valve adjustment nervous

[finmad]

Although the OP is now drwaing a hgher more stavble vacuum, and this was a result of adjusting  the lifters, some or many were too loose, hopefuully he adjusted when hot, and will check them again ina heat cycle or 2.

His new vacuum readings are good, but that slight bounce of the needle indicates somehthing is slightly amiss here, mine is the same.

I have no intake or vacuum line leaks, leads me to believe, 1 or more vavles not sealing 100 %....

 

I certainly will check them again, now that I have the right tools. Not nervous anymore.... The point John made about the tolerances is interesting. I have a replaced motor, it is 50 Plymouth, so along with the WD-15 shop manual I have the spec sheets for torque and clearances for the 50 Plymouth 218. I set the valves at .010 when hot, but based on what John said it might be a little too tight. If in fact the motors are all the same and the clearance requirement is based on the rpms drawn from gearing and such, I may need to loosen them a bit. Now that I have the right wrenches, I am not worried about getting in there a few more times. I will try them a bit looser, say .013 and see how the motor runs.

[Dave72dt]

I would have considered the lash difference more a matter of possible heat generation in the trucks compared to the cars.  More heat, more expansion maybe from hard working engines.  Then again, it may be just the noise difference.  Wanting it a bit quieter in the cars, Chrysler may have closed up the gap a bit.  Guessing game.

[ggdad1951]

This was my easiest experience adjusting valves...no wheel removal required, no burnt hands, no neck strain...

Did FEF's cold and only had to adjust 2...one still has a slight tick

[HanksB3B]

This was my easiest experience adjusting valves...no wheel removal required, no burnt hands,no neck strain...

Yes, but your engine blew up. (or was that the second time around) Oh that museum perfect crate engine you did, still have the pics you posted.

Hank

Edited November 12, 2015 by HanksB3B

[Jeff Balazs]

Seems to me that running these a little "loose" is pretty solid advice. Less likely to do any harm.

You also have to consider that this is a worn in engine and a valve or two may be hanging up slightly. Your vacuum readings are similar to what I started with. I would go with a good quality detergent oil like Castrol GTX and change it a few times at short intervals to clean some of the crud out of the oiling system. I have had really good results doing this. When fully warmed up my "worn in" engine idles at just a shade under a 21" rock steady reading on the vacuum gauge.

 

Jeff

[John-T-53]

Yes, but your engine blew up. (or was that the second time around) Oh that museum perfect crate engine you did, still have the pics you posted.

Hank

 

It came out even better lookin' the second time around (in progress in the pics above). Plus used por15 silver paint which has held up a lot better than the mopar performance paint I used the first time.

 

I haven't had to adjust valves at all since the "bench top" adjustment pictured above. I should probably check them one of these days...

[55 Fargo]

This is what it looked like before and I could only get it here with the rpms way up. If I brought them down below 800 the needle bounced from 15 to 22.

 

http://s202.photobucket.com/user/dschlick/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-10/D95B6BD5-ED83-4F6F-9002-590F56AFF56A_zpsdwug8utr.mp4.html?sort=3&o=48

Here is mine in late winter this year.

It has improved to 19, but needle still bounces.

[Young Ed]

I haven't had to adjust valves at all since the "bench top" adjustment pictured above. I should probably check them one of these days...

 

I keep wondering that too. Mine have 20K miles on them as is...

[Life is Good]

Here are the recomended truck manual valve creances: 

[WPVT]

I was all set to adjust the valves on my 1954 218ci. I removed the wheel and all the nuts and bolts holding the fender inner panel. The inner panel was still pretty firm. It's not rusty but just tightly fit into where it is located. I looked long and hard at how it would have to come out and decided it would be very difficult to get it back in. So valve adjustment has moved to low priority. 

How difficult have others found the inner panel removal and re-installation ? It may be that the 1954 C series is significantly different from earlier B series models. Has anyone done this on a C series?

[JBNeal]

maybe that panel is wedged between the cab and fender from a pancaked cab mount... 

[WPVT]

16 hours ago, JBNeal said:

maybe that panel is wedged between the cab and fender from a pancaked cab mount... 

Funny you should mention that. My next project is renewing the mounts. Maybe that will help.

[WPVT]

20 hours ago, JBNeal said:

maybe that panel is wedged between the cab and fender from a pancaked cab mount... 

I have a question for you, JB. I've got all four mounts unbolted and the bolts removed, so the cab is just sitting on the upper rubber mounts. The mounts don't really look "pancaked", they're just a little harder than I'd like to see, so I have in mind to replace them.

My question is this. Everything is unbolted, but the cab still feels firmly attached to the frame. You would think I could at least rock it a little. The old rubber may be acting as an adhesive, but I've actually tried rocking the cab pretty hard. Looking at the mounts, I can see that nothing has separated, not even a fraction of an inch. Am I missing something ? Intuition tells me not to try jacking up the cab. It's a nice straight rust-free cab, and I don't want to screw it up.   

[JBNeal]

when I jacked up my cab, the rubber was stuck to the metal, but I only raised it by maybe 1/4", used a gasket scraper to separate the rubber from the metal...it was a slow going process, but I got it done without using too many creative german phrases nor doing any damage to the sheet metal.

