What I was wondering is, what else should I replace while I have her opened up.
You might as well change plugs. I did that with the valve cover on but the plugs are easy to reach with it off. Just take care not to drop any dirt that might have accumulated in the top of the motor. I doubt there will be any except for carbon. Mine were not rusted at all.
I have never heard of anything but OEM gaskets for the head cover. You can't go wrong sticking with that. The main gasket was updated and apparently, it is better. My replacement gasket has not leaked.
Replace the spark plug well gaskets. Might as well, they are inexpensive. Cheap insurance.
Replace the ring-os on top of the cover. Those were also updated.
You can replace the bolts if you want. I do not recall if the SM says to do so but I think it is standard procedure to replace all bolts that have been torqued.
I would use the OEM specced ThreeBond sealant mentioned in the tutorial but I must admit, I have 5 or 6 varieties of ThreeBond for various parts and they all seem to be the same stuff except for color. Hub suggested an inexpensive silicone engine sealant that is linked in the valve cover tutorial. It probably would work fine. I would trust the ThreeBond products are top notch but the cheaper ones could be just as good. My only concern would be how well other engine sealants might remain adhered. Whatever might get squeezed inside the engine case will hopefully stay stuck there until the next time the gasket is removed. The OEM sealants do seem to stay stuck where they dried but they are not hard to remove when you want. Do not use ordinary silicone sealant for showers or countertops. That would be a nightmare to remove when the time comes.
Does the crank sensor cover need a sealant?
That's in the crank sensor cover tutorial. You can replace the O-ring on the cover but I reused mine a few times now. You are supposed to apply a specced sealant to the seem in the engine cases where the cover adjoins and on the sensor wire grommet. I think I recall being told this is not really necessary. I'm sure you could use the same ThreeBond specced for the valve cover. LOL I think they spec a different one for the crankshaft cover. Whatever it is, I used it.
If I can't use auto feeler gauges, what gauges should I use? Get them from a bike shop?
There are feeler gauges up the wazoo online. I got my straight tape set online. Let me know if you need to know the range of tape thicknesses. I think that's in the tutorial. I could check for you though. That's important. You will need thin tapes. The angled tape set I have came from Advance Auto but a) the range of sizes was on the big side and b) the tapes I could use were only a few. Angled tapes fit in there better straight IMO but the set of straight tapes I got online had a much better range.
What brand shim kit should I get?
I did not get a whole kit but that would save you WEEKS waiting for parts to come from Japan. OEM parts seem to be horribly slow in recent months. I used Hotcams shims. They work great but there is a good chance you will need to order other shims after you measure them and find they are off by a few 100ths of an inch. I imagine if you bought a Hotcams kit, you would have what you need and not need to reorder. I have heard of some brand other than Hotcams recommended but I don't recall what they were called. OEM shims are exactly as marked. They are always perfect. I used these for the clearances that required the smallest adjustments. Hotcams were not close enough. I was being extremely precise in my adjustments though---going for minimum specced clearance, some needed just a very small adjustment.
I go with the side of caution usually so if something needs checked and isn't too expensive I will probably just replace it.
I'm the same way. Anything that might be replaced or is suggested by the SM will be in the tutorals. Don't hesitate to ask though.
I'm in the process of updating all the tutorial pics that pertain to valve clearance ajustment. There are quit a few that link off of others but I'm hitting them all as quick as I can.
* Last updated by: Rook on 1/7/2018 @ 8:45 AM *
'08 MIDNIGHT SAPPHIRE BLUE Now Deceased