Antony.

Hi All. I'm working on my first valve adjustment this weekend. I've got the oil drained and the valve covers off and I'm just waiting for the engine to cool down to ambient overnight (amazing how good these things are at storing heat even without oil in them).

I've been rotating the fan pulley (which is slipping so I'll work on that tomorrow too) and I'm a little confused about the marks on the lower crank pulley. My '86 has two notches about an inch apart and when I line up the rotor with cylinder 1 mark a few times. Bentley refers to a Z1 mark on the pulley. Is that an additional mark other than the two I'm seeing and I just haven't rotated it enough times? Do I need a mirror to look down in there through the AC pulley or am I already there?

Also how much material do you guys find on your oil drain plugs after a 4000 mile run on the same oil? I had a little bit of very fine magnetic build up on both plugs... is that normal or something to be concerned about?

Ed Hughes

The Z1 is one of the marks you see, per the pic in Bentley.

To keep the fan from slipping, just squeeze the two "straight" sections of belt toward each other to put tension on the pulleys. A minimal bit of pickup on the magnet is no cause for concern. The first couple of times I changed my oil, I saw similar, then with regular changes of 2500-3000 miles or 2 X/ year, the oil always looked good coming out.

KC911

What is this AC pulley thingy that you're referring too ? Ed's spot on, and it sound's like you're there. Mine doesn't have Z1 stamped, but as Ed said, the second mark you're referring too is indeed it. Have fun!

ps: There are some great threads on Pelican w/ pics etc. if you get in a bind...

Keith
'88 CE coupe

Antony.

Thanks guys. I think I have it figured out. Found the 120 degree marks and found the two marks including TDC. Is the other mark a timing mark? Seems like all of my valves are a tad tight so it is making it interesting trying to learn this feeler tool. Much easier to adjust the valves on a '93 toy 4x4 ;-)

The manual says adjust valves at 68 degrees, I'm assuming that you don't adjust for an ambient temp of 85 (I hope)?

Yeah since my AC doesn't work it seems like I could remove some weight and friction back there

theiceman

There should be a tdc and and advanced timing mark , your timing will advance with rpm. if your watching with a timing light and hit the gas it should move to the next mark . I think it is 5 degrees advace but i am not sure about that ..

theiceman

oh here is a tip i figured out the hard way ..
hook the feeler guage tool under the rocker arm after breaking the oil seal and rotate it so it slips in the gap , much easier this way. Kind of like coming in from the back but it worked very well for me .. in getting the tool in their

Ed Hughes

I always loosen my valves, put the feeler in, and then tighten to feel/spec. .004" is pretty tight to get a feeler in without mangling it. I've never "checked" my clearance, but rather "adjusted" each time I've gone in. I then rotate the engine thru the marks a couple of times feeling the play of the rocker each time. I rely on the feeler to tell me it is .004", I rely on rocking the rockers while going thru the marks to ensure no foul play.

theiceman

not to totally hi jack the thread but how has the car been since the rebuild Ed ?

Ed Hughes

She's been fine. I do have one leak from cam tower-head joint that bugs me, but other than that, it runs great.

theiceman

Is that the spot where you have to put that rediculously expensive loc tight to seal it ? Did you have to have any adjustments done by a mechanic or were you good to go after the rebuild ?

Ed Hughes

That's one of the spots......nobody else has touched the engine but me since I've owned it.

Antony.

After some experimenting on cylinder #4 (easiest access) where I just backed the adjusters completely out in order to get the feeler in there. I ended up doing backside checks on the rest of the cylinders and if I had to adjust I loosened them way up to get the .004 in there and went from there. It's all adjusted now and buttoned back up. Do I get second attempts on these standard maintenance kit pelican gaskets if I left something loose?

I also swapped out the distributor cap and rotor, lotsa fun getting the plug wires off but they look like they are still in decent shape. Still gotta replace the plugs, the tranny fluid and the other filters and she'll be ready for a test run. Next project is oil lines and brake hoses which I'm pretty sure are quite old.

Thanks again for the responses. Nice to have a resource like this when you're attempting these projects for the first time.

theiceman

just to make sure .. the rotor turns in an SC ccw .. some bentley manuals are wrong. You could end up with a blown up engine like me

Antony.

Hey iceman, thanks for the heads up. Does that only apply to SCs? My Bentley says clockwise everywhere (one exception in the camshaft timing chain section) but I have an 86. I don't see any corrections on the Bentley page for my manual. Regardless I'll go back and triple check my plug connections before firing it up since I did swap the cap.

Ed Hughes

Only SC's, all other 911's distributors turn CW.