[WPVT]

7 minutes ago, JBNeal said:

when I jacked up my cab, the rubber was stuck to the metal, but I only raised it by maybe 1/4", used a gasket scraper to separate the rubber from the metal...it was a slow going process, but I got it done without using too many creative german phrases nor doing any damage to the sheet metal.

Thanks. I figured that the rubber might just be holding things stuck together, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something other than the four bolts. 

Tomorrow I will get them separated one way or the other. 

[Merle Coggins]

Have you removed the steering column clamp under the dash? This will also inhibit the cab from being lifted. 

[Matt Wilson]

I wonder what people do to accurately adjust valves when the tappets have recesses worn into them.  When I disassembled the 251 engine I'm rebuilding now (converting to 265), the tappet adjusting screws had recesses that perfectly mated with the tips of the valve stems.  The recesses were probably 0.005 - 0.010" deep.  A feeler gage will obviously no longer work to give accurate clearance readings at that point.  If the owner or mechanic doing the adjustment realizes this situation, I suppose the old, worn adjusters could be removed and replaced with new ones, but I doubt that could be done without removing either the valves or the camshaft and lifters.

[kencombs]

On most engines the adjustment screws can be reground to remove the wear.  However, some may be surface hardened.  I don't think any that I've encountered have been, but it is possible.

. 

Probably only doable in conjunction with other major work though. 

 

I wonder if a round gauge, like a spark plug gapping tool could be used?  Maybe music wire can be found in the correct diameter and could be used.  One would have to be careful to orient the lifter so that the gap was parallel with the wire ..  Just a thought.

[Dodgeb4ya]

A machine shop can surface the hardened lifter tips easily.

Sounds like on these lifter tips so worn mandatory.

[Matt Wilson]

Another thing I've been contemplating is how to adjust the valves with a set of headers in place.  I plan to use a set of Langdon headers on my engine, which completely block access to most of the tappets.  Tom (Langdon) recommends setting the clearances cold and just running the engine that way for good, and not ever coming back to set them when hot.  He says others have done it this way with no issues, but the idea of doing this still leaves me a little bit uncomfortable, thinking the valves are not really set white right.  I may end up doing that, but I thought I'd see what other folks think.  I suppose I could install the stock manifold and adjust the tappets that way, and then install the headers, but that sounds like a pain.

[kencombs]

2 hours ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

A machine shop can surface the hardened lifter tips easily.

Sounds like on these lifter tips so worn mandatory.

Not a problem if  the lifters are out.  I can even do that on my old valve refacer by rigging a holder on the valve stem grinder position.  But, not something that one would be able to do if just adjusting the valves.

 

Has anyone tried to lift and hold the valves, lowering the lifter and remove the screw with everything in place?  If that could be done, refacing or even replacing the adjustment screw would be a snap.  

[Dodgeb4ya]

Whoopsie..didn't read from the beginning.

Dumb lazy me.

A person if they wanted to spend the time and had the tooling could use a dial indicator on each valve lifter to see the actual up down measurement and calculate the amount of adjustment needed.

The screws are pretty darn long to try to remove even with the valves forced up.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Dodgeb4ya

[clarkede]

Ok.... Maybe a dumb question, but if you are trying to determine if the valve guides are worn and if there is blow-by through the valve stems, couldn't you just pull off the valve covers and run the engine and watch each of the valve guides for leakage - especially the exhaust valves?   The video at the beginning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G3MJGuKIQ8) which showed how to adjust the valves just made me think that it would be a perfect time to observe for any wear.  Any thoughts on this? 

 

The reason that I ask, is I have a lot of smoke coming from my 218 which has been sitting for about 15 years.  I have recently gotten it running again and had one valve that was stuck open.  I know this because I opened the valve covers and I saw one valve stem in the open position (see image), but I was able to get it freed without removing the head, by putting the head of a flat head screwdriver in between the spring and banging it with a hammer (carefully not to bend it).  I would have not notice it unless I rotated the engine manually to see that the valve was left high-and-dry as seen in the image - so keep that in mind if you are inspecting yours!  Now I've had it running on a few different days for about 2 hours total, and the smoke has diminished some, but I still have more smoke than I would like.  I plan to run some Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO) though it as others have recommend, and do things such as a vacuum test, but I currently have the wiring a mess as I try and install a few fuse blocks and replace/upgrade most of the wiring.  In other words I would test this idea, but I need a few weeks to get it running again.

 

So besides my question as to if you could watch for leakage, I would also like to ask if there are any other tests that could be done from down in the valve area to see if there is leakage - such as spraying something on the valves as they operate that would be sucked in and and you could see the exhaust turn colors or something.  I hope you see where I am going with this.   Thanks for any additional ideas.

[47 dodge 1.5 ton]

sorry— looks like by page 2, this was addressed.
 

I set the ones on my ‘47 .012. & 014” and think that is plenty tight, no ticking. Removing the wheel and inner fender is only 1/2 hour job and worth every second for access,  you can really see good in there. I had to fight a little with the exhaust splash shield. My great uncle worked for Chrysler for almost 50 years, the only thing I remember him saying was to set those flat heads loose until they tick a little.  

Edited August 26, 2021 by 47 dodge 1.5 ton