7.48mm is correct size. My photo caption says 9.48 WRONG KIT.
I edited the first post with the shim dia.[sm=bangbang.gif]

 

I somehow missed the photo caption, my bad. The good news is that I was able to catch my 9.48mm order in time to cancel it. Also, my 7.48mm shims arrived today, so I'll dig in and do mine sometime this week or maybe this weekend. I have a couple of items in the queue ahead of that though, so gotta get those done first.

Cheers,
-Brian

 

What are those shim numbers measured at? I've done this before but on my Suzuki if I needed to add .050mm to the clearance, I ordered a shim that was .050 smaller than the one that was in there. i.e. going from a 295 to a 285 would yeild .010 more clearance. Obviously these numbers don't scale 1:1, what's the deal ?

Also, I adjust to the high side of the spec, not the middle. This gives more time between adjustments..... A good indication you MAY need it done is when it stalls at idle when it gets hot, but runs fine cold. My friends V-Force needed his done at 25 hours (yep...25), one of the exhaust valves was just about 0 clearance......[&o]

 

My stock shim says 9 5, that is a 2.95mm(295) thick shim. A 2.85mm(285) is .10mm thinner, which give you more valve clearance.

I really couldn't go to the high end without going over the range. So I'm happy where it's at now.

 

I had mine checked at my dealer at 800 miles. It cost about $200. 1 exhaust valve was a little tight, but everything else was OK.

 

Vavle adjust $100-$200...piece of mind, priceless

 

BTW, if you just want some piece of mind, even if you don't want to tackle a valve shim adjustment, you can just check your own valve clearences to see where they are at. This is a pretty simple job, simpler than the adjustment which requires removing the cams. Just pop the cylinder head cover off (remove side plastic, seat, shrouds, and tank - only about 15 minutes of work), remove the two crankcase caps so you can determine where TDC is, then use feeler gauges to measure between the cam lobes and the valve lifters:

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/m_268..._/tm.htm#26969

If you are in spec, now you know and have your piece of mind. Also, you don't have to take your bike in for unnecessary service and charges.

If you are out of spec, you at least know that you need to take your bike in for service and can feel good that you didn't have any unnecessary service performed. Again, more piece of mind.

You do need a torque wrench to tighten down the cylinder head cover bolts, but you should have one of those already. Also, I'd highly recommend getting the service manual - it does a good job of explaining the process, lists all the bolt torques, shim values, etc.

-Brian

 

Exactly! Now I can return to wringing the pi** out of that little lump of aluminum without worry.

One thing I love about this bike is that it's not a racy full on 250cc motorcross motor. I feel confident that you can run her hard and put on as many street miles as you want without needing a motor tear down. I never had any trouble with my sportbike motors, so I don't see why this would be different. Actually, the specific output is quite a bit lower than my 900cc 130HP ZX9 motor, or a newer 150HP ZX10R. Both of which will run for 30,000+ trouble free miles with plenty of abuse.

 

I agree with NOBRAKES. Why pay $200 for 'piece of mind' when in the time it would take you to get the bike to the dealer you can check it out yourself. On top of that, if the bike is running fine, don't bother, you can't destroy a motor because the valves are tightening up, the engine will quit running before that. Actually taking out the cams and adjusting the shims and putting the timing chain back on the cams is fairly straightforward if you take your time and mark everything. The head doesn't come off, just the valve cover. It's a 2-4 hour job for a beginner, you could do it every winter (assuming you live where there is an 'off season' !)

Advice for ANYONE who owns ANY kind of motorcycle and doesn't have money coming out of the wazoo. Buy that torque wrench, a factory service manual(FSM) and some tools. If not, you will pay a lot of money over the years to do a lot of fairly simple tasks, most of them maintenance related. If you have money coming out of the wazoo, then by all means, get someone else to do it.....I WOULD !

