valve adjustment - PLEASE HELP

[beechfront]

"clearance is measured correctly when there is a slight drag on the feeler gauge"


alright this is the first time i have ever done this - and after i thought i had everything adjusted properly i get it all back together and now i hear a tick.

i have a feeling i mis-interpreted their definition of slight drag.

it it actually measured by slight drag or the thickest one you can fit in there?

logic tells me it should be the largest one that would fit - but the largest one gives me a lot more than a "slight drag" in my opinion.

I'm sitting here at 3 in the morning going crazy.

slight drag..... they might as well say "just keep trying different sizes until you find one that you think fits good"

[chevy45412001]

basicly

Your basicly correct on that one. Slight drag means just that.Like pulling a pieace of paper through your fingers. If you have to force the feeler gauge in IT'S TO BIG,go to the next smaller size.SOMETIMES you can even use two (2) feeler gauges together to GET THE FEEL your looking for. That is an eXceptical proceedure. And actualy is what needs to be done quite often to get the proper measurement. Thats why they put those real little gauges in there like.o01,.002,.003 etc. If realy needed you can also use three or four or whatever number of gauges to get the eXact measure ment.

[beechfront]

thanks.

that is what i had originally thought.

their terminology just confused me. going off of what i thought they meant - i was finding a size that slid through with little or no resistance, then usually one size or so up from that - giving me "slight drag". even though i could have fit a size or three larger.

i should have known better. luckily this is not one of those things that can cause major damage.

[Dennyz]

I picked up a set of "go, no go" feeler gauges. Each gauge has two thicknesses. The front part of each gauge is .002" (.051mm) thinner than the rest of the guage. It makes it much easier to tell what the clearence is (+-.002").

I don't remember where I go them. I would start with NAPA or a good tool store.

[skids]

chevy454 does it like I do, using more than one spoon at a time when needed to get the measured thickness. I used to think that the layer of oil between the spoons could affect the reading, but now I doubt it. I now think that it is easier to curve two spoons together, rather than using a thicker one, to get by the obstructions of the head. I wish I had more spoons on the feeler gage set, but I got the most complete set I could find. There is some subjectivity involved, and sometimes you just have to say, well, that measurement is too big and the previous one was too small, so perhaps the right shim is somewhere inbetween. Always remeasure the clearances after you replace the shims, before you button on the cover and rotate the crank several times with a wrench prior to taking the measurement to ensure that it is seated in the bucket and "glued down" with a layer of oil. At least that is how I try and do it. Unless you used gasket glue, the cover gasket should still be in good shape. Now would also be a good time to seal the half-moon seals on the right-hand side.

[Geezer]

Two things to consider are; that valves on the loose end of spec may tick, and that after replacing a shim rotate the engine a full cycle so the cam will seat the valve then check the clearance again before going on to the next one.

Geezer