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I'm bragging on myself! I just wrapped up my first ever valve adjustment, and my 2007 450 EXC has never run better. It was a daunting task to start the first time, but was actually quite simple. Thanks mostly to safiri for sending me the instructions and tips and explaining things over the phone before I started. The hardest part was cleaning the caked on gunk on the top of the motor in order to safely remove the valve covers.





BTW...this bike will most likely be for sale in June! It is a factory STREET LEGAL dirt bike. The 2007 was the first year KTM made it street legal in the US and the last year for the RFS engine--better than the newer engines in many people's opinions. It now has a fresh valve job and a repacked muffler as well as new rear wheel bearings last fall. I'm going to clean her up and maybe do a few bearing repacks/replacements before putting her up for sale. She has been a flawless machine for me. In fact, maybe I should sell the 2012 350 instead....hmmm...

The valve adjustment with the screw tappet adjustment seemed pretty daunting to me the first time too. This spring I tackled to valve adjustment on the Husqvarna with the shim system, Hoo boy, just a little more intense when there is a chance to can drop the shim into the engine. BTW - the shims for the Husky matched the shims used on many Jap bikes so buying individual shims was no problem. If you are working with a reputable dealer, they offer shims exchanges at half the price of new shims.
The DRZ400 uses the shim system. When I priced a shim adjustment at a (not reputable - JC) Suzuki dealer, they quoted $300. Research a little on YouTube, do it yourself and leave the low-life dealer with less $$ in their pocket.

Troy,

If you happen to pick up one of the new KTM 500 /350 EXCs I could give you some tips on doing valve adjustments on them. My 500 EXC is the easiest to check and set I've ever had. At 78 hours, mostly off road, on my '13 500 I have adjusted one shim, and that one was the one that was slightly loose from the factory. Valve clearance has not budged from new otherwise. (I pulled out all of the shims at about 3 hours to determine their size so I could get appropriately smaller shims if I needed them. They were about $7 each. The same shims are used in the Harley V-Rod engine.)

Stu