After weeks of procrastination i decided to attempt the dreaded valve clearance check on the Black Bomber, a 2009 Sprint 1050. For starters, i'm having trouble finding the magic TDC point. The Haynes manual states that for a given cylinder, at TDC all four cam lobes (intake & exhaust) will be 'pointing upwards' which i interpret as, the lobes will have rotated past their respective followers by 180 degrees. But on my engine this never occurs, when the intake lobes are pointing straight up, the exhausts are at some other position. So either i'm doing something wrong, or the manual wording is misleading. If anyone can enlighten me, i'd appreciate it! And yes, i watched the youtube video from the German guy, but didn't find it especially helpful. A few words in the way of description (either english or german, i don't care!) would have been 100X more helpful than a musical score. But it's better than nothing i guess..
Now that's more like it! An actual description of the job, by someone who seems competent, good photos, no silly soundtrack. Plus the guy has a sense of humor. Thanks trudd! If i understand him correctly, his description of the cam lobe position at TDC matches that in the manual. I've already turned the engine over numerous times without getting said configuration, but i'll try it another 10X or so...
I meant to add, his tip about removing the crank inspection cover to determine TDC for each cylinder sounds great. Except that, i just did an oil change and don't really want to drain it all out again, arrg! But this just might be the best way of finding TDC..
I don't think I've ever worked on an engine where both intake and exhaust valves were pointing "straight up" at TDC on the compression stroke. Cam lobe position at TDC will depend on the valve timing of a particular engine but usually they will be offset slightly. You could always ignore the TDC marks and check each valve individually by turning the engine over until the cam lobe is pointing straight up if it bothers you that much, it'll just take a bit longer that's all.
You can remove the cover and oil will not spill out as it's all contained in the sump below the level of the cover.
Thanks Pegscraper & Triple X, i removed the crank inspection cover & utilizing the handy reference marks, was able to set the crank at TDC in no time. Strange that the Haynes manual makes no mention of it! I suspected that the manual wording was misleading or just plain erroneous, and this confirmed it. The attatched photo is cyl #1 at TDC, as can be seen, the intake & exhaust lobes are facing each other, each rotated off their respective followers by about 90 degrees. I also came across another excellent tutorial on Triumphrat.net, which describes how to do the procedure with a minimum of engine rotations. Anyway, i checked all valves, most were well within spec, but a few seem to be at or near the upper limit. I'm going to redo it once my new feeler gauge set arrives, just to be sure. In any case i'm not brave enough to remove the cams & attempt adjustments, so if i decide to keep the bike for a while a dealer visit will be in order..
