Advise on tappets. (2000, 1150)

[ian6760]

I'm looking for advice; I recently made a rather large school boy error. I was doing my tappets for the 5th time since I have owned my GS and thought that I could do it without referring to the manual. To cut a long story short I have used metric measurements with imperial feeler gauges, (I know, dumb ) so effectively making the gaps about twice as big as they should have been. I then did a 200 miles trip to the Stafford show last week before realising my mistake, (and yes it was a bit noisy.)

Have I done the engine any harm?

Cheers, Ian

 

[MattW]

I'm looking for advice; I recently made a rather large school boy error. I was doing my tappets for the 5th time since I have owned my GS and thought that I could do it without referring to the manual. To cut a long story short I have used metric measurements with imperial feeler gauges, (I know, dumb ) so effectively making the gaps about twice as big as they should have been. I then did a 200 miles trip to the Stafford show last week before realising my mistake, (and yes it was a bit noisy.)

Have I done the engine any harm?

Cheers, Ian

Very unlikely you've hurt anything, just set them right and carry on riding. Too large a gap is much better than too small.

 

[ian6760]

Thats what I thought and have read on other threads, they are now set correctly and it sounds great.

Ian

 

[sockpuppet]

If you'd used Imperial Measurements on a metric guage I'd be worried. Large gap is not a porblems its just noisy. Too small a gap I'd be worried with.

 

[Colban]

No damage at all.I've read an American article where the valve clearances were deliberately set too large to help soften/smooth out the power delivery and reduce surging.He seemed to think it worked.

 

[ian6760]

Guys, thank you for your replies, you have helped put my mind at rest. I have read various posts saying that too big wasn’t the end of the world, but was just looking for some reassurance.

Once again, thank you.

Ian