinions and someone will hopefully be able to answer your valve shim question! Stu
Buying shims by post can be a problem, it depends how much you trust your micrometer, after establishing what you need it's much better to go to the dealers and measure the new ones with your own micrometer to elevate any discrepancies. Steve P S I just ordered some Exact Fit belts for my 853.
Im more than convinced by the vidoes on how good the exact fit belts are tbh ... so happy to use them .... just gotta wait till payday as xmas has paid its price lol Thanks for the info Exige, i will definitely be in touch when im ready to buy the belts Quite looking forward to doing this myself .... though some dealers are good, i find it hard to trust them when it comes to valve check, heard many stories of mates paying hundreds for this service and it wasnt done.... non ducati bikes. My nearest dealer is St Neots Ducati, im sure there are honest but have never used them.
I recently did my valves & belts. I used the Exactfit belts & was really pleased with the service & quality. I needed 2 smaller opening shims but was able to sand the existing ones very easily.
So much to remove lol Anyhoo, only checked the vertical as was getting bloody cold got all weekend Opening shims Exhaust 0.045 Exhaust 0.06 Inlet 0.13 inlet 0.13 Closing shims exhaust 0.19 exhaust 0.18 Intake 0.08 Intake 0.13 Looks like i got some adjusting to do
My understanding is the valves and seats will on average, over time, tend to wear. That is, closers will gain clearance, and openers will lose clearance bike has 8k on it you read they need adjustment on the first service then rarely after Then you read they dont need adjustment untill at least 15k Depends on how the bikes been treated i suppose
Looks like i need bigger exhaust openers on both vertical and horizontal cylinders and one smaller exhaust closer on the horizontal. .. no where seems to sell them online ... well i cant find anywhere that is.
More than likely. ... and i hope, i have measured both cylinders now with belts removed, next step is to take all apart and measure the shims, still waiting for the tool in the post, should have got it last week Will do the closers first then go from there No rush though, weather's cold n crap lol
Ah ... i been reading to do the closers first .... can't do anything until the shim measuring tool turns up anyway.
Last winter i did a full rebuild on my 996 all my shims needed changing. I was lucky that i only needed to obtain two replacements, all the others were sorted out by swapping and grinding down to wize. My dealer is very good with regard Shims, as he just does a straight swap if i take the others in. But yes i take my micrometer with me to double check. So my advice would be to work out what you need and then chat to your dealer and see what arrangement they have for exchange.
Managed to get these results, god its a pain to do lol Vertical intake opener left 0.11 intake opener right 0.11 Intake closer left 0.075 Intake closer right 0.08 Exhaust opener left 0.11 exhaust opner right 0.11 exhaust closer left 0.10 exhaust closer right 0.08 Horizontal virtually identical .... openers are easy to make upto 0.13 ... would the closers be ok at these specs? Going by ducati they would .... had the cams out a LOT lol
Wow that is good ... will try but may need me buying more shims lol ... still cold n crap so no rush Thanks
All day in the garage again .... this taking forever lol ... im sure a dealer would just change a shim to within adjustment specs, i on the other hand need all just right ... damn OCD
