Rocketsled said:
Is there any kind of consensus on these things wearing to mate to a cam and NOT being reusable? I've heard folks swapping them like crazy and other folks saying you oughn'ta.
If they had noticeable wear, then I would not use them again. A mic should tell you that quickly. I haven't mic'd mine yet as I need to borrow a mic from my dad, but I will check. However, from a visual inspection mine look like new. There are simply no wear marks at all. I was amazed at how pristine they look.
I will probably have to buy new ones as I suspect most people are in the same boat as me - they have thick ones and need thinner ones. So, it is probably a moot point, but I would have no qualms putting in used followers if they look as good as my current used ones!
I am going to wait one mare day and then give Bob's or Max's a call and see what they can do for me. My fear is they may have to order them and I may be down for a while.
This sure makes me appreciate the hydraulic lifters on my former Kawasaki Voyager XII... Or even the locknut style adjusters on many other mechanical lifter engines. I understand the durability advantage of the bucket/shim design, but when they do need a change, and mine did after only 27,000 miles, it sure is a pain. I am surprised that all of my intakes are so tight. I even went back and double-checked them just to make sure I had measured them right and I was able to duplicate exactly my first measurements. Makes me wonder if htey weren't a little tight right from the factory. Most people here seem to have not needed an adjustment at so few miles.
The exhaust side wasn't nearly so bad, which again seems surprising as normally one expects the exhaust valves to wear and recede more quickly than the intakes. I am attaching the spreadsheet I used to record my data and make the calculations. Unless I looked up the spec ranges incorrectly, all but one of the intake valves was either at the spec limit or out of spec on the tight side. In contrast, the exhast valves were almost all well within spec, with only two at the limits, one high and one low, but non were out of spec. And the engine was stone cold as it hasn't run in more than a week and it was probably no more than 60 F in my garage.
If anyone has time to look at my attached pdf file and sees anything amiss, please drop me a note!
Matt