Shim kit

[William P. Zeller]

Greetings.
The shim kit arrived here in the Chicago area from Bill Y. and I 
apparently decided to let the little dears acclimate a while before 
putting them to use.
Finally getting a nice warm July morning I tore into the long-idle ZX.  
It had been sitting since last October due to poor running, way too long.
I'd changed the carb float valves last autumn but that wasn't the main 
problem.
Remembering the first time I did the valves on this bike, when I let one 
of the discs tumble down the cam chain tower, leading to a delightful 
hour and a half of fishing with a flex magnet, I stuffed a red 
handkerchief in there instead before going about the chore. Never 
actually needed it, but the red seemed to help repel the flying shims.
Somehow, in the previous adjustments, I never figured out how to 
correctly hold the rockers out of the way.  Until now.  Exasperated, I 
just wiggled and pushed and there it was.  Sure a lot easier to go 
shim-fishing that way.
Most of the exhausts were waaay tight; a couple were only a few 
thousandths clear, so I had plenty of guilt to keep me company in the 
workspace.
I finished up near dinner time- the missus is a pro chef and I don't 
care to be late for any meal at home- and buttoned the top end back up, 
but left the tank off so that I could get the carbs out for another 
go-round of cleaning and inspection.
Sometime just before the arrival in dreamland, I was struck by a 
horrible head-picture: the dang handkerchief was still in the engine.  
In a hurry to get home, I had begun reassembly without removing it.
Cold chills kept me on high alert all the way til the following morning, 
thinking of what would have happened had I continued to forget, and the 
thought of that cotton traveling around the motor was all the impetus I 
needed to charge back to the garage in the a.m. looking for the 10mm socket.
No harm, no fouling.  The carb fix went well enough, too, and I actually 
straightened out a couple of cable and wire loom kinks, too.
A touch of start button proved the worth of doing the project: the 
return of the sweetest-tempered, most docile and willing motorcycle 
engine I've ever experienced.  What a happy motorcycle!
Now at 89,000mi (143,000km), the motor is as willing to head off for the 
500-mile breakfast as it's ever been.
I did observe some wear on the cam lobes, especially on the exhaust 
ones, but no scarring.  I took pictures (heck, here in my senior years, 
I take pictures of everything I'm taking apart anymore!) and will share 
them eventually if I can get my website editing software to cooperate.
I was going to worry about it, but figured, ah, what the heck, just ride 
the thing.
Having been exiled to my GL1800 all these months, getting Kaw Kam Whine 
between the knees again is a pleasant feeling.
The missus isn't so happy... an hour on the back of the ZX's Corbin 
makes her butt "tingle" and her feet fall asleep.  Guess that's why I 
still hang onto the big blue whale.
So, the shim kit is released from need here in Chicagoland and is ready 
to travel to its next mission.
Bill Zeller