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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> head bolts and valve adjustments
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Message started by muzendoski on 12/14/06 at 12:46:59

Title: head bolts and valve adjustments
Post by muzendoski on 12/14/06 at 12:46:59

Dear Savagers: I took it upon myself to do two things on my 2006, which has about 1100 miles: 1) check the head bolt tightness, mainly because it says to do it in the manual at 600 miles and 2) measure/adjust the valves.

The Suzuki manual says "remove the cylinder head side covers and cylinder head cover." It makes it sound easy but getting the head cover off is a serious job. I used Greg_650's bolt on the top of a box method to keep track of all the bolts --it worked brililantly (see http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1099227295;start=0#3). Then I was puzzled that one of the head bolts seemed to be missing, but it was just underneath a plug. After removing the plug I checked the tightness of all four bolts with my torque wrench. The were all fine so I did all that for nothing! I must admit it was a good learning experience to finally see what the engine insides look like.

Putting the head cover back on is also a bit tricky, as it has to be resealed and certain bolts must go in before the cover is attached. The plug also has to be resealed. I reset the automatic de-compression cable, which isn't hard but takes time. In retightening I was very scared that a bolt was going to snap-- they just don't feel very strong so I used less rather than more torque. When some just felt like they were going break soon I left them wrench tight rather than use the torque wrench. Does anybody have any ideas where to get stronger bolts? I think it would be worth changing them all out.

I used Vroom1776's posting on adjusting valves (http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1151938664;start=4#4) and it was very good. I had never done anything like this before and had to sit back and imagine what was going on with valves going up and down before I could begin. Finding the exact space to measure at first was hard, but the red arrow on the photo saved me. After re-doing the head cover they were tight so I adjusted all four of them to .004 inches. I ran to Lowes and got some new bolts to replace the very weak valve cover bolts that came with the bike and put those on. They felt a lot stronger, real steel. Replaced the tank, rehooked the cables, and fuel lines, put on the seat.

To my amazement the bike started up and sounded great. I rode it around the block two times, very gently, and couldn't tell much difference from what is sounded like before, although I did notice it was a bit smoother sounding. I will wait until the sealent cures before testing the engine at higher rpms.

Title: Re: head bolts and valve adjustments
Post by Reelthing on 12/14/06 at 16:36:36

hey congrats on your dive into the savage! sounds like you saved yourself some bucks and learned a lot of the fundamentals needed to keep it going. Interesting suzuki used as many different length bolts on the head cover, not sure i'd want stronger ones as the aluminum they are going into sure isn't very strong either and will strip out fairly easy. actually don't need very much torque on them - about 5lbs seems like more than enough - a little 3" or 4" 10mm stubby boxend will do the trick

Title: Re: head bolts and valve adjustments
Post by babbalou on 12/14/06 at 17:16:07

Cool, good info. I'll be doing mine in about 150 miles, which means 2-6 weeks depending on weather & weekend obligations.

Title: Re: head bolts and valve adjustments
Post by vroom1776 on 12/15/06 at 14:19:14

are the stock head cover bolts steel or aluminum? whatever they are, I don't like them.

the center bolts, L70* on mine is wrecked (had to grind off the head of the bolt after pulling the engine). I am going to repalce it w/ one from ACE, but Im not so sure this is a good idea...

Title: Re: head bolts and valve adjustments
Post by mau2wu on 03/27/07 at 07:30:42

Thanks for your support. Now looking back I would NOT have checked the head bolts for tightness. Taking off the engine cover is a serious chore and I doubt that any mechanic at a shop would do that as normal servicing. That said, I did learn a lot about the engine that way.

Aren't the Savage bolts made of zinc? I don't know. I changed out the ones of the valve covers straght away for some steel ones I got at Lowes and also ordered as set of steel hex nut engine bolts off Ebay from a place called _____ choppers (I forget the name). I haven't tried them yet but I am pretty sure they are not all there, at least not the very long ones. Has anyone else tried this?

Title: Re: head bolts and valve adjustments
Post by Savage_Rob on 03/27/07 at 09:17:36

vroom1776 wrote:

They almost seem like pig iron to me. They're not that strong at all but, as Reelthing pointed out, they'd probably strip the head if they were stronger.