Valve Adjustment Revisited

[woodie49]

I adusted my valves this weekend with somewhat disappointing results. Because I wanted to adjust them cold, I went .012 intake and .013 exhaust. So, I still have a lot of clacking. The intakes should have been at .010, but I had a hard time getting over the manual advising . 010 for both hot and cold. It seemed to me there should be expansion on the intakes - bad choice I guess. It is much better though, as some were really way out. But I still have a whole chorus of ticking that is driving me nuts.

I have a few questions:

1. Because of the exhaust manifold, it was very hard to get the rear cover off, especially undoing the thumbscrew. If I do this hot, my hand will be well done before I am finished. Is there a tool to loosen/tighted the valve cover thumbscrews?

2. Does some one sell a set of wrenches made for this application? I used a 1/2 and a 7/16, but a set of longer thinner ones would be nice. Also, a set of bent ones for getting the two intakes in cylinder 5 and 6 behind the exhaust, they are tough to reach.

3. Where would I find a set of "go-nogo" feelers? there is a link to Ebay in an earlier thread, but the link is dead. While I don't want to adjust running, I may have to bit the bullet.

I expect to be in the fender well next weekend, trying to get it right. Might try it hot second time around, but still can't see how to do so given the close quarters.

Everything was extremely clean behind the valve covers and all the tappets spin easily. Because of this and very consistant compression accross all cylinders, clean oil, etc., I suspect this is a fairly recent rebuild (at least top end). Other than a compression test, how can I tell?

[aero3113]

For the valve covers you can use an old socket and put a cut down the middle to allow the thumb screw to fit in the socket.

[Merle Coggins]

I got my go-no go feeler gauges from my Matco dealer years ago. I also have angle head open end wrenches from Shap-On. And I have an old set of Craftsman tappet wrenches. Sears/K-Mart should have what you need.

From the Sears web site;

Tappet Wrenches

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153_12605?vName=Tools&keyword=tappet+wrench&sLevel=0

Angle Wrenches

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153_12605?keyword=angle+wrench#viewItems=21&pageNum=3&sortOption=ORIGINAL_SORT_ORDER

Go-No Go feeler gauges

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153_12605?keyword=feeler+gauges&gobutton.x=13&gobutton.y=16

From Snap-On's web site

Slim wrenches

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=&item_ID=5212&group_ID=559&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

Angle Wrenches

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=&item_ID=203&group_ID=560&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

Feeler Gauges

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=&item_ID=9513&group_ID=1123&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

[steveplym]

I adusted my valves this weekend with somewhat disappointing results. Because I wanted to adjust them cold, I went .012 intake and .013 exhaust. So, I still have a lot of clacking. The intakes should have been at .010, but I had a hard time getting over the manual advising . 010 for both hot and cold. It seemed to me there should be expansion on the intakes - bad choice I guess. It is much better though, as some were really way out. But I still have a whole chorus of ticking that is driving me nuts.

I have a few questions:

1. Because of the exhaust manifold, it was very hard to get the rear cover off, especially undoing the thumbscrew. If I do this hot, my hand will be well done before I am finished. Is there a tool to loosen/tighted the valve cover thumbscrews?

2. Does some one sell a set of wrenches made for this application? I used a 1/2 and a 7/16, but a set of longer thinner ones would be nice. Also, a set of bent ones for getting the two intakes in cylinder 5 and 6 behind the exhaust, they are tough to reach.

3. Where would I find a set of "go-nogo" feelers? there is a link to Ebay in an earlier thread, but the link is dead. While I don't want to adjust running, I may have to bit the bullet.

I expect to be in the fender well next weekend, trying to get it right. Might try it hot second time around, but still can't see how to do so given the close quarters.

Everything was extremely clean behind the valve covers and all the tappets spin easily. Because of this and very consistant compression accross all cylinders, clean oil, etc., I suspect this is a fairly recent rebuild (at least top end). Other than a compression test, how can I tell?

1. I used a pair of pliers and vise grips to get them loose and finish tigtening them. You can take the valve covers off before you get the engine hot. It will run for quite a while at idle and not make hardly any mess.

2. They sell tappett wrenches. They are listed on ebay, but a good, long, skinny wrench will work too. I used a pair of mechanix gloves and I found a pair of wrenches from Ace that worked pretty well. It is kind of tight, but if you are careful you won't get burned.

3. I bought mine from ebay, but I was in Napa the other day looking around and they had a set in there. I would assume most auto parts stores would have them. I just didn't check myself.

I had the same trouble you are having. I even adjusted them hot to the hot setting. Still had noise. The way I finally got them quiet was that I would get the car running, then put the feeler gauge in between each one until I heard it quiet down. The I rechecked the setting. I even ended up drawing out a diagram of which ones were intake and exhaust and crossing out each one when I had adjusted them correctly.

I finally found out that I had a tappet that was cupped. So I was getting a skewed reading with the feeler gauge. It wasn't as close to the valve stem as the feeler gauge indicated. I tightened it up a bit and it quited down the noise. Only other thing to look for would be a broken valve spring.

[martybose]

I bought a tappet wrench set from McMaster-Carr, www.mcmaster.com; it did make the adjustment easier.

Marty

[woodie49]

Thanks everyone! I ordered all the stuff I needed, except for the gold plated wrenches!

You gotta love the internet. I just sit at home and wait for everything to come to me.

[james curl]

If you are close to a Sears retail store they have them in the tool section. Also you can usually find them at one of the tool vendors at a good swap meet.