Tiger Miles and C14 Tight Trousers

 The Tiger is healed. I wasn't sure of going off piste with the engineering when I first did it, but trying to keep to Triumph's design demands when they themselves won't support them with parts pushed me over the edge, and I'm glad it did. The how-to is here.

It now starts on the button, idles steadily at 1200RPM (I set it with a spacer nut on the throttle idle bolt on the intake manifold), and has become my go-to ride again. Take out the it-never-worked-right idle control plunger and you've got a functional Triumph 955i motorbike.

The end result? I'm putting miles on the bike again this summer and hope to have it within 5k of the 100k goal before the snows fall. Next year I'll go over the top.

Many miles in many weathers on and off road. The Tiger's solid... which prompted me to put the Concours 14 up for sale. I got a couple of nibbles but wasn't feeling it so I took it down again. Why sell the Connie? It costs twice what the Tiger does in insurance each year and is half as comfortable (I've never been able to make it fit me right). My better half and I went out to Stratford for a play and it was rock solid.

When you have the hardware, you can show up in Stratford for a play dressed like a biker and turn into a well dressed theatre goer in moments!

... and yet we both got off it after a couple of hours of riding limping. It's a younger person's machine and I think it's time to let it go. Considering I stepped from a Fireblade to the C14, the next step is likely to be a (frickin?) Gold Wing, but that's me aging gracefully. The combo in the garage is more likely to be the Tiger and some godforsaken recovery project I'm neck deep into figure out rather than the Tiger and a cruiser.

While in Stratford we stopped by Perth County Moto's Bike Night. The new location has piles of parking and the new store is enormous! Well worth a trip out, and we've proven that you can rock up to a play and transform into theatre goers when you've got a top box and two panniers.

A brilliant trip to Stratford has left the C14 is hanging by a thread. Being a competent sports tourer with hyper-ballistic skills isn't enough anymore. 

PCM's new (to us) digs impressed.

When I look in the garage, this is the one that still gets my attention. Sell the C14 and find the guy selling the 955i Tiger in Windsor last year for parts and see if he still has it?

Kawasaki Concours C14 1400GTR Valve Check Finished! (finally)

 It took the better part of four months over the winter thanks to lots of work travel stretching things out, but the C14 is back together again and runs like a top. The engine doesn't feel as tight, which makes sense as all the valve shims needed were to resolve the overly tight valves.

The Bay of Fundy near Saint John (latest work trip)

It still does the clatter when you first start it (it's to do with the cam chain tensioner needing oil
pressure to fully engage - it's part of the engine design). The bike has always done that but now that I've laid hands on the thing itself it's helpful in understanding how it all works. Knowing how complicated just the top of that motor is gives me a new sense of satisfaction hearing it run well.

I'm back from yet another work trip but managed to take the big Kwak for a spin last weekend and it pulls like it always has (which is to say like a nuclear missile). Today I'm going to finally do the oil change it was owed last fall and we should be on track for regular use this summer.

The question now becomes do I sell it on during the riding season or keep it having done this soul crushing maintenance job. Based on what I saw in there I'm betting I was the first to do it (at 45k kms). Considering the complexity of this job, I can understand why.

Part of that decision will come down to whether or not I've solved the Tiger's fueling issues. If I have, I might sell the big (and expsnsive to insure) Kawasaki and do the summer on a dependable Tiger, though the C14 is a much more comfortable two up appliance if anyone wants to come for a ride with me.

A confirmed fix on the Tiger's aging fuel injection system would make me consider going to one bike this summer.

Kawasaki Concours C14 1400GTR Valve Check Part 3.2: frame reassembly after a valve job

 Some pictures to help me put this complicated 3d puzzle back together again properly.

https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/owner-center/parts/5128/2010/ZG1400CAF

https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/owner-center/parts/5127/2010/ZG1400CAF

Kawasaki Concours C14 1400GTR Valve Check Part 3.1 - References for putting the plugs back together again on top of the valve cover

Tools for finding what goes where (it's spaghetti in there!).

The comprehensive disassembly video shared previously: https://youtu.be/5JP0_Kv7x5w?si=Ictk8g8qK3e_hB3m 

Pipe in the foreground right is the routing for the coolant line to the overflow tank.

White plug in black reed valve centre plug.

https://youtu.be/RvQjEvCSGvI?si=CCvs4HMMJBEHfooM

Big grey plug under the throttle cables

Wobbly and somewhat non-linear, but another disassembly video:: https://youtu.be/b-HDezrXSc0?si=hlvAZWdhF7Qg7hoC

Black wire from throttle bodies to cam sensor on valve cover.

