just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the info on the valve adjustment job. 12K checkup went relatively smooth, somewhat attributable to the fact that the carbs were still in balance, and my triple-checking of required new shim sizes (caught a mistake on the third reiteration).
Mainly, I wanted to emphasize that the valve job is pretty important - 6 of mine were out of spec. Not being a mechanic, I don't know if the valve lobes are the wear point or the shims (suspect the latter?), but one of my shims still had the markings on it and mic'd out to the stamp. It was .02mm out of minimum gap spec.
For those local to the DC area, I went to Coleman Powersports in Falls Church and they let me do a free shim swap on the 5 out of 6 I couldn't interchange - I did come in w/ the exact dimensions I needed and my own micrometer, though. Great guys over there.
thanks again for the all the info!
