I've got an 81 suzuki motorcycle (for sale if anyone's looking). When I did its shim-over-bucket valve adjustment, I used a tip from the suzuki forum and did the following to avoid buying a tappet depresser tool:

Remove spark plugs and manually crank engine over until the valve you want to adjust is fully open.
Bend/crease a ziptie so it's got the right angle, and insert it between the valve and valve-seat.
Manually rotate the engine again to a position where you can remove the shim.
Replace shim, rotate around until valve is depressed, remove zip-tie.



So, that said, is there any way that would work for our bricks? I want to adjust the valves on my 90 740T (94 L-block) and I'm wondering if I can do it.

Cheers!