Definitely white plug in black reed cover.

Kawasaki Concours C14 1400GTR Valve Check Part 3 - Putting it back together again

It's a slow process putting all this back together again. Even with a prolific number of photos and copious notes here on the blog I'm finding this a fiddly and frustrating process. My current plan is to get everything plugged in, top up the radiator and run it to make sure it's back together right before buttoning it up (there are a f(@# ton of  buttons).

The latest fun has been plugging the plethora of plugs over the valve cover back in.

I've got a couple of plugs (21) left after connecting everything else. The question now becomes: are oxygen sensor plugs not used on a 2010 Canadian market bike? 

Got the plugs in, except for those two top left of the rat's nest.

Here's a close-up. That white one has me baffled but perhaps it's the front cam sensor.

Tomorrow (assuming the late March ice storm we have in store doesn't throw us back to the stone age), I'll check for oxygen sensors on the exhaust, and if not there I'll know that one of those plugs is probably unused.

The ice storm was persistent but mainly pretty - no hydro lines down around here.

Other things to check are the front cam sensor (7-R on the diagram) which was very difficult to reinstall with a new o-ring. That plug is probably dangling down the front and needs to find a mate on top of the motor (looks like it's plumbed in under the front plastic guard). If that's my missing plug and the other one is an unused oxygen sensor then I'm about there.

After that gets settled I'll do one last look around for anything I might have missed before topping up the radiator and seeing if this thing'll run. If does I'll reroute the wires properly and should have it back to a point where I can start reinstalling all the fairings - which is a whole separate pain in the @$$, but at least one I've done before.

Then things get philosophical. Work has picked up and I don't have the patience or headspace to spend hours each weekend keeping these old bikes in motion. The temptation is to get $10k (CAD) between them and then buy something that can go when I need it to without so much TLC. 

I can save the wrench turning for when I retire. I enjoy working on them but trying to do a job this complex when I'm having to leave it for weeks on end while travelling makes a difficult job more so. Had I the time and space to do this daily when I wasn't juggling a demanding job, it'd have been an entirely different experience.

I'm loving the travel opportunities and my work is something I enjoy, but the deep bike maintenance doesn't fit with it at this point.

Haliburton was magical...

Flying out to the maritimes is never a bad thing...

...but those weeks away mean I'm coming back to an incredibly complicated job sometimes 20 days after I last touched it.

I've never made enough to be sentimental about vehicles and keep everything (I'd rather put those resources toward travel anyway). Time to simplify the bike stable to let me focus on riding when I can squeeze it in. I'll save the time suck that is older bike ownership for when I have more time to suck.

Kawasaki Concours C14 1400GTR Valve Check Part 2.4 - Cams out, shims measured!

 After what seems like weeks of disassembly (because it has been), the C14 valve job is finally turning the corner back towards reassembly! I'm pushing to get it around the corner because even with all of this documentation I still want to have muscle memory of how it came apart when I put it back together. Today the cams came out along with the shims and everything got measured, so it's time for some maths!

The process of taking the cams out is pretty straightforward, but like everything else has twice as many fasteners and bits to it than you'd expect.

These oil pipes all have to come out. They're only held in by o-rings but were a struggle to release (you can imagine the heat cycles the o-rings in there have been through). What seemed to work best was (very carefully) getting a slot screwdriver down at the base and gently freeing it.

Caps off revealing the cams. With the tensioner removed (notice the slack in the chain) you can slip the cams out from under it.

The oil pipes (top right), cam chain tensioner (bottom right), intake (bottom) and exhaust cam shafts, and then the four caps and hardware (top left in the order they came out with fasteners included).

...and finally, I'm at what this whole production has been about: the shims under the cams. The caps are suctioned in with oil, but if you give them a turn by hand the magnet picks them up easily - the shims are underneath.

What the gaps are supposed to be: SPEC: exhaust valves 0.19 - 0.24mm Intake valves 0.12mm to 0.17mm.

red = tight, white = spec, pink = on the cusp of tight: most are tight so will need slightly shorter shims to make a bigger gap, but we're talking fractions of a milimeter here.

              Cyl 1                  Cyl 2                Cyl 3                Cyl 4

Gap   0.18   0.18         0.2    0.19       0.19    0.19       0.19   0.21

Shim  2.27  2.22          2.29  2.29       2.30    2.30        2.30    2.23

Gap  0.15   0.14         0.13    0.13     0.10   0.13         0.11   0.12

Shim 2.25  2.20          2.22  2.20       2.30    2.25        2.20    2.25

Here's the calculator (I just threw it in a spreadsheet):

They look like they do them in 0.05mm sizes. Let's see if I can do this in my head.

