Folks,

I saw a mention of Ken Lively's valve adjustment tools on one of the K bike forums... might have been on BMWMOA, might have been on Adventure Bike... well, I got a set 'cause Winter is coming soon.  My comments:

1).  Very quick, courteous service.  E-mail answers from Ken within a day, and the package arrived in Virginia within about three days of my payment.

2).  Tools look solid and well-made.  One page of well-organized, typed instructions comes with.

3).  Cheap cheap cheap compared to comparable OEM BMW stuff.

So, per Ken L's request I am letting everyone here know that he is "still in business" and that word-of-mouth is his only marketing method.

Ken Lively's included business card lists his info as a "Tool & Die Maker, Model Engineer, Black Powder Artillery, Live Steam, Wood Working, Travel, Hobby Photography".  E-mail = polepenhollow@yahoo.com.  Tel (US) 847-561-8555.  Flicker = POLEPENHOLLOW on flick.com

Hope this is useful info.

Hope this is useful,

I would guess that you aren't a real Brick owner if you don't have his tools.

Ohoh, experiencing massive Brick existential angst now as I made my own.....scheisse

Meh. JM02 but you can depress the valves with a screwdriver more easily if you're careful and you know what you're doing. I have set of those but still use screwdrivers instead to swap valve shims. But that's but my personal preference.

Bought a set of Ken's valve adjustment tools this past summer, July 2022.  They work well plus some interesting conversation with Ken in his shop/garage.

I believe the shims are the same as the ones in original Z900/Z1000 Kawasaki's and I have an almost full set of those. 

However, I no longer have an 8 valve K and as I understand it the K1 I have has it's adjustment via the whole bucket. Perhaps I should sell my shim set

Early Kawasaki shims are generally a good fit but NOT always. Some are fractionally bigger in diameter so measure carefully… 
I use screwdrivers to compress the spring, and compressed air to pop the shim out which is very easy and effective.

I bought a set of Ken's tools and I'm sad to say I found that the material they are made of is very soft and not really fit for purpose. The hold down tool is okay, but the curved lever was screwed the first time it slipped off a bucket. The hardened steel bucket bruised the side of the curve, destroying the edge and making it unusable because there was no flat surface left. A blacksmith friend reproduced the curved tool using a metal file as the starting blank (hardened steel) and I've never had any trouble with that one. There was enough of the file left over to make a bottle opener too...

I, too, have found Ken's tools to be soft and easily dinged.  Now that I have a 16 valve engine in the garage I no longer use them, but from time to time I have wondered I they could be heat treated to harden them up a bit.