450 FSE timing/valve issues

F

foxfire

New member
'05 FSE450, haven't spent a lot of time on it, but it always had problems starting...especially cold. Last fall while a friend was riding it he said he heard a "noise" out of the engine. Didn't think much of it until a bit later when it snubbed out and refused to re start.

I had been wanting to check the valves anyway, and this seems like a good time. My first doing a shim/bucket style, and I have a couple questions.

Is there a mark of some sort to find TDC? Pretty sure I found it anyway, but would be nice to have a definite mark.

Is it true that I can use DRZ shims? If I'm measuring right, the valves are way out of spec. One of the ex sides I cant even fit my smallest feeler under.

Also, referring to this pic i found...



...I count 14 pins on mine. Is that wrong? If so, how would it get that way, and should I just turn one of them to get 15?

So sorry for the noob questions, and I really appreciate any help here.
 
Also referring to the above pic, it shows both marks being at the left side of the links, where mine (on the intake cam) is on the right side...hence the count of 14.
 
If your pic is correct for your model, marks 2 and 3 are the important ones.
Straight edge across the cylinder head/valve cover joint, 2 and 3 must be aligned note cam gear key way locations.
verify piston is at TDC
 
Yes, 2 and 3 are in fact aligned. Everything looks exactly as pictured, only one less pin between the marks.

I'm going to go ahead and pull it apart to shim, and put things back the way they are.

So...DRZ shims should work?
 
No clue on the shims.
If gear marks are as show, pin count wouldn't concern me.
Keep in mind as the valve sealing surface and valve seat wear, valve clearance decreases.
If one valve clearance is way less then the others, good indicator of valve or seat problem.
 
Usually when you start having to adjust valves the valve has already started wearing and basically all you are doing is putting a band aid on it. If you plan to keep it save yourself some time and possibly heartache and replace the valves


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Well crap. Yeah, intake side is within spec, but the exhaust side...one is a bit tight while the other is at 0. Is there anything else I should check for, or am I looking at valve work here?
 
Thats odd because usually the intake valves wear first. The valves have a hard surface on them and Once you wear through the hard surface they will just keep tightening up. In most cases you can get away with lapping the valve seats and dropping in new valves.


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I would check the timing again and make sure it hasnt jumped a tooth. Also can you roll the motor one way or another and get clearance on the exhaust valves? If so thats a sure fire sign that it has jumped time


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I tried my thinnest gauge through the entire rotation, never did it loosen up at all.

The marks on the sprockets were landing just like the pic above, with the lobes pointing at 10 and 2. Chain was nice and tight, with only a small amount of deflection if I pushed hard. To my mechanical noob eye, that all looks good.

I did get the ex buckets and shims out last night...actually had to carve away a bit of metal to slide the buckets out. To me, the two ex valves look different...but again, I don't exactly know what I'm looking at. I'll get some pics up in a minute...
 
Well crap...had a friend, with much more mechanical experience than I, come over and take a look. Still not sure on whats going on with the valve, but it looks like the retainer clip somehow worked its way down into the spring cap.

Not so bad in itself...but the bigger issue is the material worn away where the cam sits in the head.

Soooo...looks like I'm in the market for a head. Or, anyone know how difficult it would be to shoehorn a DRZ mill into one of these? Wonder which option is cheaper... :(
 
Bike has gone to storage till this winter...hopefully when I have more $/time to work on it. The plan is to machine the head back into shape, and if not, part it out.
 
I have a perfect 65h old complete head assembly from a 450 FSE 2009 for sale.
You can send me a PM when you are interrested :)
 
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