Cylinder 1 Exhaust 1 needs a 2.20 and a 2.15 (I'm going smaller because everything was tight and a smaller shim means a bigger gap). 2.20mm would mean the 0.18 gap becomes a 0.25 gap (too wide). A 2.25 shim only gets me 0.02 back and makes the 0.18 a 0.20 gap (in spec but up the tight end). C1 Exh 2 2.20 gets me 0.20 (spec but up the tight end - but maybe that's as close as I can get).

Exhaust

C1 E1: 2.25 (0.20 gap)      C1 E2: 2.20 (0.20 gap)

C2 E1: 2.25 (0.24 gap).     C2 E2: 2.25 (0.23 gap)

C3 E1: 2.25 (0.24 gap).     C3 E2: 2.25 (0.24 gap)

C4 E1: 2.25 (0.24 gap)      C4 E2: 2.20 (0.24 gap)

Intake

C1 I1: at spec                    C1 I2: at spec

C2 I1: at spec                    C2 I2: at spec

C3 I1: 2.25 (0.15 gap)       C3 I2: at spec

C4 I1: 2.15 (0.16 gap)       C2 I2: 2.20 (0.17 gap)

Shopping Canadian is Harder Than it Should Be

The kits aren't helpful - I'd be paying for a pile of shims I don't need and they only come with 3 in each size, so I'm stuck there too. They also only come in 0.05mm gaps. Following the above logic I should buy 2.25 x 7, 2.20 x 3 and 2.15 x 1. Let's go have a look at a Canadian option: https://fortnine.ca/en/pro-x-valve-shim-refill 

At $15.78 a pop I'm looking at a salty ~$170+ plus taxes, but (of course) they barely have any in stock so even if I wanted to pay through the nose it's still a no go. Looking through other makes on there, they all look to be out of stock. So much for buying Canadian.

Let's try another one: Parts Canada: 

0926-1391: 215mm x 1  0926-1392: 220mm x 3  0926-1393: 225mm x 9

...but Parts Canada doesn't sell online and seems to work out of people's garages which doesn't fill me with confidence.

This got the thumbs up on the GTA motorcycle group:

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/parts/pro-x-valve-shim-p?v=9115

And they're on it - and even have half sizes! So now I can touch up my gaps better.

Here we go again:

Exhaust 

C1 E1: 2.225 (0.225 gap)   C1 E2: 2.175 (0.23 gap) 

C2 E1: 2.25   (0.24 gap)     C2 E2: 2.25 (0.23 gap) 

C3 E1: 2.25   (0.24 gap)     C3 E2: 2.25 (0.24 gap) 

C4 E1: 2.25   (0.24 gap)     C4 E2: 2.20 (0.24 gap) 

Intake 

C1 I1: at spec (.15)              C1 I2: at spec   (0.14 gap)

C2 I1: 2.20 (=0.16 gap)        C2 I2: 2.175  (=0.17 gap)

C3 I1: 2.25 (=0.15 gap)        C3 I2: 2.225  (=0.16 gap) 

C4 I1: 2.15 (=0.16 gap)        C2 I2: 2.225 (0.16 gap) 

14 out of 16 valves need shims.

2.225 x 3, 2.175 x 2, 2.25 x 6, 2.20 x 2, 2.15 x 1 (total of 14)

Under $30 US. Even with the conversion, shipping, customs (and now tarrifs), I'll still be miles ahead. The site is a joy to use, they sell individually AND at a higher resolution than anything I could find in Canada. I'm book marking https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/ 

I'm going to calibrate the digital measurement tool I'm using by checking that the existing shims are 9.48mm diameter. It seemed close by eye but at fractions of a milimeter eyes aren't much good. I found the number changed depending on how I hold it, so if I can figure out which is the most accurate way, I'll use that when I do the confirmation measurements (measure twice cut once etc).

Where the cam chain tensioner is, in case the super close up in the shop manual proves unhelpful (as it did with me). 2 x 8mm bolts and it springs free. Reinstallation involves taking the tension off so you can align the chain.

New caliper is consistent which makes me trust it more, so I went with the new numbers.

New caliper. It consistently reads the same, which the other one didn't. It give me more confidence in the results. Here are the new numbers with Rocky Mountain's best shim fits:

I like to get my head around the maths so I backed up all the new measurements by visualizing the gaps they would produce - all nice and well within specs.

Just put the order in with Rocky Mountain. With FexEx and customs I'm under $75CAD all in. So I'm getting the right sizes and just what I need for well under half what it would have cost me to buy less accurate choices that aren't in stock anyway in Canada. How do we get this so wrong?