I will make one concession here, Kawi's FSM leaves a LOT to be desired when I compare it to the FSMs from my 03 Suzuki Z400 (sold), 03 Honda CRF (sold), Harley VRod (due any day, but the manual is the most outstanding I have ever owned), and 05 Suzuki Savage (sold). Kawi needs to spend a little quality time on their FSMs

 

While I had checked my clearences a few weeks ago and found one to be out of spec, and the other three to be borderline, I did not adjust my clearences at that time because I did not have the required shims. Well, in the meantime, I ordered a set of Hot-Cams 7.48 mm shims off e-bay ($66.00+shipping) (seller was bull.racing). I bought the whole kit, because both of the dealers in my area require me to special order them, and it takes 7 days to get them in and I didn't want to have to either leave the bike apart for that long or to have to take it all apart a second time when they came in. With the whole kit, you should have everything you need without having to order any extra parts once you get in there. This is an issue, because in order to know what shim you need to bring the clearence into spec, you have to know what shim is installed. And the only way to know what shim is installed is to open it up and check.

So ... all the stock shims on my bike were 3.05 mm. Since all my clearences were on the low side, I brought them all up into spec with replacement shims. The job is not bad at all. Here's a tip - use a zip tie to hold the cam chain in place on both cam shafts as shown below. This ensures that, as long as you line the cam shafts back up they way they were, that your timing won't be off a tooth. This makes reassembly much easier.

First off, drain the oil. If you don't, it will leak out the bottom crank case cap hole when you get to that step below.

Next, remove shrouds, seat, plastic, and tank. Remove the fan, the shroud nut on the right side of the frame, and you may need to remove the coil. I didn't have to remove mine this time, because I raised it to fit the IMS tank.



Remove the 3 cylinder head valve cover bolts.



Life off the cover.



Remove the two crankcase caps. Rotate the crank counterclockwise until the the piston is at TDC (top dead center). You can tell this when the valves open and then close one cycle (valve lifters decend, then rise again), then turn the crank about 1/2 turn again until the "T" lines up in the notch.



Use feeler gages to measure the clearence between the cam lobes and the valve lifters. Write down all the results - you'll need to refer to these later when you make your adjustments.



Now zip tie up the cam chain to the cam sprockets so it cannot move or jump any teeth. This will make reassembly easy. I use two ties just in case one breaks.



Remove the cam chain tensioner. Remove the center bolt first - there is a spring behind it so be carefull. Then remove the two side nuts. This is a ratcheting mechanism that keeps the cam chain under proper tension. The spring pushes against the tensioner, and the ratcheting mechanism keeps it from backing back out. Be sure and reset the ratcheting mech and push it all the way closed before reassembly, otherwise you could cause serious damage.









Remove the cam shaft cover. Note that the bolts are not all the same. I used a piece of paper with each position marked, and cut a slit to hold each bolt so I knew exactly where they went during the return trip.



Cam shaft bracket removed.



Remove one of the cam shafts to expose the valve lifters. Here the inlet valve lifters are exposed.



Wiggle out the valve lifter. They are in there pretty good, but you can just use your fingers. Don't use pliers - you don't want to scratch or damage them. Be careful - the shim will be stuck to the underside. Don't let it fall into the engine!

Remove the shim and check its size. Then use the measurement you wrote down for that valve before, and the shim replacement table in the service manual to select the proper sized shim to bring your clearence back into spec. Install the new shim onto the top of the valve. Dabb a tiny little bit of high temp grease on the top and replace the valve lifter. Write down the shim size you just installed. This will help greatly the next time, since it will allow you to calculate the shim sizes you will need before hand next time and you can be sure to have all the parts.

Repeat for the other 3 valves.

Make sure you write all the new values down to make the job easier for next time.



Then put it all back together. Observe the torque specs for all bolts as listed in the service manual. Be sure and release the ratcheting mechanism on the cam chain tensioner. Put the body part back in first and bolt it in place. Then reassembe the spring and center bolt. You have to do it in this order, otherwise the cam chain will be tensioned too tight.

All my valves are now in spec, and the whole job only cost me the $66 for the shims. Took a few hours, but this is my first valve job - it'll surely go faster the next time around. If you are going to attempt this service, DO NOT rely solely on this overview of the job here. You must get the service manual, it is a must have for this job. The service manual for the KLX250S is actually the same manual for the KLX250R + a supplement covering differences. So you need the KLX250R manual + KLX250S supplement.

Cheers!


EDIT: update photo links