Before I sent my cylinder and head to Gary at TVI for a while now.. my DS would not start up easily. I used to give it gas in order to start. It would NOT start unless I hit the thumb throttle.


My 2001 Raptor had a similar problem. I just got it back from the dealer, they rejetted it and called me before they performed the service of it needed valve adjustment. I told them to do so. They said it would affect how easy it starts. Lo and behold they were correct. My Raptor starts now on the dime. So now when I get my motor back from Gary (cylinder and head) I'm thinking of dropping the DS off to do a vavle check and get that thumper running. They also noted to me that a 4 stroke should never require giving it gas to start, that's why there is a choke. Would the vavles cause my DS not to start in the past?

 

Dunno but why not check and adjust the valves yourself? The whole process isnt that complicated and doesnt take all that long.

 

I'm kind of new to this. I know you need a feeler gauge.. but where do you stick it and what are the tolerances? What tools are reqired? Perhaps I'll learn to do it myself... this is all geting expensive... I shelled 500 bucks for the dealer to work on my Raptor plus the 250.00 in parts I got myself. Man that killed me.. that could have been for the exhaust I want to get for my DS.

 

It should come back to you from TVI properly adjusted or the builder didn't complete his job.
but for periodic checks and adjustments in the future, a shop manual and some links available on this forum are all that's needed for you to learn it. do a search on old posts for valve adjustments, and I think you'll find some good links to some instructions.

as for starting, well every bike is different - portwork, intake and exhaust mods all can contribute to harder starts and new methods sometimes need to be formed for starting. in my case, I have a carb with an accelerator pump, and pumping the throttle actually does squirt fuel into the throat so a few squirts on a zero degree morning are all that is needed to fire her right up without constant cranking like others may have to do.

 

I just did my bike for the first time a few days ago. Grabbed the information from Glamis Dunes and they were perfect. Very easy to follow. Only one section mentioned a bolt being tightened to 40 inch pounds and the manual read 40 ft pounds. It's the bold that holds the hydrolic cylinder for the timing chain tensioner. I've never adjusted valves on a 4 stroke in my life. Took 90 minutes to tear it apart and get the shims out. They had a pretty good suction going on and just admiring what everything does inside there. The longest part was making a couple of trips to the local BMW motorcycle dealer for the shims. The feeler gadges can be picked up at Auto Zone or any auto parts store for under 10 dollars. The instructions couldn't be more complete on how to do everything. Just start reading and wrenching and before you know it, you will be done. Then you will be wondering why you paid someone else to do the job.

 

Hightower,

Where is that video!!! Hahaha I'm going grey waiting for it. Hey I finally saw House of a 1000 Corpses. I must say.. AWSOME.

Anyway after shelling out big bucks indeed I'm going to finish the work myself. I just saw how much work it was and I didn't have all the right tools to do the Raptor job. I'm going to get a feeler gauge today. I bought one a while ago but the measurements were different or didn't have the gauge to use.

I asked Gary to adjust valves but he said it has to be all together to check for the valves. Gary has my head and cylinder.. not the bottom end of the motor.

The shims....I'm going to have Shim Under Buckets.... is the valve adjustment the same when you go that route?

 

You must not have given Gary your cams. Thats all he needs to adjust the valves. The head doesn't even have to be on the motor. when it's not on the motor then gap them at .006 to .007 with the cam lobes pointing up. If it is on the motor then I think the book says between .004 and .006 when at TDC

 

Eaglecollector,

Gary does have my cams. I'm just stating what he told me. I'll ask him before he ships, if not I'll see if I can do it myself. This year I want to be done with all the expenses with my quads....it's getting costly. I must have shelled out well over 10 gran in repairs, upgrades, and whatnot.. hhehe I know, I know. no one said it was going to be cheap. Hopefully next year I get more use out of them.