Hints & Tips: Valve Adjustment: Difference between revisions

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*Sears' automotive valve clearance gauge set is sufficient for the job, assuming you want to adjust your valves to the looser end of spec (as most do). The three thinnest gauges are 0.005, 0.006 and 0.007 inches, marked handily in both metric and SAE. 0.005/0.006 is a usable "go/no-go" pair for the maximum specified intake valve clearance, and 0.006/0.007 is usable for the maximum exhaust valve clearance. This set also has the handy feature of having one tip of the gauges bent up at 45 degrees from the rest of the gauge. Considering you can use either end of the gauge to check clearance, this was very handy, particularly for the rightmost intake and exhaust valves. Stupid cam chain...
*Sears' automotive valve clearance gauge set is sufficient for the job, assuming you want to adjust your valves to the looser end of spec (as most do). The three thinnest gauges are 0.005, 0.006 and 0.007 inches, marked handily in both metric and SAE. 0.005/0.006 is a usable "go/no-go" pair for the maximum specified intake valve clearance, and 0.006/0.007 is usable for the maximum exhaust valve clearance. This set also has the handy feature of having one tip of the gauges bent up at 45 degrees from the rest of the gauge. Considering you can use either end of the gauge to check clearance, this was very handy, particularly for the rightmost intake and exhaust valves. Stupid cam chain...


*Get a 9mm, 6pt, deep well socket. Use it to make the actual adjustment, without a ratchet, but with a screwdriver through the middle. That way you can turn the nut and use the screwdriver to hold the screw. At the beginning and end, when you're just breaking the nut loose or torquing it back down to spec, you can use your socket with a 1/4" ratchet. You might twist the screw a little, but at the beginning it doesn't matter at all, and at the end you should have enough leeway that the gap is still in spec. Double check afterwards though, just to make sure.
*Get a 9mm, 6pt, deep well socket. Use it to make the actual adjustment, without a ratchet, but with a screwdriver through the middle. That way you can turn the nut and use the screwdriver to hold the screw. At the beginning and end, when you're just breaking the nut loose or torquing it back down to spec, you can use your socket with a 1/4" ratchet. You might twist the screw a little, but at the beginning it doesn't matter at all, and at the end you should have enough leeway that the gap is still in spec. Double check afterwards though, just to make sure.