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·Just a little background befor
Just a little background before we dig into this...This was a comprehensive rebuild, right down to splitting the case and replace the mains and rod bearings. New JE high compression pistons, new cams...and on and on.
The engine currently has 1200 miles on it.
Service done, thus far:
Initial rebuild: 30W GTX oil
-Oil and filter changed after 30 minutes of running time.
-Oil (30W) and filter changed after 300 miles.
Services being done now:
Valve adjustments, head and cam cap retorqe.
RHS valve cover removed...
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Starting at the center of the head, and working in a circular patern (and actually shown in the WSM), the head nuts are retorqued (without loosening) to 80 lb-ft. The cam caps are checked for tighteness at 6.5 lb-ft using a 1/4" drive torque wrench.
The cam lobes are, one by one, orientated to point directly away from the buckets...and then the valve clearance is checked. I use remote starter button, across the starter terminals to turn over the engine. The following picture shows one of the exhaust lobes in the proper orination to have it's clearance checked. Note that the shim bucket has been turned so that the "notch" is "up". This will facilitate easy shim removal, if the clearances are not in specs.
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The valve clearance for the exhaust valves are .012" to .014". Personally, I believe a loose (exhaust) valve is a "happy" vavle, so on the initally assembly, they we all set to .014". I have measured the clearance on the vavle shown to be .015", .001" too loose. So, how are we going to get that shim out of there? Here are the tools that I use, knowing full well that there are many variations of these tools available.
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OK, now we're ready to compress the valve spring, holding the bucket down, whilst pulling the shim out. The trick here is to only grab the edge of the bucket, and not the shim with the silver retaining tool shown above. You're probably wondering how can David even seem the edge of the bucket, once the retainer tool is installed. Well, sometimes...I can't. However, if the retainer is properly installed, I will be able to rotate the shim on the top of the bucket with my finger, as at this point, only oil tension holds it in place. Here's a shot of the sring compressed, with the edge of the bucket retained.
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Notice the little notch in the bucket is clearly still visible. With a little pick, or even easier with compressed air, blow in the notch. The shim will pop out...usually. At this point, it is very important not to disturb the engine, as if the retainer pops out, it can be a bit challenging to get it back it. OK, so let's see what we need to do about getting the clearance back to specs...
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The old shim is 3.75 mm. In that we want to reduce the valve clearance by .001", we want a thicker shim. The shims come in .05mm increments, so the next available thicker shim is 3.80 mm, which should put our exhaust vavle at .013". (.05mm = .002"). In that the numbers marked on the shims, it's best to measure them for accuaracy. With the new shim selected, carefully install in bucket...and re-compress the valve, and remove the retainer tool. Squirt a bit of oil, or assembly lube on the newly installed shim, rotate the engine a couple of times...and re-check the valve clearance. This is an important step, as the shim will not always fully seat in the bucket initally...and the cam lobe pressing it down into place eliminates the possiblity of an erroneous clearance measurement.
That's it, for now...
Regards,
David
Just a little background before we dig into this...This was a comprehensive rebuild, right down to splitting the case and replace the mains and rod bearings. New JE high compression pistons, new cams...and on and on.
The engine currently has 1200 miles on it.
Service done, thus far:
Initial rebuild: 30W GTX oil
-Oil and filter changed after 30 minutes of running time.
-Oil (30W) and filter changed after 300 miles.
Services being done now:
Valve adjustments, head and cam cap retorqe.
RHS valve cover removed...
Starting at the center of the head, and working in a circular patern (and actually shown in the WSM), the head nuts are retorqued (without loosening) to 80 lb-ft. The cam caps are checked for tighteness at 6.5 lb-ft using a 1/4" drive torque wrench.
The cam lobes are, one by one, orientated to point directly away from the buckets...and then the valve clearance is checked. I use remote starter button, across the starter terminals to turn over the engine. The following picture shows one of the exhaust lobes in the proper orination to have it's clearance checked. Note that the shim bucket has been turned so that the "notch" is "up". This will facilitate easy shim removal, if the clearances are not in specs.
The valve clearance for the exhaust valves are .012" to .014". Personally, I believe a loose (exhaust) valve is a "happy" vavle, so on the initally assembly, they we all set to .014". I have measured the clearance on the vavle shown to be .015", .001" too loose. So, how are we going to get that shim out of there? Here are the tools that I use, knowing full well that there are many variations of these tools available.
OK, now we're ready to compress the valve spring, holding the bucket down, whilst pulling the shim out. The trick here is to only grab the edge of the bucket, and not the shim with the silver retaining tool shown above. You're probably wondering how can David even seem the edge of the bucket, once the retainer tool is installed. Well, sometimes...I can't. However, if the retainer is properly installed, I will be able to rotate the shim on the top of the bucket with my finger, as at this point, only oil tension holds it in place. Here's a shot of the sring compressed, with the edge of the bucket retained.
Notice the little notch in the bucket is clearly still visible. With a little pick, or even easier with compressed air, blow in the notch. The shim will pop out...usually. At this point, it is very important not to disturb the engine, as if the retainer pops out, it can be a bit challenging to get it back it. OK, so let's see what we need to do about getting the clearance back to specs...
The old shim is 3.75 mm. In that we want to reduce the valve clearance by .001", we want a thicker shim. The shims come in .05mm increments, so the next available thicker shim is 3.80 mm, which should put our exhaust vavle at .013". (.05mm = .002"). In that the numbers marked on the shims, it's best to measure them for accuaracy. With the new shim selected, carefully install in bucket...and re-compress the valve, and remove the retainer tool. Squirt a bit of oil, or assembly lube on the newly installed shim, rotate the engine a couple of times...and re-check the valve clearance. This is an important step, as the shim will not always fully seat in the bucket initally...and the cam lobe pressing it down into place eliminates the possiblity of an erroneous clearance measurement.
That's it, for now...
Regards,
David
