Valve Movement on late model 450/510

All,

I just checked my '08 SMR450 today and the left intake measured at .003 the rt intake was .0015, and both exhaust were about .005. The bike only has 12 hrs on it and this is the first time I've checked them. I was shocked that they were all out of spec and especially the right intake being way out of spec. Should I be concerned? The bike has had a relatively easy life so I was surprised they were out that much. My '08 TC 250 that gets ridden a good bit harder than the SMR hasn't budged after 42 hrs?? Does the factory do a good gob of specking the valves during assembly? Have any others seen this much movement in such a short time when new? It has always had a fresh, well oiled air filter and never been in the dirt so I doubt there was any issues with dirt going through the engine. Any opinions/comments are welcomed!

The factory does a lousy job of assembly in general.

I recomend you check everything.

Must be the Italian Socialist employment system.

My 08 TE510 has never required adjustment even after 7846 miles and 287.22 hours.







It ran fine last weekend.

Thanks for the posts guys, I shimmed her back to the higher end of the spec and put her back together. Unfortunately it started snowing while I was working so I wont be able to put any miles on her until the weather clears up again. Would anyone recommend a leak down test or do you think I should just ride it for 5 hours or so and check them again and if they haven't moved I can assume it was normal break-in seating and not to worry, just check every 10 hrs or so?

Hi Fast1, thats a lot of miles on your beast with the valves still in spec. Is the engine still as from the factory or have you done a top end rebuild etc. Love to know and what type of riding do you typically do? I ask this as many folks seem to look to top end rebuilds around 80 to 120 hours of weekend warrior work only. I figure that this is pretty darn early in an engines life and was perhaps premature. My machine is at that engine use stage and it is going well but I do not want to be dismissive of others experience either.

Cheers mate.

The engine is still in stock build up from the factory. I have NOT done a top end on the engine yet however I have been very diligent about running a clean air filter properly oiled and doing oil changes every 500 miles or so. Currently the bike doesn't use oil nor has the performance deteriorated. It has had the power up kit on it since day 1. Break in consisted of very frequent oil changes and heat cycling for the first few hours. Never torqued the throttle to WOT until I had 500 miles.

Here is a link of a thread that I put together showing how I use the bike.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=365470

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