Kawasaki Gt550

[BMurr]

I once bought an ex despatch GT550 for very little. The engine over revved at idle and when I serviced it I discovered the valves seats/valves were worn to the extent that some of the shims ( shim and bucket adjustment for clearances) were the smallest available. Correct solution would be to fit new seats and possibly new valves but that was something i couldn't afford at that time. So I calculated what size shims I needed and using a flat whet stone I ground the smallest shims down to that size. It transformed the engine which ran correctly after that intervention. I probably ran the bike for another 40,000 miles after that and did a few more grinding jobs on the remaining shims when service needed. I did wonder if the valves would disintegrate at some stage but they never did. A cheap fix and definately a bodge albeit it one that required use of a micrometer.