dsmith

Don't forget to check your headstuds and rocker arm shafts, though the shafts look good in the pics (not moved or wet with oil). I'll agree on the red gaskets. I was doing a bunch of stuff and readjusting the valves several times, so I used the red gaskets and reused hardware until I was done. Then I put on new hardware the last time.

If you've adjusted valves before and have a good feel for the "drag", you'll be fine, though the lower left is pretty difficult to get right with the cat in the way.
David

theiceman

"oh no ! ...... oh no, oh no , oh no ........ noooooooooooooo......... ! "

okay that must sound familiar to most DIY guys ... i was in total panic last night ..

Okay here....... we go ...... and knowing my history ... some of you probably know this is gonna be good ....... ! I just know John is gonna have a field day with this ..

All ready to do the check so wea re off... first I have to find TOP dead centre .. no problem right ? rotate the crank until Z1 is at the top and the rotor and it's notch ... well there are TWO notches on the pulley about 5mm from each other. I figure one is an advance timing mark and just use the one on the left.. no probs , takes about half an hour to do one but I expect this as it is my first , acces is a total drag .. So done ..... Move to the second crank it around to the next notch it the flywheel do the next one ...very much a pain doing number 6 i think it is .. for me 6 intake is about the wost , get it done move on .. turn the pulley ......funny .... Z1 is back ....well that didn't work the way it was suppose to ... a much closer inspection reveals my setting on number 6 was done on a random nick in the flywheel .... So how come I can't find the marks for 120 and 240 ? so i gets my flashlight and mrror ... it looks realy shiney on the edge of the pulley.... then it dawns on me .......

You guys remember me dropping my oil cap down into the engine and it chewed up the belt and cap in the pulley ? ....well guess what, the cap ground of all my pulley Marks to do my lash adjustments .... so now I have the engine in bits ... cylinder 6 set all wrong , and no way to verify ...... but a really shiney pulley edge ..

isn't life grand ?

I am not one to give up so easy but what a frustrating evening .....
A couple of things I did motice ... I had to rebend my nice new tool as it was just unworkable in it's provided format .. seams better now . also am I suppose to use a mirror to do the intakes for the front ones or is it done by feel ? these ones are proving most chalenging.

and a question for Pete . ..

I have had my car for about 30,000km and it has no valve train noises what soever, it also pulls very strong . Now if I am checking the valves and I can get the eeler guage in wihout making any adjustments can I just leave it ? it tells me it is not so loose it is making valve train noises , but not so tight that I can't get the feeler in ..

also I took a close inspection of the cams and they are not pitted at all . in fact they weren't even shiney on the lobes . they were a kind of a gun metal grey colour .. is this good ?

Thanks ..

Peter Zimmermann

Yes, if the clearance feels perfect there is no need to change the adjustment (always wiggle the rocker first to break the oil lock inside the elephant's foot). What's tricky is when you get one that you know is OK, but something in your head says, "adjust it!" Most of the time the adjustment screw ends up in the same position, but at least you know that you're not a half a thou too loose. It's important to be able to insert the gauge, move it sideways with a little force, then remove it with drag against the feeler blade. When you adjust the lash the goal is to do it without allowing the adjuster screw to turn as you tighten the jamb nut - in other words, don't "pull" the clearance into adjustment by letting the jamb nut "pull" the screw with it. That will damage threads and each successive adjustment will become more difficult, plus it's just no good for the hardware.

Amber Gramps

With a mirror, flashlight, and a wiggle of the rocker you should be able to see and feel if the rocker is on the "back side" or "valve closed" position of the cam even without pulley marks. A loose rocker that isn't on the lobe of the cam should wiggle side to side a tad and up and down the .004 or more. I don't have the book in front of me but with a posible 720 degrees of lift there is only 240 degrees of lift on each lobe so you have lots of flat cam to work with.

jakeflyer

Ice-- REALLY sorry to hear about the pulley marks. Sounds like you need to replace the pulley (not sure how this is done with an A/C double pulley) easy on a single pulley. Or, re-degree the pulley. I have worked on aircraft and motorcycle engines that have degree plates designed for them. Unfortunately I do not see a way to center and attach a plate on the A/C engine. I did a tool for the 911 for tdc.

I assembled a tool to show exact tdc using the piston as the indicator. This is a compression testor end that screws into the plug hole with female pipe threads at the other end. pipe screwed into that and a dial gauge with extender attached at the end. I made 2 to set cams on the 911- one for each side. If it were here I would send it to you.

Outside of using a protractor and doing 33 1/3 legs several times, I am unsure how to kill the beast.

The good news is that the distributor rotor with it relationship to the distrib cap will show the correct piston in approx tdc.

Re: glass as a flat surface. I pulled a large glass window 36"x40" out of the old house we are restoring built in 1912. I miked the glass top and bottom to see how much flow there was in almost 100 years. About .0002 or so.

theiceman

Well I went out today in the bright sunlight .. and I could see when i turned the pulley at each 120 mark very faint verticle lines on the outside ( closest to me ) of the pulley . i got out my white paint and I am back in action baby ... !!

amed with 5 more blades and a renewed confiedence .. I am going at it again .. and I will see if I can pick up the red lower gaskets in Hershey ..

jakeflyer

You may want to use a triangle file to mark the points so you dont have to chalk it each time.

SO GLAD the marks were there.

GothingNC

Iceman,

Glad to here you're back in business

I had the same problem with an unmarked pully adjusting the valves on my VW Thing, however, it's a lot easier dealiing with 4 cylinders and only two valve covers held on with bailing clips.

John

Peter Zimmermann

Aw, man, that sucker's really crooked!

theiceman

Okay here is my update ....

you know there is probably something writena million times over I didn't see. how to get the feeler guage in .. once I figured that out it went like a snap .. hook the tool under the rocker arm and rotate it in , kind of like coming from the back .. worked great and i got everything checked and rechecked in about an hour. spent more ime cleaning the gasket surfaces I think . What a mess.

Everthing else checked out. just buttoned it up , All I had were those cheap cardboard gaskets so they will leak until i get the red ones. but at least my excahangers won't rust anymore.

old man neri

I doubt it, I have the cheap ones and I have never had a problem, even through winter.

-matt

GothingNC

Iceman,

Happy to hear that you finished it up

Let us know if she runs quieter and faster !

John

Peter Zimmermann

Yep, you're on the right track! It always takes much longer to clean everything than to do the adjustment.

ice, they don't make cheap cardboard gaskets anymore! The gray ones, usually only supplied for the intake covers, are pretty good, but the thin blue/green gaskets are exceptional. They won't leak! Good job - don't forget to swing past your favorite shop with an exhaust gas analyzer and check/set the CO%!

der Mond

Congratulations, Iceman, you have passed the Rite of Passage! I used silicone gaskets and never had a leak afterwards. What impresses me most, of course, is seeing tha Red Wings red on that engine! We are thawing out here in the Last Frontier and the guy who bought my car is going to let me drive it again this weekend, if weather permits.

imcarthur

Good job. Now you have to get it hot to see if you did it right because it doesn't get noisy until it gets hot. I found that out . . .

Ian