biggles

Backside adjustment in a nutshell
.003 guage slips into gap - too loose
.025 guage drags thru gap - perfect
.002 guage does not slip into gap - too tight - Not necessary, but sometimes I use as a check
biggles

bmohr

tear down went perfect. Quick too, as I don't have rear blower motor or airbox to remove Tomorrow should be fun with the actual adjustment. I believe I have it top dead center with z1 and the notch in the fan shroud lined up. Plus the Dizzy rotor is pointing to a triangle like arrow nub. I'll check in late manana and hopefully button it back up after lunch time!

springer3

Can't let a valve adjustment thread pass without mentioning the fact that a dial indicator is inexpensive, and you avoid the need to insert a feeler gage. It is also a great final check for any valves you need to adjust. I have OCD about getting all the valves within a micron of the spec, and the dial gage makes that easy.

I have no problem turning the engine with a wrench on the alternator nut. Apply strong thumb pressure on the slack side of the belt, and you can inch the crank around to the markers.

bmohr

Okay, maybe i'll invest in the dial indicator down the road. The adjustment went well I suppose. Took me an hour and a half just to figure out how and what to "adjust" lol. Seriously, it wasn't too easy to tell what i was looking at. But finally i got things going and all adjusted, then went back and re checked everything to make sure. I had read that first timers usually always adjust on the loose side, so I was really keen on adjusting them tighter. Just so the blade could move in and out of the slot, but with a good deal of resistance. Couple things that i wanted to note. First, for some reason a sht load of oil spilled out of my oil filter...even though the rear was jacked up!?!? Strange and messy. Second, I had some water come out of lower exhaust spark plug tube. Is this normal? Can rain get in those tubes like that? Third, don't ever use the feeler gauge straight out of the box...TIGHTEN UP THOSE TWO SMALL NUTS! lol. Otherwise, everything went well and car started after re-assembly, that alone merrits some beers Ran out of time to do the fuel filter and check my oil blower fans, also still need to replace the dizzy belts...and most of my engine belts come to think of it. They all looked a bit on the old side.

bmohr

So my engine was making some ticking noises from the drivers side engine and had a valve job coming up so I figured I would cross my fingers and hope the noise was the result of badly adjusted valves. Some notes, number 3 and 6 were TIGHT. All the rest were spot on, or just a tiny loose. After the job the noise has been cleared or substantially reduced. Now the question is...what type of damage could I have incurred with those tight valves? I have noticed metal "sludge" on the magnetic drain plug.

springer3

When you say "TIGHT", how tight? As long as some clearance remains, you should be fine.

A little bit of sludge on the magnetic drain is normal. Particles are not normal.

bmohr

Springer, i wasn't able to get the .004 feeler gauge into the gap. Seemed like I needed to back the screw up quite a bit to be able to side the gauge in. Sorry thats not very precise measurements, but I'm hoping there was a little gap like you mentioned. Sludge was all that was found, no particles. Engine runs very well currently, best its sounded and performed since i've gotten it. Took a long time to sort out all the little ignition, spark, MAF and knock sensor issues but it feels fantastic currently. On the other side, if a valve does go tight, do they start to burn up, become brittle and then break? Is that the biggest worry? Both intake and exhaust were equally tight on number 3, number 6 the exhaust was tigher than the intake.

dfinnegan

The adjusting screw has an "elephant's foot" on the bottom which swivels to account for the misalignment of the valve stem. This "foot" can turn so that that gap is closed on one side and open on the other.

Moving the feeler gauge around to the other side sometimes helps getting it to insert into the gap.

Also, it is helpful to grind down the feeler gauge sides to make it smaller and thus fit more easily into the "hole" where the gap resides.

bmohr

ah, good tip there, thanks. I noticed uneven gaps in while doing the adjustment and adjusted the valves based on the most loose areas of the foot if that makes sense.

dfinnegan

Not really. The foot is quite loose and should allow for the feeler gauge to enter completely into the gap and cover the whole of the "foot" the gap is then tightened so the gauge can be moved around with a slight drag.

dutchcrunch

since you have the valve covers off just pull the bottom plugs motor will turn over a lot easier. the reason its so hard to get the feeler gage in at first is because the swivel foot ball socket connection gets filled with oil and tightens the gap when the engine is static. if you fingers are not too fat you grab it and pull the foot away from the valve and the feeler will slide right in. it kinds of makes this click noise as your pulling the foot away from the valve stem. hard to explain but helps alot.

bmohr

yes, i did this, but it was still too tight. In any event, it could have been user error as well..these sides are fairly hard to get at (# 6 especially). But I know they were tight. Now ticking noise is gone, so I am confident they are well adjusted. The last time I did the valve job I busted my finger(the nail fell off a month later) while turning the crank after valve number 1. So the rest of the job was painful and somewhat rushed. Probably did a **** poor job and it showed up during this past weekends servicing I'm pissed at myself for it, but hey, try to wrench all those nuts and bolts with a completely blasted throbbing finger! I now turn the crank with an "open" hand to as to avoid smashing my fingers on the ac pulley rib.