Valve Clearance on Hotcams Stage1

[trev10]

Guys,
Just installed a Hotcams stage 1 cam on my 07 400ex. I set the valve clearance to the Hotcam specs of intake-.13mm and exhaust-.15mm, took it for a good 1 hour ride keeping above 3000 rpm as recommended to break the cam in and then came home cooled down and re adjusted the clearance-again to specs.
I noticed while riding there was quite a lot of rocker noise, I put this down to break in etc but after re adjusting again to the Hotcams specs, it still seems to make that hoorrible ticking noise as if they are too loose. I am thnking of adjusting them to the original Honda specs of inlet-.10 & exhaust-.12. Has anybody got any advice if this is the way to go or not. I am fairly experienced at doing this sort of thing and can easily find TDC on the comp stroke etc, so I didnt make a mistake there.
One other issue that has raised its head is the starting problem without the de compression installed. I have had some minor issues with it actually cranking over. It's like the battery is dead but I think its the compression as the motor has less than 15 hrs total on it. Anyone else experianced this.

Thanks in advance

Trev...:)

[CDCHONDAS]

with that cam you lose your compression release which can lead to them cranking harder, other thing you need to check is your cam timing again, its possible your valves are just touching the piston. generally you will have a little more noise with an aftermarket cam but thats such a mild cam you shouldnt have much noise

[GPracer2500]

Stick with the HC specs. Too loose is better than too tight anyway. HCs are noisier than stock--if the clearences are set to spec then don't worry about the extra sound. There's an old saying that goes, "A noisy valve is a happy valve." There's some truth to that. Tight or zero clearence valves can go silent and a tight valve can ruin an engine by way of catastrophic failure.

I've had a couple different high comp piston and cam combos in an EX and never had an issue with cranking speed. I also kept my battery on a Tender when not in use so it was always at 100%.

$0.02

[haggard fab]

i have the same exact problem with my bike.. 416 with stg 1 cam.. broke it in.. readjusted the valves *which were still dead on* and it still ticks. i was starting to get a little worried but i guess its *normal*

[fastyz85]

yea mine does that too and I have a Hotcam stage 1. If it is warm and I try to start it, it will spin slowly for a second and then crank the engine over. I think this has something to do with the de compression thing but I'm not sure. Any suggestions?