What Alterations needed for Elephants Feet Adjusters?

Jake68 · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Mar 23, 2007 Posts: 841

Hi,

I was wondering who had done this conversion and what may be required.

It occured to me ordering new inlet valves to conquer this problem may be a bad move. And Elephants feet may be a more permenant fix.

5twins · Full Member Joined: Aug 05, 2006 Posts: 1616

You need to grind about 4mm off the bottom of the rocker to clear the "foot" part of the adjuster. The adjusters will install and adjust to spec just fine without the grinding but you can't back them out enough for assembly/disassembly of the top cover on the head. Remember, at TDC one cylinder has the rockers free but on the other, they're still pushing on the valves. The adjusters need to be backed way off so all 4 are free when removing/installing the top cover.

Some say you should shorten the new screws as well but you don't need to. There's plenty of clearance under the valve covers even though they are small. Additional weight in the moving parts of the valve train is not a good thing but by the time you remove that 4mm from the bottom of the rockers, it pretty much equals the added weight of the longer screws. I know, I weighed things :). So shortening the screws is up to you, not needed but you can if you like.

Jake68 · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Mar 23, 2007 Posts: 841

Thanks for your time 5Twins Smile

This looks like a more permanent solution to the problem.

I was wondering before if a slightly greater clearence might be a more temporary non tear down solution?

Jake68 · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Mar 23, 2007 Posts: 841

Does anyone have a good source for these parts?

The ones I have found have what looks like a missing section of thread, perhaps an oilway?

I had sourced some Porsche originals they come from an 80's 911 and as you can imagine are pointlessly expensive.

It has also occured to me that only the inlets need changing, although I am uncertain of the balance criteria of these parts. I would assume they can be resonably different without causing undue wear.

????

5twins · Full Member Joined: Aug 05, 2006 Posts: 1616

The ones I'm using are aftermarket VW parts. A copy of the Porsche screw,yes, but much cheaper. A set of 8 was only about $25 (about 2 years ago). I split them with my buddy and we both have them installed.

When I took mine apart, I found 3 out of 4 of the original adjusting screws dimpled and pitted. The exhausts take longer for this to happen but it will eventually. You might as well do all 4 while you're in there.

The ones we used were the Empi brand. Here's an English web site that has them .....

www.vwheritage.com/ssp...lateID=ssp

Jake68 · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Mar 23, 2007 Posts: 841

Just found them mate..thanks for your time though...

When you say you ground them, what did you use a file?

Or a grinding wheel?

You took off exactly 4mm ?

And I take it you dont attribute any risk to the reduced strength of the arm?

5twins · Full Member Joined: Aug 05, 2006 Posts: 1616

I used a bench mounted grinding wheel. The rockers are really, really hard and I don't know if a file would work very well. I had a cup of water next to the grinder and dipped the rocker in to cool it as soon as it started getting hot. I didn't want to chance overheating them and maybe losing some of their hardening.

I took off pretty much exactly 4mm. The original thickness is about 12mm so you are removing about 1/3 of the thickness. When you get them ground down to about 8mm thick, you're done. This mod has apparently been done for quite a few years to the SR500 with no ill effects. That bike uses the same adjuster screws as the 650 (and they suffer from the same pitting/dimpling) and the rockers are very similar as well. I also dry fit the cover with the rockers installed to the head with the cam laying in it to make sure there was clearance on all 4 rockers.

killer

What clearances are appropriate after this mod?
It think I've heard 4 thou for both intake and exhaust quoted somewhere, but I can't remember where.

5twins · Full Member Joined: Aug 05, 2006 Posts: 1616

You can use the normal clearances or even slightly more if you like. These adjusters run quieter than the stock screws but will tick if you go too big. My '78 speced .004" intake and .006" exhaust. I could never run the intakes at .004" with the original screws - they ticked too much. I used the later .003" spec. Now I can run the .004" spec no problem, in fact I've been running about .005" intake and .007" exhaust. The bike does tick some though when it gets hot so I may go back to the original 4 and 6 on the next adjustment.

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