[SAM+TUCKER]

Completed First 300 Mile Service

All went easy.    The valve tappet adjustment went smoothly but only because of the many contributed suggestions from those of you that posted your experience on this. Moving the coil bolts and tieing that assembly up out of the way along with disconecting few of the hoses and fuel injector connector was key to getting the cover on and off.

The valves were a little tight.   Intake was about .002 instead of the .003 (.08mm) Exhaust was about .006 instead of the .007 (.18mm)   These may have been within tolerance as most tappet clearences have a +or- range but without service manuel information I set them exact.    I was easily able to set them so that on the intake at .003 would pull through with light drag feel but a .004 would not fit.  Same with the exhaust using the .007 and .008 feeler guages. One good thing is that once you get the cover off there is plenty of room to make the adjustment.  I was even able to get my inch pound torque wrench on the tappet adjustor lock nut.   I have had those loosen up before while ridding on my old XT 225 Yamaha, it required 120 in pounds of torque to keep them tight.   On the Meteor the factory lock nuts broke loose at about 90 inch pounds.  Probably hand feel tightness will be fine as in most cases .    I used 70 inch pounds on the valve covers 3 bolts and also the oil filter cover.     Used 60 inch pounds on the two bottom oil drain plate bolts.
I did not have the special tool to locate the cam sprocket however there is also a mark labeled TDC on the sprocket next to the hole for the special tool.   I used a wood pencil through the spark plug hole to locate TDC and noted that the sprocket mark was facing upward thus indicating I was on the compression stroke.

[Dexter]

Good job! 

All should be good with the valves now until 6,000 miles rolls around. That could take me quite a while, with two bikes to play with.

[20MarkIII]

Used to be that the rocker arms could both be "jiggled' a bit to tell if you were on the correct stroke. No jiggling allowed on the Meteor or INT 650! . I appreciate the tip on the TDC marking on the cam sprocket. No worries for 6000 miles. I still don't understand why RE recommends 12 mos. regardless of miles. Wasted effort on the 650. They had not changed at all since the initial 300 mile adjustment. Second check was at 3595 miles.

[Indobiker]

Completed First 300 Mile Service

All went easy.    The valve tappet adjustment went smoothly but only because of the many contributed suggestions from those of you that posted your experience on this. Moving the coil bolts and tieing that assembly up out of the way along with disconecting few of the hoses and fuel injector connector was key to getting the cover on and off.

The valves were a little tight.   Intake was about .002 instead of the .003 (.08mm) Exhaust was about .006 instead of the .007 (.18mm)   These may have been within tolerance as most tappet clearences have a +or- range but without service manuel information I set them exact.    I was easily able to set them so that on the intake at .003 would pull through with light drag feel but a .004 would not fit.  Same with the exhaust using the .007 and .008 feeler guages. One good thing is that once you get the cover off there is plenty of room to make the adjustment.  I was even able to get my inch pound torque wrench on the tappet adjustor lock nut.   I have had those loosen up before while ridding on my old XT 225 Yamaha, it required 120 in pounds of torque to keep them tight.   On the Meteor the factory lock nuts broke loose at about 90 inch pounds.  Probably hand feel tightness will be fine as in most cases .    I used 70 inch pounds on the valve covers 3 bolts and also the oil filter cover.     Used 60 inch pounds on the two bottom oil drain plate bolts.
I did not have the special tool to locate the cam sprocket however there is also a mark labeled TDC on the sprocket next to the hole for the special tool.   I used a wood pencil through the spark plug hole to locate TDC and noted that the sprocket mark was facing upward thus indicating I was on the compression stroke.

Good info. I'm curious, what oil did you use for the oil change? I'm coming up on my 500km service and am thinking to use Silkolene 15w50... Also, did you replace all the rubber o-rings (filter cover, drain plug filter basket and drain plug cover)? Any idea what is the required torque for the drain plug cover? Cheers

[Dexter]

Good info. I'm curious, what oil did you use for the oil change? I'm coming up on my 500km service and am thinking to use Silkolene 15w50... Also, did you replace all the rubber o-rings (filter cover, drain plug filter basket and drain plug cover)? Any idea what is the required torque for the drain plug cover? Cheers

Never ask what oil anyone uses, as you will unleash a torrent of replies all claiming that their choice is the best. Just buy a quality brand, based on your own research, of a full synthetic oil, one made for use with a wet clutch. That last point is important as wet clutches do not play well with any oil labelled as "energy conserving". Best way to avoid that pitfall is to simply buy a motorcycle specific oil. If you can afford having a toy like a motorcycle, you can afford the extra expense.

I didn't replace either of the two o-rings, the strainer cover or the filter cover, even though I had the filter cover o-ring on hand. Both were in fine shape for re-use. I was unaware of the actual drain plug bolt when I did the first oil change, so next time I won't be bothering with the mess involved with taking off that strainer cover. The strainer was clean upon inspection.

I just tightened it all by feel and all is well. You just need to be compressing the o-rings to create the seal and that doesn't require gorilla hands.

As to the actual drain bolt located on the front right of the crankcase, it appears to use a copper crush washer, but aluminum could be used there as well, unless you have a torch to anneal the copper washer with, allowing multiple uses gf the same copper washer. I don't have a torque spec for that bolt either, but again, I never use a torque wrench for oil changes.

[SAM+TUCKER]

Good info. I'm curious, what oil did you use for the oil change? I'm coming up on my 500km service and am thinking to use Silkolene 15w50... Also, did you replace all the rubber o-rings (filter cover, drain plug filter basket and drain plug cover)? Any idea what is the required torque for the drain plug cover? Cheers

I used Motul 5100 4T Synthetic Ester Blend. 15 W 50

I had new O rings for oil filter and bottom drain plate but did not use them.

I used 60 inch pounds torque on bottom drain plate,  based on the bolt size,  also that was the required torque to unfasten the bolts from the factory installation.   70 inch pounds on the oil filter cover