valve adjust problem - help!

[John Laybolt]

Hi All, Another problem sorry - I hope someone can help me. I attempted to remove the valve shims from my bike today. I did not remove the cams, just the caps and left the cams in place. I gently lifted the cams as needed. The first 3 worked fine. Then came the left exhaust, oh boy. The little notch was not positioned up so I could not get the shim out. With the other 3 I just used my finger to spin the cups into the correct position with the notch up. This last one will not spin! It's very tight and try as I might I could not spin it nor could I get the shim out without the notch. I then decided it would be best to take the exhaust cam out. Of course, not enough room to get it out, not enough slack on the chain and the upper slipper bracket in the way(A14). I had previously removed the bolt, washer and spring on the cam chain tensioner but not the whole tensioner. I could not easily get the chain off the sproket. Then, I think I made a mistake. I decided to remove the upper chain slipper bracket. I loosened each of the 3 bolts 1/2 to 1 turn and realized this was probably a bad move. I suspect these bolts do more than just hold the slipper on. I looked in the service manual and found a torque spec for these bolts, 87 in/lbs. I retorqued them and retired to my pc for the night. (yes, I did get a torque wrench) SO, I sit disabled with one shim I can't get out. I'm willing to take out a cam if that's what it takes. A couple questions: 1) Did I screw up anything by loosening and re-torquing the 3 upper slipper bracket bolts??? I hope not. They are now retorqued correctly I think, but they are cylinder head bolts aren't they? 2) Can I get this stubborn shim out with the cam in? Why won't this cup spin? It's much tighter than the rest. By the way, this is the valve that had the 0.005 clearance. 3) How do I properly get the cam out if needed? I need more slack in the chain somehow. Does the whole cam chain tensioner have to come out? Is this tensioner a non-return one like shown in the service manual? Sorry to bother you with this again. Leave it to me to have one shim that's difficult.Why couldn't they just have came out?? I really think I got a friday afternoon bike. At this stage of the game it's too late to take it to the dealer for the first service. Thanks. John - in trouble without a clue. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/