Why does every write up of this procedure over complicate matters. There is absolutely no need to take rubber bungs out and search for TDC marks on the fly wheel. There is also no need to take the alternator cover off to turn the engine over.
Just take both rocker covers off, stick the bike in 6th gear and turn the engine over by rotating the back wheel in the forward direction (assuming you have a centre stand or paddock stand). When the inlet valves for one cylinder start to open, you can set the inlet and exhaust on the other cylinder. The cylinders are separated by 180 degrees of phase so when the one cylinder is just getting ready to suck, the other side is getting ready to bang - therefore both exhaust and inlet are fully closed.
Its a bit like teh "rule of 8" on old 8 valve engines like the mini where you subtracted the number of the valve that was fully open away from 8 and set the corresponding valve number (e.g. set 1 when 7 is depressed).
I really value people posting links to stuff they find. I remember when I first found all that Zero=Zero stuff for throttle body syncing. It was an utter revelation. And helped me solve the lumpy running of my S.
It's just that after so many pages of thinking and writing, the authors of these sort of documents can't seem to see the wood for the trees. All the detail about different timing hole plugs etc and its all so unnecessary. I don't know how others get on, but I've yet to find the TDC marks on my flywheel. Ive been in there with torches and must have rotated the engine a dozen times to no avail. So I thought of a simpler way of doing it.
I actually tried the method in that article yesterday, coz I adjusted the tappets on my bike last week in the usual, "shove a feeler gauge in and get it somewhere close" way. I went off for a run to the Yorkshire Dales and the vibrations from the bike were evil.
After adjusting them in the way he suggests by using 4 feeler gauges - 1 to do the gauging and the other 3 to lock the other rocker arms - the tickover is smoother than it's ever been, hardly a hint of vibration at all. On the road?? Don't know yet, I've still got a few things to do before I take it out later today - I'll let you know.
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
Well...........Just got back from a run to scrub up the new back tyre. The trouble taken to get the valve clearances just right seems to have paid off. My S has never run so sweet, all the vibes are (almost) gone and there is a general "crispness" to the motor that's never been there before. It took me ages to do the adjusting but it's definately paid off.
The exhaust cans came off their lugs on the way home - but that's another story!!! suffice to say that if you fit a cat eliminator make sure the cans are right over the the 2 little lugs underneath when you re-fit them
Dave.
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.