elizilla
Guest
Here is a post I made in the other forum, last winter, about my first valve check:
So I just finished the first valve check.
The bodywork came off quickly, and went back on quickly. Familiarity made a huge difference here. I didn't take the tank altogether off - I just lifted it and propped it with a piece of wood. The tank was only about a third full so it wasn't even heavy. No problems there.
Next, the airbox comes off. First you take off the lid. Then, inside the airbox there are two snorkel-like things, one for each throttle body. They are each held in place by two screws. The screws come off and the snorkels come out. There is a white sensor on the front left side that I found easier to unscrew from the airbox, than to get the electrical connector loose. There is a fitting with a sensor and three hoses, that snaps into a hook on the rear left corner of the airbox. Unhook the hose that goes to the airbox, and then just pop this assembly out of the hook. There's a sensor on the middle right that unplugs easily, and a small hose behind it that comes off easily. And there's a fuel hose that snaps into a clamp at the rear right, that just pulls out (you don't have to unhook this hose, just pull it out of the clamp on the corner of the airbox. And a hose at the back, undo this one last. Once all these things are off, the bottom half of the airbox lifts out.
There's a plastic shield that snaps in place on top of the rear cylinder. Pull this off, and the cylinder cover is now accessible. Two screws and it's off.
There are two ports on the alternator cover that you open, the center one turns the motor and the upper one is a porthole to see where it's at. Turn it to the right spot and check the valves in the rear cylinder. Mine were all in spec. Then put the cover back on the rear cylinder.
Disconnect the throttle cables, and the two hose clamps, and the throttle bodies lift out (well, they kinda rock out - but they did come loose without too much difficulty). The screw for the clamp on the front intake is VERY hard to reach. Here's a picture of the front cylinder, open:
You can see this problem screw in the picture, just to the right of the valves, on the intake. I couldn't photograph it with the throttle body in place; the camera wouldn't be able to see it. I went in from the right side with this tool:
This ratcheting screwdriver came with shorter bits. The longer bit that I used and pictured here, was from a box I had bought to use with my cordless drill, but it fit the screwdriver handle, thank goodness! It was a slow job, ratcheting the screwdriver one click at a time, forever. I think the skin is going to peel off my thumb from holding it in place. But I got it loose.
I didn't disconnect any of the fuel lines. I just moved the throttle bodies back and set them on top of the rear cylinder.
The front cylinder has a plastic shield on top of it as well. The trick to removing this shield is to look in from the front of the bike, and disconnect the two tabs that hold it in place on the top edge of the radiator. Once these tabs are popped loose, go back to the under-tank side and pull it out.
The front cylinder cover was not hard to pull out. But the space underneath is very confined. I was glad the valves were in spec, because it would have been a pain to adjust them in there.
Putting it back together was the reverse of taking it apart. The most difficult part was dealing with all the small hoses that run across the top of the throttle bodies, with T connectors, and if you don't get them all into place perfectly, the airbox doesn't want to fit back on correctly.
It took me several hours to do all this on Sunday. I think this will go much quicker, next time, though, since I will know more about what's in there. Note to self: Don't forget to put the plastic heat shields back in, because if you do you'll have to go in again. Also, careful of the tiny hose that goes into the right hand side of the airbox - if it's not routed correctly it won't stay on, and the bike doesn't run worth a darn if that hose pops off!
I also did the first oil change. As has already been reported, it was a pain to get the oil filter off. The centerstand blocks access, whether it's up or down. Here are the tools I used to get it off:
Usually I use this filter wrench with a socket, but there wasn't room for a socket in there, so I was glad that it also had a hex fitting so I could use that ratcheting box wrench. There wasn't a lot of room to swing the wrench, so the ratcheting was handy.
The oil that came out was pretty nasty looking, so I'm glad I didn't put off changing it. It shifts so nicely with the fresh oil!
So I just finished the first valve check.
The bodywork came off quickly, and went back on quickly. Familiarity made a huge difference here. I didn't take the tank altogether off - I just lifted it and propped it with a piece of wood. The tank was only about a third full so it wasn't even heavy. No problems there.
Next, the airbox comes off. First you take off the lid. Then, inside the airbox there are two snorkel-like things, one for each throttle body. They are each held in place by two screws. The screws come off and the snorkels come out. There is a white sensor on the front left side that I found easier to unscrew from the airbox, than to get the electrical connector loose. There is a fitting with a sensor and three hoses, that snaps into a hook on the rear left corner of the airbox. Unhook the hose that goes to the airbox, and then just pop this assembly out of the hook. There's a sensor on the middle right that unplugs easily, and a small hose behind it that comes off easily. And there's a fuel hose that snaps into a clamp at the rear right, that just pulls out (you don't have to unhook this hose, just pull it out of the clamp on the corner of the airbox. And a hose at the back, undo this one last. Once all these things are off, the bottom half of the airbox lifts out.
There's a plastic shield that snaps in place on top of the rear cylinder. Pull this off, and the cylinder cover is now accessible. Two screws and it's off.
There are two ports on the alternator cover that you open, the center one turns the motor and the upper one is a porthole to see where it's at. Turn it to the right spot and check the valves in the rear cylinder. Mine were all in spec. Then put the cover back on the rear cylinder.
Disconnect the throttle cables, and the two hose clamps, and the throttle bodies lift out (well, they kinda rock out - but they did come loose without too much difficulty). The screw for the clamp on the front intake is VERY hard to reach. Here's a picture of the front cylinder, open:
You can see this problem screw in the picture, just to the right of the valves, on the intake. I couldn't photograph it with the throttle body in place; the camera wouldn't be able to see it. I went in from the right side with this tool:
This ratcheting screwdriver came with shorter bits. The longer bit that I used and pictured here, was from a box I had bought to use with my cordless drill, but it fit the screwdriver handle, thank goodness! It was a slow job, ratcheting the screwdriver one click at a time, forever. I think the skin is going to peel off my thumb from holding it in place. But I got it loose.
I didn't disconnect any of the fuel lines. I just moved the throttle bodies back and set them on top of the rear cylinder.
The front cylinder has a plastic shield on top of it as well. The trick to removing this shield is to look in from the front of the bike, and disconnect the two tabs that hold it in place on the top edge of the radiator. Once these tabs are popped loose, go back to the under-tank side and pull it out.
The front cylinder cover was not hard to pull out. But the space underneath is very confined. I was glad the valves were in spec, because it would have been a pain to adjust them in there.
Putting it back together was the reverse of taking it apart. The most difficult part was dealing with all the small hoses that run across the top of the throttle bodies, with T connectors, and if you don't get them all into place perfectly, the airbox doesn't want to fit back on correctly.
It took me several hours to do all this on Sunday. I think this will go much quicker, next time, though, since I will know more about what's in there. Note to self: Don't forget to put the plastic heat shields back in, because if you do you'll have to go in again. Also, careful of the tiny hose that goes into the right hand side of the airbox - if it's not routed correctly it won't stay on, and the bike doesn't run worth a darn if that hose pops off!
I also did the first oil change. As has already been reported, it was a pain to get the oil filter off. The centerstand blocks access, whether it's up or down. Here are the tools I used to get it off:
Usually I use this filter wrench with a socket, but there wasn't room for a socket in there, so I was glad that it also had a hex fitting so I could use that ratcheting box wrench. There wasn't a lot of room to swing the wrench, so the ratcheting was handy.
The oil that came out was pretty nasty looking, so I'm glad I didn't put off changing it. It shifts so nicely with the fresh oil!