Ninja 1000 valve check/adjustment

MoldTheClay

MoldTheClay

Well-known member
Well I am about 5k over my window for needing an adjustment or check on my ninja 1000, and not sure if i want to do my first check/adjustment by manual or take it in to a professional.

On the one hand, that sounds daunting enough to me to take it to a shop. On the other, the shop recommended to me by a few folks (midnight mechanix in hayward) quoted it at 4-5 hours for a check and 30 min per valve at 100/hr in labor. 400-700 dollars for labor alone from a non dealer shop sounds like a lot...

Anybody have any shop recommendations or words of encouragement if i choose to just do it myself? Up to this point i have done everything from clutch to stator, chains, sprockets, rotors, air filter, etc myself.
 
afm199

afm199

Well-known member
It is a high end figure. Why don't you do a valve check for your first attempt. That way you get a feel of the work involved without doing the actual cam removal and replacement. If the clearances are fine, you can ride it another 10k. If not, you know what is involved to a degree and have done part of the work.

Hint: Getting the seat, tank, bodywork, and throttle bodies off is a significant part of the work. You can check without removing the radiator or exhaust system. Once you get the stuff off, it takes about 15 minutes to check clearances, and you haven't disassembled anything that requires much work to reassemble, just time. Pulling the cams and replacing them after adjusting shims is the serious work.If you have done clutch and stator you know how to follow instructions. You just have to follow them carefully and get the timing marks right.
 
MoldTheClay

MoldTheClay

Well-known member
Since this post I have been in the "fuck it, 82k and climbing on this bike, not the most expensive mistake if I fuck up somehow." You guys helped solidify that, why not take a learning experience.

Also realized I can do all of the time consuming bits myself and just let the shop do the parts that i could actually fuck up.

Well time to dive back into teaching myself some maintenance skills.
 
J

Junkie

gone for now
I'd hope the Ninja 1000 isn't as bad to work on as a real sprotbile. +1 on at least checking them yourself.
 
MoldTheClay

MoldTheClay

Well-known member
From what i hear the 1 and 4 plugs are partially under the frame making getting them off a total bitch. I get to learn id they spoke the truth tomorrow i guess.
 
Kawikiwi

Kawikiwi

Well-known member
MoldTheClay said:
Which I definitely don't have... Where exactly would I get that?
Click to expand...

Kawasaki usually has them in their OEM toolkit. I think i have a spare one lying around. You can probably get by with two short extensions on the spark plug socket but you’ll have to fiddle with it to get it in/out.
 
MoldTheClay

MoldTheClay

Well-known member
Kawikiwi said:
Kawasaki usually has them in their OEM toolkit. I think i have a spare one lying around. You can probably get by with two short extensions on the spark plug socket but you’ll have to fiddle with it to get it in/out.
Click to expand...

Was able to find a similar one to the kawi oem one from cyclegear thankfully.

Going to check out motoguild tomorrow on my way into sf and see if it might be worth just doing it there where I can get my hand held in case I get stuck.
 
MoldTheClay

MoldTheClay

Well-known member
Alright got the whole thing back together save for my air box and refilling coolant.

When doing my post adjustment valve check though i brought one intake valve from .14mm to somewhere between .24 and .25mm when spec is .15~.24mm. My .23 feeler gauge went in fairly easily but .25mm only went in with a good amount of force.

I figured it was "close enough" even though it was possibly a tiny bit out of spec, and after a bit of use it should wear back into proper spec over time.

Anybody more knowledgable able to tell me if I made the right choice there? I wont be able to finish the job and run it to confirm until wednesday.
 
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ichabodnt650

ichabodnt650

KLX300SM
Spec for intakes looks like 8mil (.008") +- 2 mil ... within 1 mil of spec is about as close as I care to try.
In millimeters ... within .02mm is plenty close.

I would split the reading between your two gauges and call it .24mm. On the looser end of spec, but still good enough. I wouldn't bother pulling the cam at this point, but I would pay attention to that one valve on my next check to see that it didn't drift looser than .24mm
 
MoldTheClay

MoldTheClay

Well-known member
Well that helps me relax a tad. Judging that all of my valves had too little clearance as opposed to too much on this inspection, I feel like they should be tightening instead of loosening. I guess I'll know after my next check. Feeling pretty accomplished for my first valve adjustment.
 
bpw

bpw

Well-known member
Valves tighten over time (unless something is really broken), so a little loose is no problem. I always try to set at the loose end of spec to get more miles between adjustments.
 
Blankpage

Blankpage

alien
If I was forking out the expense of paying a shop to do the work I'd ask them to set everything to the max gap. Would piss me off if they they didn't change shims on valves at the tighter end of the spec range.
 
MoldTheClay

MoldTheClay

Well-known member
Yeah i set all of them as tight as I could without going out of spec, that one intake valve is the only one I wasn't really sure of.
 
Blankpage

Blankpage

alien
MoldTheClay said:
Yeah i set all of them as tight as I could without going out of spec, that one intake valve is the only one I wasn't really sure of.
Click to expand...

That's actually the opposite of what I would have done. Maybe a Ninja is different but on the bikes I've owned the gaps always got smaller with use.
Eventually you end up with burned valves if ignore it.
 
ichabodnt650

ichabodnt650

KLX300SM
valve clearance may tighten ... if valve and seat wear dominate
valve clearance may loosen ... if rocker arm, cam lobe, tappet wear dominate

No rocker arm on your Ninja, tappet and cam lobe should be pretty hard surfaces resistant to wear so I would predict valve and seat wear to dominate (i.e. your clearances may tend to tighten up over time).

Bias them closer to 0.31mm exhaust, 0.24mm intake or center them in the window, as opposed to setting them toward the tighter end.

Exhaust 0.22 ∼ 0.31 mm (0.0087 ∼ 0.0122 in.)
Intake 0.15 ∼ 0.24 mm (0.0059 ∼ 0.0094 in.)
 
MoldTheClay

MoldTheClay

Well-known member
Blankpage said:
That's actually the opposite of what I would have done. Maybe a Ninja is different but on the bikes I've owned the gaps always got smaller with use.
Eventually you end up with burned valves if ignore it.
Click to expand...

I think the issue here is language. A tighter gap means a looser valve as far as I know, and a larger gap is a tighter valve. A small gap means that the can lobe is pushing the valve out farther than it should be, opening the valve too wide.

I may be wrong though?
 
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