First Valve Adjustment Completed
10-31-2010, 09:13 PM
#1
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First Valve Adjustment Completed
I had a handy friend come over for the weekend and we worked from 9-6 on Sat and 10-6 on Sun. I am sore and covered in crud. If you ever do it a buddy willing to help is invaluable.
Basically, I adjusted all the valves twice.
I have to say that adjusting valves is not easy and I am baffled as to why there isn't a posted DIY on this on the site. I used the feeler gauge on Sat and thought I had adjusted all the valves satisfactorily. Sunday was going to be the reassembly day.
Then on Sunday I wanted to check my work so I performed the 'Backside Method' on all the valves. All the adjusted valves were wildly different when measuring with the backside method, some were way tight and other very loose.Almost all the valves needed to be readjusted to meet the tighter tolerances of the backside method.
The real PITA was not being able to find the go and no-go positions on a lot of valves (the passenger side was worse than driver's...maybe the cam on the passenger side is wearing at a different rate). Dozens of times it would be "all go" or "none go". It got down to the point where on a few valves I did the "sort of go" method where both feelers would "go" but the .0025 would slide a bit better than the .0030.
I searched the forums a lot and cannot find:
1. exactly how tightly torqued the valve screw nuts are supposed to be. I also cannot find out whether to err on the side of valve tightness or looseness.
2. I figured that a slight scraping feel (like rubbing the gauge over really fine grit sandpaper) was preferred to the very easy insertion and removal of the feeler gauges with both methods. Can anyone confirm this?
The car starts up and drives great (probably the result of new plugs, disty caps and rotors more than the valve adjustment). I just hope I did the job properly and didn't make the valves too tight.
Basically, I adjusted all the valves twice.
I have to say that adjusting valves is not easy and I am baffled as to why there isn't a posted DIY on this on the site. I used the feeler gauge on Sat and thought I had adjusted all the valves satisfactorily. Sunday was going to be the reassembly day.
Then on Sunday I wanted to check my work so I performed the 'Backside Method' on all the valves. All the adjusted valves were wildly different when measuring with the backside method, some were way tight and other very loose.Almost all the valves needed to be readjusted to meet the tighter tolerances of the backside method.
The real PITA was not being able to find the go and no-go positions on a lot of valves (the passenger side was worse than driver's...maybe the cam on the passenger side is wearing at a different rate). Dozens of times it would be "all go" or "none go". It got down to the point where on a few valves I did the "sort of go" method where both feelers would "go" but the .0025 would slide a bit better than the .0030.
I searched the forums a lot and cannot find:
1. exactly how tightly torqued the valve screw nuts are supposed to be. I also cannot find out whether to err on the side of valve tightness or looseness.
2. I figured that a slight scraping feel (like rubbing the gauge over really fine grit sandpaper) was preferred to the very easy insertion and removal of the feeler gauges with both methods. Can anyone confirm this?
The car starts up and drives great (probably the result of new plugs, disty caps and rotors more than the valve adjustment). I just hope I did the job properly and didn't make the valves too tight.
11-01-2010, 03:53 AM
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Good Job!
Whenever I do a valve adjustment on any car, I always use the Up 1/ DOWN 1 method with the feeler gauge.
That is, if the spec is 0.1mm (0.004in.), I would adjust the valve using the 0.1mm (0.004in.) feeler gauge. Then, I go up one feeler gauge (which shouldn't fit at all), and down one feeler gauge (which should be sloppy loose). It's more or less a double-check.
Your description of a slight drag with the proper feeler gauge (like fine sandpaper), is usually about right.
Cheers!
Whenever I do a valve adjustment on any car, I always use the Up 1/ DOWN 1 method with the feeler gauge.
That is, if the spec is 0.1mm (0.004in.), I would adjust the valve using the 0.1mm (0.004in.) feeler gauge. Then, I go up one feeler gauge (which shouldn't fit at all), and down one feeler gauge (which should be sloppy loose). It's more or less a double-check.
Your description of a slight drag with the proper feeler gauge (like fine sandpaper), is usually about right.
Cheers!
Last edited by Lil bastard; 11-02-2010 at 02:20 PM.
