Motorcycle Repair: Stuck Valve Cover, 1982 suzuki gs650, valve shims

Question
I know you are a Honda guy, but I thought that you could answer this question. I recently purchased a 1982 Suzuki GS650. This bike had been sitting in the back of a neighbor's garage since 1988.

I have been able to get the bike to run. Now I would like to adjust the valves. However, the cover will not budge. I have tried tapping it with a rubber mallet. It still will not move. Any suggestions?

Answer
Jeremy, unless you have access to valve shims, probably best to leave the valves alone. Either the cams have to come out or you will have to have a special valve shim removal tool to accomplish the task. If the bike has over 5k miles, the valves are pretty much okay usually, at least on Hondas.

I went to http://www.powersportspro.com/partsfish/login.asp
and found your model illustrations. The valve cover assy is dowled as well as gasketed. Often on 2 year old bikes, the gaskets harden and become one with the metal. Try a hair dryer/heat gun to add some heat to the area and find a few supported places on the cover to pry upwards. It won't move sideways because of the locating dowels, so you will have to gently and firmly pry upwards to get it to separate, if you really think you need to do this service.

Bill Silver