Cam timing adjustment

Dunc

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How does everyone go about adjusting the cam sprocket with slotted holes/bolts once the rocker cover is fitted? Not quite ready to do it yet but was looking while putting together the cases a few days ago. One thought I had was using a spare cover I have & milling out the centre for access & replacing it when finished. I'll be running a Shell #1 277 cam with all new associated bits.
 
Everyone does no such thing. Everyone removes the rocker cover. Someones install an adjustable sprocket. Otherones mark the move, press the sprocket off, and press it back on in the new position. Good luck to you.
 
Oh my! This must be my day for an education; earlier, I was taught that there are indeed cam chains for XS650's that come all assembled and apparently one molests the tensioner housing to install it (as opposed to riveting a good chain) - of course Mike's sells one.

Now, I'm learning that there are sprockets for (Shell no less) cams that have slots?? Yep, Mike's sells one of those too.

What sorcery is this? I always look for opportunities to learn, but..........

Just call me old-fashioned.......but not late for dinner
 
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Sorry Dunc, obviously, I can't offer an answer to your question. Honda has bolted sprockets onto cams for generations with no Issues (properly installed), but not through a slot.

I looked a little closer at the slotted sprocket Mike's offers. Their pic shows it bolted up, but not through the slots, and the slots don't appear to be on the same center as the bolt holes.

Is that the sprocket you have and will the bolts actually line-up using the slots?
 
I have just done this job. Dont forget to tension the cam chain before you measure the events. You also need to release the cam chain tension to adjust the sprocket.
 
Sorry Dunc, obviously, I can't offer an answer to your question. Honda has bolted sprockets onto cams for generations with no Issues (properly installed), but not through a slot.

I looked a little closer at the slotted sprocket Mike's offers. Their pic shows it bolted up, but not through the slots, and the slots don't appear to be on the same center as the bolt holes.

Is that the sprocket you have and will the bolts actually line-up using the slots?
 

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Please, people, note that three point mounting of an adjustable sprocket is the industry standard. The cheap Chiwanese"billet" copy of the Megacycle 250-00 grind mounts on only 2 points with skimpy 7 mm. fasteners that thread into a pair of thick lobes which swap place as the motor turns. A pic of the other side of that camshaft would show them. If you have some amalgam fillings in your teeth that you want to get rid of before hand to cut the dental bill, that XS Performance/Ling Ting Tong camshaft is your huckleberry. Take a long ride and it'll shake those fillings right out, guaranteed.

The hole between the slots is the giveaway. Dunc, I'm so, so very sorry. I share your pain because I got stung as well; I thought "Gee, what a price for springs and all, want that 106* lobe center!" Violated my own first rule: "You can't buy something for nothing, but you can surely buy nothing for something if it's cheap enough."

Didn't trust 2-pt. mounting on the slots, went with holes and dialed in by fiddling with deck height, upper range performance grossly impaired by them shakin' lobes, dropped motor, reinstalled Shell #1, gave Chiwanese crap to a friend who was experimenting with all kinds of stuff. He offered money and I said no, it's yours, and quoted King Edward I of England: "A man does good business when he rids himself of a turd." I'm not the only guy on the board who went there, did that, came back all pissed off and bloody and used the goddam T-shirt for a shop rag!
 
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Just one more note: I don't know his reasons, but Hughshandbuilt states (on website) that he will not rephase an XS Performance cam - something about machining and welding....
 
Well JP, Lalonde never supplied setup instructions for "performance"parts and few if any for anything else. His pitch was that the cam was a "drop in," and I can feel everybody on the board who've actually set their hands on performance work wince. If you ever get up close and personal with one of those lumps it would become right obvious in a hurry that the slots in the sprocket are not there for weight saving. And then there's the vibration. Got it second hand through Jack, but Hugh concurs with my bottom line on the cam: It will turn the smoothest OE motor that ever left Japan into a paint shaker. Avoid or regret it, friends!
 
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Dunc rephased his own crank and was having a fellow Aussie make the cam, but that does appear similar to a Mike's sprocket.

Interestingly, nowhere in Mike's instructions does it refer to using the slots. On the sprocket, it makes no reference to "adjustable".

https://www.mikesxs.net/blog/how-to-install-the-xs650-performance-camshaft-and-valve-spring-kit/

https://www.mikesxs.net/yamaha-xs650-36t-camshaft-sprocket-for-05-0025.html
I saw the cam kit on the Heiden site & you can't see 'XS Performance' in the pic & ordered it. It should have rung alarm bells with me as the adjustment slots don't need to be anywhere near that long. I will follow up with the guy here for a cut/weld & ground cam.
 
Yea, the relationship between Heiden & Mike's is a curious one to me. I've purchased several items from Heiden that are top-shelf. I've purchased a lot of items from Mike's too; some good, some less so. If I was producing quality stuff, I wouldn't want the reputational risk....but, what the hell do I know?
 
That's an easy one, JP. Some business owners play a game of trading on a reputation for fine work at fair prices for big dog customers, and luring in little guys in on the strength of that rep to pick their pockets. My ability to smell out a predator is around 75%, and it never seems to fail on the small stuff.
 
Yeah, Dunc, those ad pics are treacherous. Heiden and the folks at Mike's XS know they'd lose plenty of sales if the big ole lumps behind the
sprocket were shown. I could go on about that passel of, uh, ethically challenged persons, but once on that topic I tend to rant. Peace.
 
Now I'm up the proverbial creek without the required equipment!
The guy here has decided not to do any special jobs as he has a 4 month backlog & can do 5-6 normal ones a day.
Is there a reliable place somewhere to source a cam?
 
I don't think anyone stocks 'em in 277* I think Hugh is on vaca. Might try Gary Hoos, just on chance. Then I think @ 650Skull knows someone in AUS that does them.🤞
 
I have had great difficulty getting cams ground here in NZ I finally got one copied but had to wait 6 months.
Gary Hoos sold me a core (to reduce freight cost) and arranged for Megacycle to grind a rephased cam for me. All up it took about 3 months but that was before shipping went to pot.
Try contacting the XS 650 Club of Australia they will know who is doing cams in Ausssie. On there website there was a video of a very clever cam grinding machine built by one of their members.


Nick Mc Ginn in Melbourne can make your cam sprocket adjustable you do need to send the cam to him.
He has done 2 for me and the work is perfect. He used to have an add on the XS 650 club of Australia website.

I have a friend who modified a stock sprocket to make it adjustable, you do need a lathe and a mill with a rotary table is helpful. He is a hobbie machinist and said it was not hard to do.
A member here Hot Dog is on the Gold Coast I think, made his own adjustable sprocket, he has a video of it on YouTube. His design is nice it uses 3 x 7mm genuine Yamaha bolts, a bit stronger than other 3 x 6mm bolt designs.
 
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