1985 Maxim 700 X valve adjustmaent help!

Hi to all, new member here. Been checking site out for couple weeks, and now would like some opinions/ help. I came across this nice looking xj700x, but needed some carb/ engine work. so cleaned carbs and synced, now it cam down to the valves needing adjusted. and cant find the shims anywhere besides ebay for a reasonable price. also the intake valves are soo tight, i cant get a feeler gauge in above bucket. i tried about 7 of my area motorcycle mechanics/ dealers, and no luck. would appreciate some advice on checking adjustment and getting my hands on some shims. Thanks, Tom

and by the way no one in my area, that i talked to, ever saw a valve shim like these. The recessed under bucket shims.

 

Look at the top right of the page xj4ever will sort out all your parts, great service & reasonable prices.
That is a pain that you can't get any sort of feeler gauge in there, it means you need to get a set of smaller shims, remove the cam shaft & refit it with the thinner shims in place, then you can get a read & see what size shims you really need.
That is a good lesson to all, check the shims after 5k miles.
BTW welcome.

 

Actually, with an X you dont have to check them that much. The factory book says every 25000 miles. I wouldnt buy shims off ebay... I have never found a good range of sizes. What i id was buy a few small shims that i could swap around in te overly tight valves to get good readings.... Its a pain tho with the on and off of the cams etc... *shudder* i know i ended up paying 12 per shim...

 

the intakes are less than .003 of inch. thats the smallest feeler gauge i got. and thats what my brother said also, that we just gonna have to get the smaller shims on all, then check gaps on that size. but do you guys know what the clearance specs should be for the valves?

Also a good lesson to: do some research on a cheap old non running bike before you purchase!

Thanks for the help guys, and wizard, ill check that site.

 

Check out maxim-x.com.... I cant say with any authority the clearances but hap has an amazing excell file that does all of the work for you.

 

The factory book is wrong....I checked mine @ 16K mi. and ALL 20 shims needed replaced! Every single one! Which actually isn't that big a deal....doing 1 or 20 takes about the same amount of work.

Tolerances are:
Intake .110 - .200 mm
Exhaust .210 - .300 mm

For sure get HAP's spread sheet, it makes life much simpler.

It's a real shame that you can't find something measurable to fit between the lobes and lifter buckets....anything to get a starting point.

Check with Len Chacal xj4ever on the shims, he probly also has some really thin feelers.

 

Hi and Welcome. First off, get yourself a set of METRIC feeler gauges, you need metric feeler gauges to get any where near decent idea of sizes.

Secondly, The book is WRONG, as Dannymax says. It SHOULD say 25,000 km/15,800 miles for checking the valves. If you don't cover that much milage a year (I don't), then it is advisable to check the clearances at least once a year.

 

Ok. Thanks. And the smallest feeler i have is .0015 and that is tight. I have no idea how many miles are on it. Speedo says 22500 but title is exempt on mileage and previous owner didnt know. So im guessing there is a lot of miles on it. And not sure if it has ever been adjusted. Ill check into sone of your suggestions. And i saw hap's spreadsheet. But just cant get the clearance. You guys know how to get ahold of HAP? Cant find his email.

The shim i pulled out of one cylinder intake valve was a 195. Should i just try to find smallerand go from there?

 

From dead tight, I'd go down TWO shim sizes and see if it puts you in spec; it may require three or even four sizes on any dead-tight exhaust valves though.

Two sizes should at least give you a readable clearance; unfortunately in this case you're looking at a "doubled" process anyway. (Read, re-shim, reassemble; RE-read, re-re-shim and then reassemble.)

Sux having to pull/replace the cams twice. This is a good lesson for any Maxim X owners as to the consequences of ignoring the valves too long. Good thing you caught it when you did; I wouldn't want to contemplate the cost of a valve job on a 20-valve motor.

 

+1 on what fitz says

 

Just thought I'd let you know fitz, the cost of replacing all 20 shims here in the uk would be £160.00, shims from Yamaha are £8.00 each, so in your money, at todays rates, that equates to $253.17 for all 20 or around $12.66 each ( using a currency converter ).

 

Right on thank you for the correction. I did not know this. Was planning On a yearly check but thanks for the heads up

 

i actually had it in the shop this past week. Original quote was $250 for adjustment, until they found out about the different shims. then they told me that to order a shim kit from yamaha, use the ones they need, that they could send the kit back and pay for the ones they used and send in the shims off the bike, and pay a 30% restocking fee on unused shims. but they said that it would be crazy expensive that way, at $70/ hr labor and $10/ shim.

but thanks, ill try next week to try and swap the shims around to see if i can find a clearance i can measure. Thanks for all the advice and help!

 

I know. But I said "valve job" not "valve adjustment."

I was talking about the cost to replace all 20 valve stem seals, lap all 20 valves, possibly replacing a couple along the way, etc. PLUS the cost of any required shims. My point being if left unattended, the cost to fix any damage will far exceed the cost to do the maintenance.

 

Ahh I see fitz, my mistake, if that's the case, I think you could double, treble, or even quadruple the costs I gave. you are perfectly correct, in fact it would probably be cheaper to buy a new engine. Good point my friend

 

Gimme an 8-valve motor any day, especially if it's OLD.

 

hi, got all the shims out of the maxim x. all the intakes were tight with cams in, most of the intake shims were 195, some 190, 192, and 198 and one 185 which confused me because i thought the shim sizes went in increments of 5's. so what would be a good shim to check clearences off, because with cams in, i couldnt get a .0015 feeler in any.

and i know fitz said go down two sizes, but what is 2 sizes down from 195? would just like to get a base line clearence for each valve.

the exhaust valves were all alil loose from and most of the shims were 195.

 

I think the half sizes came from the factory but not available now. So the two sizes down from 195 would be 190 & 185.

It's some extra work but you could try the 185 shim where the larger shims were, maybe get a pattern going.

 

I got shims for my max x for $8.88 a pop from powersportsplus.com, shipping was over priced, if i had to do it again I'd split my order in two, they charge shipping based on order total not weight... They were back ordered, so i didn't get them for a few weeks, but i saved a few bucks, which makes a difference when you have to order 16 of them...

 

I got shims for my max x for $8.88 a pop from powersportsplus.com, shipping was over priced, if i had to do it again I'd split my order in two, they charge shipping based on order total not weight... They were back ordered, so i didn't get them for a few weeks, but i saved a few bucks, which makes a difference when you have to order 16 of them...

 

Ok. So my exhaust valves are all in spec. And my intake valves are all too tight to check. So i got ahold of hap and sent my shims into the shim pool. And he sending me ones to try out. I went like 3 sizes down on most the shims. Hopefully that will make them loose enough to fit in the specs. Thanks for all the help. Ill let you guys know how everything works out when i get the new shims.

 

I am going through same thing right now. All same scenario. I even had a 198 in my 3rd cyl right pad! I need to find 180s and 185s...