Tuono V4 (and mostly RSV4) Guide to checking and adjusting your valve shims
Preface
A valve check on an inline engine is deeper than many shade tree mechanics get, but is not a terribly big feat on most modern engines. The V4 is more complicated (and requires you to learn a bit of Italianglish) in many ways, but kind of intelligent if you can afford the right tools. Still, I’m not a pro but I consider myself reasonably inclined – with life and work but many late late frustrating nights I was able to get this done just by sheer will over the course of a couple of weeks. You should ask yourself if you want to mess with things nicknamed “Impossible clips” for hours and the frustration of tools that don’t work as they should. That said – because you’re too cheap or too stubborn you’ll keep reading and if you feel capable I very much encourage it. What’s life without a little adventure anyway?
Big credit to Amauri who helped visualize some better tools and helped me get out of a jam / gave me hope. Also big credit to anyone who blazed this trail before me and made solving some of these problems much easier.
Tools needed (optional or helpful noted):
-Three Bond
-Crank rotation bolt and oil blowby pipe (flywheel side) O-Rings – Optional, but the flywheel ones tend to leak if you take it off… you may not have to though
-Valve cover gasket x2 (In the AF1 Kit)
-Spark plug dust cover (upper) gaskets x4 (In the AF1 Kit)
-Valve cover bolt gaskets x6 (In the AF1 Kit)
-Loctite Blue (242 or 243 or permatex – for spark plug coil hold-down bolts)
-Normal slide-lock pliers for removing some clamps
-Needle nose and / or long needle nose pliers
- 2 to 4 58mm ~5mm wide (not sure on second dimension) worm clamps – I prefer to only use 2 but some may prefer 4 if they really hate the “impossible clips”
-2 Small flat blad screwdrivers (for injector clips) - onen should be stout for loosening the “impossible clips” and one should be long for hard to reach places
- Large phillips and a good medium phillips – you don’t want to be stripping flakes of metal off of screws in your airbox
-8mm socket (spark plug bolts)
- 5.5” (6” recommended) long 4mm ball end allen wrench – for airbox velocity stacks – if the full shaft is any bigger than the 4mm the head is this will not work. I found some on ebay and one in a kit at harbor freight.
- Long 3mm wrench (battery bolts, rear gas tank bolts, and others)
- 4 and 5 mm straight / high torque allen wrenches. Both long and short help. – These apply to gas tank and other general bolts on my bike (I have a pro – bolt kit though)
-12mm triple square (12 point) key. The wrench (not the socket) for removing the crank rotation bolt. A T55 Torx will work here, but may damage the fastener
- Spark plug wrench and 6” wobble extension (and magnet)
- 45* long nose pliers that you don’t care about grinding to smithereens and possibly breaking. Harbor freight has a good candidate. These are replacing the overly expensive tool 020877Y for working on the “impossible clips”
-Gasket scraper (Nylon knife if you can’t find one by name) and gasket remover (acetone, rubbing alcohol, and brake kleen didn’t’ work all that well for me).
-Inch-pound or very low foot-pound torque wrench. Don’t be an amateur – do this right.
-Pointed tip feeler gauges. The important ranges are .10-.15mm and .20-.25mm. Get the most feelers here if you can. Ranges above and below will help you determine what shim you may need to change out. AF1 has a pretty good and affordable feeler gauge where you can combine 2 blades to fill a gap if needed.
-A notepad you can draw and write your measurements on in pencil, better yet would be a printout of Amauri’s cam notation document.
Additional Tools needed for adjustment (If your clearances are out of spec):
-AF1 Alternator gasket – highly recommended
-Clutch Gasket
-Spark plug gaskets x4 (These come in the AF1 kit)
-Valve cap crush washers (I don’t see these listed anywhere else but they are marked one time use in the FSM)
-A shim kit (or a bunch of trips to your expensive “local” dealer) – AF1 uses 8.9MM shims which are not to-spec by .1MM but work great.
-Cam gear bolts – Semi optional - most people won’t change these, but the manual calls for it. Chasing off the old Loctite would probably suffice.
-Lever of some kind to remove alternator cover
-17mm socket and breaker bar (for flywheel bolt)
-8mm allen (socket would be best) for rotating the crank
-8mm Triple square or 12 point hex (if you have a charcoal canister)
-Loctite Blue 243 (--NOT 242 or Permatex-- Important! 243 is oil resistant. Only use 242 if you chase all threads with a tap and die! – I was able to get 243 at A Napa DC but I had to ask for it – nowhere else local had it)
-High value foot-pound torque wrench. Don’t even think about fastening this stuff good ‘n tight.
