Watermota Sea Panther Tappets

[ncritchley]

Hi all, does anyone happen to know the correct clearances when adjusting the tappets? I've looked in the manual and elsewhere but can't find any mention. Unless it's the "valve clearance" mentioned here - 0.38mm inlet and exhaust ....
Thanks as always
Neil

 

[Tranona]

You are correct 15 thou between the rocker and the valve stem.

 

[oldharry]

Yes, thats what the 'Valve Clearance' measurement refers to: the clearance between the tappet and the valve stem. A very familiar operation to anyone who ran a 4 stroke BSA, as part of routine maintenance.

 

[ncritchley]

You are correct 15 thou between the rocker and the valve stem.

Thanks!

 

[ncritchley]

Yes, thats what the 'Valve Clearance' measurement refers to: the clearance between the tappet and the valve stem. A very familiar operation to anyone who ran a 4 stroke BSA, as part of routine maintenance.

Thanks. I somehow missed that it was the info I was looking for. I appreciate the confirmation. All done now. Some of them were way off, can't imagine when they were last adjusted. I used to do them on my old Honda CX500, and got to the point where I was confident that I could set them by "feeling" the amount of play! Well the bike did over 150,000 miles before I sold it, so I can't have been far off

 

[oldharry]

Thread drift, but.... CX500 was one of my favourite bikes in the 1980's. I had two. The first one threw its big end 130 miles from home. Its successor had a massive Rickman full fairing which made it heavy but in winter it was amazing, as the heat from the rad kept me nice and warm. It was a bit of a problem in summer though as in really hot weather it was almost too much! You did well to get 150k though, my second one had around 75k when I sold it and was still going strong. The first one always had an overheating problem, which I never got to the bottom of. No problem round town, but on a longer run it would slowly build up heat until it went into the red.

 

[ncritchley]

Thread drift, but.... CX500 was one of my favourite bikes in the 1980's. I had two. The first one threw its big end 130 miles from home. Its successor had a massive Rickman full fairing which made it heavy but in winter it was amazing, as the heat from the rad kept me nice and warm. It was a bit of a problem in summer though as in really hot weather it was almost too much! You did well to get 150k though, my second one had around 75k when I sold it and was still going strong. The first one always had an overheating problem, which I never got to the bottom of. No problem round town, but on a longer run it would slowly build up heat until it went into the red.

Great bikes though, and usually pretty indestructible. I had a very tatty one that I took to Crete, and took off-road over the mountains, up dried out stream beds etc. I was sure it wouldn't survive but it did. And another with a horrible bottom end clunk that managed another 5000 miles. Best of all, you CAN get home with a snapped camchain tensioner, so long as you don't mind your oil looking like silver paint! Enjoyed these reminiscences, thanks!

 

[oldharry]

HpHo yes! I'd forgotten the camchain tensioner saga! Thankfully both mine had the modded tensioner alread fitted.