Soft valves?

[Sprintster]

my dealer told me that late carbureted sprints and early fuel-injected ones tend to have soft valves that need frequent shimming. i had assumed they would bed down eventually.

how often do you guys and gals check valve lash?

tia.

[ezride]

I'm not sure what they mean by "late" carbureted models, but I just finished the second valve adjustment on my '95. After 27,000 miles, I've adjusted a total of 2 valves (both exhaust) -- one shim replaced last time, one this time. Neither were far out of range either.

My experience and that of other owners I know is that the valve clearances don't move much on the T3's.

[idahotb]

On my '96 at 16,000 miles and the 2nd valve check all were within specs. My understanding is that the interval is 12,000 miles with the first at 6,000.

[j98sprint]

I've heard just the opposite, that the T-300 engines, and everything in them, are overbuilt and rugged. I haven't had to change a shim in a couple of years. It seems to have bedded in nicely at 78,500 miles.

I check valve clearances every 12,000 miles, once a year.

j98sprint

[roadrunsl]

Before 2000km. my bike became to start hard (going off if I don't throttle, until it comes to normal temperature) and I start to wonder what is it. Then I remember that I never check the valves (the bike has covered 77000km.).
When I finally check the valves - what to see - all exhaust valves are O.K., BUT all intake valves are NOT - the 5 of them was with zero tolerance , just one was 0,10mm. I change the shims twice to get them to correct tolerance 0,15mm. When I'm doing it I start to think that intake valves are soft. I have no other explanation, because the other exhaust valves was just fine.
I hope there is no damage on my intake valves because now my bike is running fine and became to start easy. What do you think?
:???:

[ This message was edited by: roadrunsl on 2006-09-29 05:38 ]

[sailfish]

At 45,000 miles I've changed 4 shims. I keep track of the clearances and several of the valves have barely changed. Nothing hammers valves and seats like high rpm and I visit 9,000 rpm regularly, so I'd say the valve train is very durable.

[tealetm]

I completely agree. While I don't believe in the term "overbuilt" (I prefer well engineered :-D ), these engines are very solid.

I've check my 95 speed triple's valves once (at 20k, the previous owner did it at 6k). No adjustment needed.

Oh and PS- there's nothing "soft" about Triumphs!

[leeroy 885]

i have two bikes with t300 engines 1 1998 tbird after 100,000k inlets kept closing up untill no small enough shims available.remove head replace inlets ex valves all good just lap in.now 175,000k inlets dont move ex still un touched.most valve failures come from mod. exhausts without jet adjustments. but there where some t300s with soft inlet valves ,just inlets. no 2 1998 sprint sport never had a shim changed

[triplemike]

My 95 SpeedTriple just rolled over 72,000 miles. At the last valve service interval I installed the smallest shim Triumph lists and still did not get it within specs on one of the intakes. Several of these have been closed right up at every service interval since I bought the bike new. I am now in the process of trying to find someone who has done one of these cylinder heads (no luck so far). Meanwhile, I continue to ride the wheels off of it as i have done since i got it. When the snow flies the job will commence!

[KitNYC]

Huh. I thought I had already posted here, but I guess not....

I had my valves done last year. I was not charged for shims, & no shims were mentioned in the paperwork, so I'm not sure if they changed any. That was at 32,000 miles. While taking my motor apart to chase down the coolant leak that happened at 43k, I checked valve clearances: most were at the open end of the spec, a couple were in the middle, & none were at the tight end.

My motor has its share of problems, but soft valves don't seem to be among them.

Cheers,
-Kit