-2 to 3 5mm dowels ~4” long to assist in putting the flywheel cover back on. Optional, but these will make the job MUCH easier
-A decently strong magnetic tool (removing buckets and shims)
-A small right angle non-marring pick (optional for removing U bolt O-rings)
Special Tools – for adjustment:
Flywheel holder - 020914Y
Flywheel Remover / Extractor - 020913Y
Camshaft Timing Pin - 020851Y – Will need to be modified for motor-in-frame job. 5mm (exact) pin that will need to be bent 90*. You can order similar pins in packs from some tool retailers to do the job. In a pinch a 5/32 or 3/16 L shaped allen key may work but this is a BAD IDEA.
A 6MM pin of some kind – L or U shaped would be best. This is for locking the exhaust cam gear if it has clearance recovery (2 spring loaded cam gears sandwiched together). You want a shape that you can positively insert into the hole and “lock” somehow without worrying it will fall out. This applies to most V4 after the first or second year of production.
Crankshaft Timing Pin - 020852Y – This is a long threaded rod with a cone at the end of it. It is M6 x 1 x ~70 (67mm plus ball) with a small, threadless tip at the end to fit into the boss on the crank.
Primary Gear Lock - 020850Y – You’ll need this regularly, but you can and definitely should make a better version of it on your own. You will need the ability to cut the gear-tooth section properly though – so you may just need to order the tool to acquire that part. I’ve considered having a machinist make a few of these if there is enough interest… so please let me know.
Clutch holder 020849Y or more affordable EBC tool from AF1 – You really don’t need this if you are using the factory tool, but you shouldn’t, because this adds so much time and complexity for no reason. Make the better tool. The one thing you DO NEED though is the gear-tooth piece. If you can’t have this made you’ll need to order it. The EBC tool is much cheaper, but may require an extra set of hands.
27MM Wrench – Only needed for clutch pull
-Clutch basket puller – if you are stubborn and want to pull the clutch to do this your clutch basket hub may be stuck on the mount (like mine). You may have to fashion a big round tool with 6 holes to pull it off. Just don’t do it – make the other tool instead of making this one.
-13mm extended crows foot and correct-torque calculations (for front cam gear bolts) or high clearance torque wrench
Tools needed if someone hasn’t already used your tools to get the full job done (IE – you just bought your tools new):
-Grinder / cutoff wheel (or plasma cutter if you are awesome)
-Drill / drill press
-Cutting wheel
- 1 to 3 sheets of 16 gauge steel (original piece is 5mm thick. 3 sheets of 16 ga is just bigger than that) - ~8 “ x 12 “
-Extra washers
-File set
Optional Tools:
- Low torque (~150lbft) Impact gun (flywheel and clutch bolt – see caution in section!!)
- High speed cutting bit in case you mess up drilling your holes
- Bungee cord
- Micrometer (digital preferred) for measuring actual valve shim sizes (especially if the label has worn off). 1 – 3 mm in ten thousandths would be great.
From the depths within:
A lot of will and patience
Optional Extra Items / Replacement
-Spark Plugs (These should be done on the same interval as valve adjustment) – Stock or Iridium
-Flywheel – Do you have the original Kokusan Flywheel and stator? Is it burnt? Replace the stator with Ricks (it may still fail) or replace the stator and flywheel with the new Kokusan v2.
-Air filter – the stock one really just sucks and you should definitely be changing this if you haven’t since your last valve job.
Timing System Explained
It may not be very well explained in the Italianglish manual, but the timing system is actually kind of brilliant. You don’t need a degree wheel to get the factory adjustable cams to line up with the crank without fail, and each intake cam to line up with its respective exhaust cam easily as well. Timing the motor is done by putting a threaded pin through the casing into a boss (small divot) on the crank – flywheel side for the front bank of cams, clutch side for the rear bank of cams – while simultaneously putting a pin through the eccentric cam gear hole and through a hole on the fastening end of the camshaft. There are also dots on the cam gears – 2 on intake, 1 on exhaust. When the single dot is between the two dots the cams are in phase. When these 3 items are lined up – crankshaft pin, camshaft pin, and gear dots – your bank is in time.
There are 2 times per combustion cycle that the crank boss will line up to the threaded in the respective side of the engine case, however only 1 time per cycle that the cam will line up with its hole in the U bolt (one cam at 150* from TDC and one at 450*). When the cam lines up with its hole and the crank lines up with its hole you will have to rotate the crank 2 more revolutions (720 degrees) to get them to line up again because we are working on a 4 stroke motor. Suck, squish, bang, blow – each 2 events are one rotation of the crank.
