Checking and adjusting your Honda CB360T's valves is a critical yet often forgotten step in maintaining the motorcycle. Honda recommends that a valve inspection, accompanied by adjustment, be performed every 3,000 miles to ensure that the motor's intake and exhaust valves are opening and closing properly. If the clearance between the valves and their tappets is not within a specific range, your CB360's performance will begin to suffer. If the clearance is too far out of adjustment, significant damage can take place within the motor.
Instructions
1. Park your CB360T on its center stand and let it cool for at least 12 hours.
2. Unlock the seat and lift the seat up. Pull the rubber boot off the tang at the base of the gas tank. Lift the base of the tank up slightly and prop it into place with a piece of wood to provide better access to the motor's cylinder head.
3. Place a shop rag over the left exhaust pipe and the lower frame rail. Unscrew all three bolts from the round generator cover on the left side of the motor with a Phillips screwdriver. Place a 14mm box wrench over the bolt at the center of the generator flywheel.
4. Unscrew the tappet covers from the front and rear of the motor's cylinder head with a 17mm wrench.
5. Turn the generator flywheel counterclockwise with your 14mm box wrench and observe the movement of your CB360T's left intake tappet, positioned above the left carburetor. Rotate the flywheel until the tappet lowers and raises completely again. Continue to rotate the flywheel until the LT mark imprinted on the flywheel's face is aligned with the timing notch cut into the top of the generator's stator.
6. Measure the distance between the tip of the left intake tappet adjustment screw and the intake valve stem with a 0.002-inch feeler gauge. Ideally, the feeler gauge should slide between the adjustment screw and the valve stem with a small amount of resistance or drag. If no resistance is felt or if the gauge cannot be inserted at all, the intake valve is out of specification.
7. Adjust the intake valve's clearance with a 10mm box wrench and a flat screwdriver. Place your flat screwdriver into the slot on the intake tappet's adjuster screw head and loosen the screw's lock nut with your 10mm wrench. Slide your 0.002-inch feeler gauge between the tappet's screw and the valve stem. Loosen the adjustment screw with your screwdriver to increase the clearance, or tighten the screw to decrease the clearance. Hold the adjustment screw in place with your flat screwdriver and tighten the screw's lock nut with the 10mm wrench once a slight resistance is felt when inserting or removing the feeler gauge.
8. Check and adjust the left exhaust valve's clearance, located above the left exhaust pipe on the front of the motor, using the method described in the previous steps. Use a 0.003-inch feeler gauge to measure the exhaust valve's clearance.
9. Rotate the generator flywheel counterclockwise a full 180 degrees and align the flywheel's T mark with the timing notch cut into the stator. Check and adjust the right intake and exhaust valves' clearance following the method described earlier.
10. Screw the tappet covers into place on the top of the motor's cylinder head with the 17mm wrench. Mount the generator cover onto the left side of the motor and screw the mounting bolts into place with the Phillips screwdriver.
Tags: feeler gauge, adjustment screw, with your, 10mm wrench, cylinder head, flat screwdriver
