Comment on Motion-Pro Valve tool...

[old_skool]

flex magnet rated to 4lbs.

nooooooooooo

[old_skool]

IIRC that's what the manual says to use.

and manuals are always right... hey, just advice I got from from some who clame to be experts in this area, your bikes, do as you wish.

[natemoen]

You'd think MO-PRO could design and build those valve tools so they wouldn't have to be screwed with in order to work. When I buy a tool for a specific job, I expect it to work without having to correct an engineering problem. When I got mine, I must have worked with it for the better part of a day, then I ground it down and tried again. Still couldn't get it to work. I finally removed both cams, and re-shimmed all valves (with new shims) and had it back together. I'm still convinced it would have taken me longer just to get the tool to work with a single valve bucket. If the tool was designed correctly, it wouldn't be so hard for so many to make it work.

that is the problem with universal tools! They don't work well for anything.

[BA80]

and manuals are always right... hey, just advice I got from from some who clame to be experts in this area, your bikes, do as you wish.

So are experts. Just sayin'

[DAVINCI]

Thats a no no...I've heard never to do this, as it may cause the area to gather or collect metal shavings which could be ...well harmful to your cam to say the least.
Anything that comes in contact with a magnet can sometime become partialy magnetized it self, if even for a little while.

Good god. Another urban myth begins.

Yah,

IF you were dragging the magnet repeatedly across the shim, it would become magnetized. FACT

AND the repeated heating / cooling of the part will dissipate it's magnetic properties. FACT

Lastly, IF you have metal particles making their way past your oil filter, my friend, you have bigger problems than magnetic shims. FACT

[trbig]

I can't remember who posted it, but as Steve did, I used to just pull the cams. Whoever posted it, said to just pull the cam caps, but don't remove the cam gear from the chain or take out the tensioner. This gives you plenty of room to swap out the shims. Bolt the cam back down when you're done and everything is still in time. This way, there's no chance of rotating pistons around with valves pushed and hanging down.

I'm with ol' DAVINCI... that Motion Pro tool is a piece of ****.

[EricHa]

Same here. I got tired of messing with the MP tool, and loosened the cam caps. Worked great. Goodbye pos MP tool.

I also tried to sync my carbs with the Motion Pro tool with the blue liquid. After that experience I now have a set of conventional vacuum gauges. Thank you Motion Pro for helping me decide to NEVER buy another product of yours.

[jetmechmarty]

I'm going to start this project today. Since I'm going to replace the chain, I'll just remove the cams.

As far as shims, I know of a couple of small bike shops that work on old motorcycles. I'll swap shims with one of them. This would be much easier if I had my own shim library, but if the valve only need an adjustment every 50K miles, there isn't much point in it.

I bought a MP tool, but I'm not even going to try it.

[ViperRon]

works for me

I had the yamaha tool and it was a little better but now have the MP tool and for me I turn the shim bucket to where the notch is where I can access it when I measure clearance then rotate the cam put the tool in and once it drops the bucket use an Exacto blade to break the oil seal and a small pencil magnet to pull the shim out. If you do not rotate the cam to the right spot there is no way to pull the shim and at times you have to break the shim loose with blade grab it with magnet and with a wrench hold te cam in place to slide the shim out of bucket. Some valves are a littlle harder to get to than others but I have at times accessed all of them mainly to build a chart of what was where. It really is a time saver for me. The one thing is I have only adjusted on 1980 the cams on a 78-79 may be different and impossible as some people here I am sure have the capability but can not do it.

[CatatonicBug]

The MP tool worked great for me with absolutely no modification. If you had to struggle with it to get the shim out even after removing the cam, then I'd remove all blame from the MP tool. The oil film suction can be dificult to break, but once that suction is broken, it should only take a small screwdriver and a tiny magnet or tweezers to lift it out. The hardest part about it is remembering to turn the shim BEFORE applying the tool, so you can get to the little notch.

[CatatonicBug]

Weird.. double post...

[WMarshy]

I must just be lucky because mine worked good right out of the box. The hardest part was getting the "feel" for the edge of the bucket.

I'm with you on this one! The tool worked flawless for me right out of the box... right up untill the last 2 valves! There just wasnt enough clearance between the lobe surface and the tool to get the bolt in so I had to grind like above...not much just a little by hand. I even took a round chainsaw fileand and made a little extra room for the bolt.
Overall I thought it was a good tool and worth the money and the hassle of removing the cams.

If your having trouble lifting the shim then your tool is not depressing the bucket (this happened to me on the last two valves). Take a good look at the shoulder of the bucket your trying to compress and compare it to one that is not compressed, if they look close to the same then its not contacting the bucket and you need to 'massage' the tool with a file or grinder some. I also took the time and effor to make sure the tool was not contacting the back of the cam lobe. I found more than once the tool will cock just a little when you tighten the holding bolt. You dont want to rotate your cams anx drag that tool across the cam surface if you can help it... just my $0.02!

[blkryno]

Yamaha orignal vs. Motion Pro Valve tool

I.m home sick today and your about to see how much time I have on my hands. Now I don't deny anybody having trouble with the MP tool. I happen to have a new MP tool and a Original 1980 Yamaha tool. How this happened is that I ordered the MP tool and before it came I got to reading these posts. I thought aaahhh crap wasted my money. I came across the original and bought it because I thought why fight with a tool if I don't have to. So anyway I have both. Today I got my calipers out to see the difference between the two. What I found confirms the fixes that some of the guys here have done. The MP is consistently thicker by 0.5 to 0.6 mm and the holes are drilled about a 1.0mm narrower than the original. Also, for whatever its worth the MP bolt is 5.0mm shorter that the oem bolt. I did find that even the oem tool wants to turn a little when you tighten down the bolt. So there's my two cents worth.

blkryno

81 11 SH (83 Venture cct, Tkat fork brace on )
79 11 SF (83 Venture cct on the shelf for it.)

Semper Fi

Loud Pipes
Draw Cops

[BA80]

I still have no complaints about the MP tool. I have used it repeatedly without grinding to fit.

I lost the original bolt a long time ago and just use one from my bucket-o-bolts now. The trick is to position it so the little tip sits just on the edge of the bucket and not on the shim or you'll NEVER get that shim out. The other thing is spin the bucket so the little slot is up before you start, then just the tip of a small pick will break the suction and the shim will pop right out.

[WMarshy]

I still have no complaints about the MP tool. I have used it repeatedly without grinding to fit.

I lost the original bolt a long time ago and just use one from my bucket-o-bolts now. The trick is to position it so the little tip sits just on the edge of the bucket and not on the shim or you'll NEVER get that shim out. The other thing is spin the bucket so the little slot is up before you start, then just the tip of a small pick will break the suction and the shim will pop right out.

That was my problem on the last two, I couldn't tell at first that I was missing edge of the bucket, I was actually on the edge of the head still. Then I realized I had to remove some material from it to be able to hit the bucket... Not a bid deal... The hardest part it remembering to rotate the bucket before installing the tool lol.