Honda BF100 valve adjust

Hello again friends,
I'm ready to finally adjust the valves on my 82' BF100. In past posts it's been suggested to me that my motor idles poorly when hot due to poor valve adjust. I purchased a set of "valve" feeler gauges, but they only go down to .008 in. The Clymer manual says that the setting for my motor is .004-.002. in. This is the only motor, according to this manual, that has the same clearance for both the intake and exhaust. I bought a set of regular feeler gauges with the blades I need, but will this style do the job? Will I be able to get the feeler gauge down deep enough into the "impression" in the top of the head to measure the valve clearance without bending the blade of the feeler gauge? Also, can I take the valve cover off with the fuel pump and fuel hoses attached, or should I remove them? What do you all think of the valve clearance suggested by the manual? Does it sound right? Thanks as always!

Not sure why you are afraid to take out the 4 screws to remove the cover !-----------I am not sure that you can do a proper job with the cover in place.

You can either take the valve cover off with the pump in place or with it off, your choice.

There are 1,000 different styles of feeler gauges. Depending on what you purchased, you may or may not need to bend the blade to get it "in there". You MUST obtain an accurate reading so bend them if you need to and save that one for just this purpose.

.002"-004" is correct for both intake and exhaust clearance but you should try to get closer to .004" than to .002" to allow for wear. CHECK ONLY FIRST! Don't loosen anything up until you do an initial measurement. Most of the time they don't need to be disturbed. However, it is important that they all be the same. For example, if you find one cylinder has a setting of .002" and the other has a setting of .003" they would both be considered "in spec" but they should still be adjusted to be "even" or, in other words, for all four valves to be the same.

Come on my friend! I'm not afraid, just inexperienced. Sounds like you are making sport of me a bit. Believe me, however inexperienced I may be, I do know that I need to take the valve cover off to adjust the valves!!!!!!! I meant it as a serious question, as jgmo realized. I'm sorry to sound so tentative, but this old boat and motor is all we have. I hope you'll still answer my questions, however naive they may sound, and I thank you for the times you've answered me in the past. How about my question about the fuel pump on the valve cover? I believe the manual says to remove the fuel pump before taking off the valve cover. It looks like you can just lift the cover off with the fuel pump still on, or should I take it off? I waited to do this job until after I changed the impeller. That was a big job for me, but I got it done. Thanks again.

Yes, you can lift the cover off with the pump attached. However, I prefer to take it off first and put it back on after the valve cover is fully tightened down. This ensures that the pump will be properly positioned over the cam shaft.

Hey there my friend, jgmo:
Thanks again for your advice as always, and I will follow it. Sorry if I sounded a little bit negative towards the other guy(racerone) thinking I'm scared of the valves in my old Honda outboard!LOL!!! I followed your advice on changing the impeller, which went well. Maybe I'll ask some carb questions next. It's great to know that there are guys like you and Hondadude, and yes, racerone who are willing to help dummies like me who aren't very good at this kind of stuff! Thanks again!