Noob Question - Checking valves for the first time

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:27 pm

Alright folks, I'm looking for information on where I can buy (locally if possible) the motion pro valve shim tool (CB900F) and some shims (when I find out what I need). I live in the greater Toronto area for you other canucks out there...

If anyone has a spare motion pro tool lets make a deal Smile

Any help would be appreciated. I'm a little nervous about doing this operation, but I'm not paying 300-500 bucks for this service...

Thanks//JD

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:41 pm

Motion pro
Can order it and have it delivered to your door.

some honda dealers will swap shims, older toyotas use the same size shims.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:10 am

Hi Tom,
Any info on which old Toyotas had these shims

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:17 pm

Also the late Triumph and the FJ Yamaha as well.

Since the engine is not common a lot of dealer's basically got rid of the shim box.

I believe K&L or other aftermarket that handles K&L stuff sells shims in bags of 5 and decent price. So better to buy 5 than a Honda dealer for 1. Most dealers will trade for a small charge.

Common shim size is like in the 270 to 280 range,so when you get down to say 250 or thinner you will need to buy new ones an the K&L deal is the cheapest place.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:27 pm

I bought the one piece tool from www.cb750partsdepot.com for $10.

Not to distract from the original topic, but is there a good way to drain the oil from the head before removing the cover? When I pulled mine off for the first time, i managed to dump a ton of oil down the front of the engine and all over the pipes.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:32 pm

lapoltba wrote:

Not to distract from the original topic, but is there a good way to drain the oil from the head before removing the cover? When I pulled mine off for the first time, i managed to dump a ton of oil down the front of the engine and all over the pipes.

Just park it on the side stand for a while after shutting the engine off.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:41 pm

heh, didn't think it was that simple. Thanks. Wink

Valve check is on my list of things to do this weekend. I'll let you know how the tool from the new website works out.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:23 pm

sonicrete wrote:

Also the late Triumph and the FJ Yamaha as well.

Since the engine is not common a lot of dealer's basically got rid of the shim box.

I believe K&L or other aftermarket that handles K&L stuff sells shims in bags of 5 and decent price. So better to buy 5 than a Honda dealer for 1. Most dealers will trade for a small charge.

Common shim size is like in the 270 to 280 range,so when you get down to say 250 or thinner you will need to buy new ones an the K&L deal is the cheapest place.

So I should load up on 270, 275, and 280 shims for this job?

Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:50 am

No that is what you will find in dealer stocks of shims but you will need THINNER ones. This is because all the thinner ones got traded for the 260/270/280 range they now have bunches of.

There is no set size,it depends on the valve job,etc. You take out one,measure it and replace it with the one you need,go to next valve.

You will find that if the dealer still has shims the quantity of them in sizes less than 250 will be few and far between and at say 240 I find none.

This is say you just did a valve job and recut the seats some. The engine having say 260 now needs 245,since this is only .006" different and this amount could easily be removed by the seat cutting.

Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:29 am

Gotcha, thanks sonicrete and all!