Top Dead Center or TDC is not necessarily important on this motor (at least for valve operations) because of the handy timing system explained above. You can follow the manual to set to TDC, then rotate the specified number of degrees – but it will put you in the same place as just lining up the crank boss and the cam pin. If for some reason you do need to find TDC it is the exhaust stroke of cylinder 1 when the cylinder reaches the top of its movement. Stick a zip tie in the spark plug hole of cylinder 1 (rear left) and watch the cams with the rear valve cover off. When the exhaust cam lobe is pushing down on the buckets while rotating the crank and the zip tie gets to its highest point just as the lobe moves off you have reached TDC. For specific TDC operations you may need to use a better indicator (the tone wheel may help if you don’t have the proper tools) and it will be hard to lock into place as the motor may want to continue to rotate to just past it.
Part 1 – Checking the valve clearance
Checking the valves is much easier than actually adjusting them. On some motors that is not the case, but on shim under bucket cams it is mostly a fact of life = particularly on the V4. You are going to have to remove stuff and keep stuff in time. With Aprilia’s tools this is mostly foolproof if you follow directions and take your time.
Step – Give your bike a wash!
You may be going deep into the engine here. Giving your bike a wash will ensure the best chances of not dropping dirt/dust/sand/road grime into your motor. Nobody wants that and it is just a good practice.
Step 1 – removing the stuff in the way
-Put your bike on a rear stand. A nice headstand for the front is a good idea too so things are level and easier to access.
-Remove your back seat and front seat. Continue by removing the 2 x 3mm allen bolts from the battery hold down / fuse box and pulling it and the 2 relays out – set them aside. Unscrew the negative terminal on your battery, then the positive, and remove it.
-Remove the side fairings by taking out the 3 x 4mm allen bolts on each. Pull the center away from the silent Velcro on the bike and slide them forward -- DO NOT -- break the plastic clips on the rear of the piece!
-Remove the front 5mm and 2x 4mm rear bolts on the gas tank
-Unclip the fuel pump electrical connector from the clutch side seat railing under the side fairing you removed.
-Unclip and remove the fuel overflow and charcoal canister line from the flywheel side. If you pull them too long you’ll need to feed them back through later. Slide the tank forward enough to unclip the ECU (CLF?) harness from the rear of the tank.
-Lift the front of the tank and unclip the fuel line just behind cylinder 3. Some fuel will probably spill out (especially if the bike has run recently) so make sure to catch / dispose of it appropriately. Some people run the bike without the fuel pump disconnected to relieve fuel pressure first, but only a few ounces will spill. The fuel tank has a check valve and should not spill. If the lines were recently pressurized it may be a good idea to wrap the connection point in a paper towel so it doesn’t spray everywhere.
-Remove the tank and set it in a safe place
-Unclip the 2 ECU connectors. Start with the small one. As you pull the anvil shaped side toward the front of the bike you need to push the connector away from the ECU. There is a ramp on this connector that will slide out as the anvil slides forward. This is weird and may require a bit of force, but try to be gentle and never pull on the wires! There is a fine line between breakage and getting these connectors off. When it is off, slide the small harness down and to the side, out from under the clip on the big harness.
-Unclip the big harness. Same story here but it may be even harder.
-Unscrew the ECU harness screw from the top of the airbox and set the harness aside where it won’t be damaged – make sure it does not get caught anywhere when things start rotating
-Unclip the air temp sensor in the rear of the airbox. RSV4 owners may need to disconnect the 4 upper injectors and fuel line at this point. Tuono owners do not have these.
-Slide the 2 coil connectors for the rear cylinders toward the clutch side so they are dismounted from the airbox, then unclip them
-Remove the 8 phillips screws securing the top of the airbox and remove the airbox top with ECU attached
-Inspect the inside of your airbox. If you have the stock filter it is probably full of silt and dirt (and a little oil). Before going any further it would be best to vacuum and wipe out any of this silt that you can (and once again when the lower portion is fully out). Without wiping any dirt *down* (clean first wiping up) stuff some paper towels in the velocity stacks. This is not as important as the intake manifold but will help keep dirt and debris out of where it shouldn’t be.
-Remove the 2x MAP sensors screwed in with phillips head screws – rear clutch and front flywheel. You can disconnect these from the harness later but do not remove them from the vacuum lines
-Remove the 3 screws holding in the air filter. The mount has captive screw holes, so make sure you don’t destroy it removing or installing these screws. This prevents a loose screw from getting sucked into your engine.
-Use your >6” long 4mm ball end (wobble) wrench to begin loosening the velocity stacks. They are mounted to the throttle bodies at a weird / tight angle. See tool notes above, but you may want to start with fully removing the front or rear bank first so that the other 2 are easier to remove. Loosening each side a couple of turns so the stack can be pivoted into a better position before fully removing the bolt may help too. A straight wrench or a wrench with a shank wider than 4mm simply won’t fit in here. I set these in order as I do with most things, but that may not be necessary since they all have the same part number and appearance.