smakuch

Here's the easy way to do valve adjust as told to me by Bruce Abbot;

The thread pitch is 1mm. Spray the adjuster with brake clean to remove the oil. Turn the adjuster to the valve, back off 1/4 turn and split the 1/4 while tightening. This would give you .12mm in a perfect world & the engine will run well & quiet. With the oil running on the parts you'll get .1mm with a dial guage.

It's quick & has worked fine for me..........no 8 hour valve adjust!!!!!

Steve
83SC

onboost

Yeah, ol' Bruce knows his stuff!!!

If you're based between the Mid Atlantic to S. Carolina area and need anything from a tune to an engine build then you might want to look-up Bruce... very knowledgeable, competent, and fair.

Paul

LUCKe27

Steve, perhaps if I knew how to do the rest of the job, I would understand your post better. It's kind of like sitting in a kindergarten class with the teacher speaking mandarin Chinese. It may be simple, but I still don't understand it . What kind of tools will I need to buy for the valve adjustment? I assume you are talking about the traditional front side rather than the backside method, correct? Best, Kevin

GothingNC

Same here.

John

MDL

I'm not trying to sound like a wise guy, but if one is going to try something as technical as adjusting the valves on a engine that is going to cost THOUSANDS if done incorrectly, please spend the $$$ and get yourself a Bentley's Manual or 101 Projects for your Porsche. That way you will be better equipped to understand .

Brett San Diego

The actual valve adjustment is the same by either method. It's the measuring of the valve clearance that is by a different method. What Steve describes is a method that doesn't use measuring so "frontside"/"backside" issues are moot.

A bit of translation of Steve's post:
1 mm thread pitch: one full turn of the adjustment screw screws the screw in or out by exactly 1 mm.

Turn the adjuster to the valve: turn the adjustment screw all the way in until the "elephant foot" contacts the top of the valve stem.

back off 1/4 turn: loosen the adjustment screw by 1/4 turn. This means you have backed the screw out by 1/4 of a mm or 0.25 mm. Valve clearance is now 0.25 mm.

split the 1/4 by tightening: This one took me a minute, too. He means to tighten the jamb nut while allowing the screw to tighten with it by 1/8 turn or one half of the 1/4 turn which you backed off initially (which means the adjustment has now been set to 1/8 turn backed off of the valve stem). 1/8 of 1 mm is 0.125 mm, so your valve clearance has now been set to 0.125 mm.

My own editorial comment: From my own experience, I would have trouble seeing 1/4 and 1/8 turn of the screw when working in the engine compartment on the intake side particularly on the forward cylinders. It was a couple years ago, but I recall I felt like I was working blind. Given more experience, the method Steve mentions is probably fine, but it doesn't seem like something for the uninitiated.

MDL is right. I highly recommend some literature with good pictures. Worth a 1000 words as they say. I just used 500 or more, and you might still be lost.

Brett

911vet

Having done all of ONE valve adjustment, I'm the farthest thing from an expert you could find. But, holy smokes, Batman, this method sounds risky to me. I don't see how you can predict how much the screw is going to turn when you tighten the nut. On my car, it wasn't consistent.

I'd say this could be useful as long as you checked with the feeler gauge after you tighten it up?

911 in SC

Right on Shannon! That's exactly what I'd do. Don't get me wrong - it makes perfect sense. However, for those of us that do not do this on a regular basis, there's quite a few variables.

Ed Hughes

What is it about valve adjustments that makes everyone scramble for a "better mousetrap"? To me, the hardest part is getting the valve covers off and back on. Sure, the procedure takes a little time, but it isn't that tough.

I agree with Shannon, there is room for error in this method, as far as I'm concerned. Then, there is the "backside" method that some on Pelican have adopted.

To me, a .004" feeler gauge, a screwdriver and a combination wrench make a traditional valve adjust pretty straight forward.

ne ohio 911

Tiny fingers and extreme motor dexterity also helps!

911pcars

"I don't see how you can predict how much the screw is going to turn when you tighten the nut. "

Guesses or predictions aren't allowed when performing engine and/or tuneup adjustments. In the case of valve adjustment, hold the slotted adjuster screw in place with a screwdriver while tightening the lock nut with a box or combination wrench, then double-check the clearance.

Even with the screw in a hard-to-see area, one could mark the screwdriver to reference the position of the adjuster screw once the screwdriver is engaged in the slot.

Adjust the exhaust valves (lower set) first to get the hang of it. Make sure the valve is closed on the rocker to adjust.

Steve's adjusting method sounds reasonable. Backside measuring by inserting a feeler gauge between rocker arm and cam lobe is easier than between rocker arm and valve tip, thus faster.

Sherwood

MDL

BINGO!!!

Ed Hughes

Truthfully, I don't have either of those...

ne ohio 911

Yeah me either. The more that I work on my car it seems to me that German engineers must have incredibly small hands and uncanny contortionist skills!

Droops83

Sounds good in theory, but I would still do it the normal way. Once you get a feel for it, with the feeler gauge, it's really not all that hard. Plus, several 911s I have worked on have had the locknuts for the adjusters overtightened at some point, which can mess up the nut or the threads. If the adjuster turns with the nut even after cracking it loose, and you have to hold the adjuster with a screwdriver to free the nut with some force, it has been overtightened and I wouldn't trust the thread-pitch method. Just practice the tradtional method several times next time you have it apart. I've never tried the backside method either. Sounds intriguing, but I've never felt the need to try.