Valve Adj. Virgin

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

lowtideride

lowtideride

10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Threads
491
Messages
7,960
Location
The Sunshine State
Last time I tried it I did not find TDC fast enough and then ran out of day light...

So, Today I had another crack at it...

Started taking apart while it was running to keep it warm. Turned it off after everything was taken off but the valve cover.. Climbed under the rig and marked the TDC with a yellow paint pen...

Bumped it in 4th gear til I found TDC and Adjusted the first set of valves. Popped it in Neutral and climbed under and rotated the fly wheel by hand to I hit TDC again and adjusted the second set of valves...

I know i was not fast enough because by the second set of valves I was not burning my hands as the 2F started to cool quickly. I also broke my torque wrench so I could not torque it to speck. I just used a 14mm wrench and figured i could not over torque it with the small wrench and my small arms. So hopefully it's A OK...

As for the test drive it is much smoother and quieter. Its kind of like driving a huge race car, the re-gear helps with the large tires but it was still rather quick with the tune up...

Good luck with your adjustments :beer:

-Al
 
Yes...
Few years ago, I did my valve adjustment ( rig had over 220K miles)
did a 'before' measure,ent...they were few thousanths snug . . .
I would have thought:
- if OK at factory, would have 'worn' open
- as engine cools, gap would open...
Engine was, like yours, hot at start, very warm at end of 'adjustment'...
 
Valves

Usually tight valves come from the valve "cupping" a little, loose valves come from carbon building up between the valve and seat.
Did you do a compression check B4 and after? Last time I did a valve adj. on my trooper I had one cyl. with low pressure, and it turned out to be the one that had a tight exh. valve. The thing ran smoother, had more power, and had substantially better feul economy after the adj. Small fix-huge gain!

One question I was wondering: were all the valves equally tight or did the cooler ones differ a little?
Toad
 
lowtideride said:
Bumped it in 4th gear til I found TDC and Adjusted the first set of valves. Popped it in Neutral and climbed under and rotated the fly wheel by hand to I hit TDC again and adjusted the second set of valves...
-Al
Click to expand...

dude, you're a glutton for punishment ;)

next time, try a remote starter to bump the engine over vs. hand turning... inexpensive tool and will save you much time and keep the engine from cooling down too much between adjustments.

also highly reccomend a pair of mechanic's gloves to keep the flesh from searing on your digits ;p

for whatever it's worth,
-dogboy- '87 FJ60
 
haha, Dude it was wicked easy to turn the fly wheel by hand to top dead center... I could look right up til the neon yellow line was at the lil window...
 
bandy rooster said:
almost 3 thousand posts and its your first valve job.... jeez i got nothing to worry about :flipoff2:



lol glad it worked out bro, see you during thanksgiving.... :cool:
Click to expand...

Come you know i wasted about 1000 springing it over :D and the other half were in chat til they stopped the count rate there :flipoff2: :D See you at thanksgiving dude...
 
FYI: 2f valves work themselves tight over time/use..I've heard it suggested that 8000 miles would be a good adjustmnt interval.
 
My dad used to do his while the engine was running.

He had a valve cover with the top half cut off so oil would not run down the side of the engine when he was doing it.

Just stuck the feeler gauge in there while it was going and tightened accordingly.

It was something to see. :)


Fred
 
Im sure you could do that on some cars....but its not a hot idea on a cruiser...its much easier and safer with it off....would be cool to see when a kid though...
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
That's nuts. Tell us how!!!!

:beer:
Click to expand...

Well, it wasn't a cruiser, he was a big block chevy and mopar person.

First he timed it cold with the engine off. Not perfectly, just kind of close.

He'd get a valve cover from the junkyard, and cut the top half off. He'd then bolt it to the head with a home made temporary gasket. This kept the oil from running all over the place.

Then cranked it up, dialed the idle back a bit, then would stick the feeler guage (pre measured to the right gap) between the rocker arm and the valve tappet, and when the rocker was relaxed, the feeler would slide right in, then he'd tighten it down with the feeler stuck in there bobbing up and down. Then just yank it out after the nut was tightened.

That way he made sure all the valves were timed for the engine being at running temperature.

He was a hot rodder and said that it was the most messy/dangerous/time consuming way to do it, but when high precision counts, it's the only good way to do it, unless you enjoy sitting there calculating linear expansion constants of the valves, tappets and rollers. He also used roller-rockers which might have made it easier, I dunno.

Also the feelers were bent like 30 or 45 degrees at the tips to make it easier.

Fred
 
Last edited:
Pluton said:
FYI: 2f valves work themselves tight over time/use..I've heard it suggested that 8000 miles would be a good adjustmnt interval.
Click to expand...
I WAAAY overdue....better get on it ASAP
 
Damn. That's impressive. He sounds like a good mechanic. I don't know if I'd want to try that though. I'd just heat up the engine every time I switched to a new cylinder.

:beer:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom