Tweet
Hey folks,
I decided to pull my valve cover off of Godzilla to both replace the rubber half moons, and to reseal the gasket/new one, along with check my valve clearances since I hadn't done that in 4 years since my rebuild! The last time I had the cover off was at my rebuild, and I had the engine out of the frame for that, so was no problem getting to the cover and bolts. However, this time, was still in the frame. Was able to get to all of the bolts except the one center front one!!
On my 81, there's a cross beam just barely about an inch above the bolt, and not enough room to fit an allen wrench to loosen it. I used a pair of pliers to grab it to loosen it, but that was just the beginning. Then it wouldn't clear that to pull out, even with removal of all of the other bolts, and pushing the cover forward and tilting it up in the back to angle the hole to try to clear the cross bar. And you can't slide the cover sideways much because you hit the cam sprockets! I finally had to DREMMEL cut off disc the bolt, thankfully the local hardware store carries replacements, but since there wasn't room for the allen head style, I went with a hex head bolt, had to cut it to length, and then I cut off one side of the head "I thought" to allow room for it to slide past the cross bar.
But it wouldn't fit, I was able to place the bolt in the cover, and then push(read forced!
) it over the cam sprockets and under the cross bar just barely and finally into place! 
So.... I was just wondering if many other folks had a similar problem getting that bolt in and out to get their valve covers off and on?!
BTW, I had 1 intake valve that was slightly over tolerance, .008in vs. the .04-.06 range, but that was more preferable to being too tight, and I didn't change the shim, that will decrease with the engine at operating temp, and I know I'm not burning valves, perhaps a slight more valve tappet noise....IF I can hear it over the pipes!
Just getting it ready for the NY rally next weekend!
I decided to pull my valve cover off of Godzilla to both replace the rubber half moons, and to reseal the gasket/new one, along with check my valve clearances since I hadn't done that in 4 years since my rebuild! The last time I had the cover off was at my rebuild, and I had the engine out of the frame for that, so was no problem getting to the cover and bolts. However, this time, was still in the frame. Was able to get to all of the bolts except the one center front one!!
On my 81, there's a cross beam just barely about an inch above the bolt, and not enough room to fit an allen wrench to loosen it. I used a pair of pliers to grab it to loosen it, but that was just the beginning. Then it wouldn't clear that to pull out, even with removal of all of the other bolts, and pushing the cover forward and tilting it up in the back to angle the hole to try to clear the cross bar. And you can't slide the cover sideways much because you hit the cam sprockets! I finally had to DREMMEL cut off disc the bolt, thankfully the local hardware store carries replacements, but since there wasn't room for the allen head style, I went with a hex head bolt, had to cut it to length, and then I cut off one side of the head "I thought" to allow room for it to slide past the cross bar.
But it wouldn't fit, I was able to place the bolt in the cover, and then push(read forced!
) it over the cam sprockets and under the cross bar just barely and finally into place! So.... I was just wondering if many other folks had a similar problem getting that bolt in and out to get their valve covers off and on?!BTW, I had 1 intake valve that was slightly over tolerance, .008in vs. the .04-.06 range, but that was more preferable to being too tight, and I didn't change the shim, that will decrease with the engine at operating temp, and I know I'm not burning valves, perhaps a slight more valve tappet noise....IF I can hear it over the pipes!
Just getting it ready for the NY rally next weekend!
I'm getting it ready for the NY rally! Just replaced my exhaust gaskets, checked vital fluids, new plugs even though the old ones look good, they'll make good spares! It's in the 90's down here as well, we'll see how long I last in the garage, have 2 fans blowing!
Comment