Valve adjustment tip
 

Just adjusted the valves on my Carrera and it was alot easier than I thought. I think the key was to remove the left and right side engine tin. One troublesome bolt on the tin, and I didn't have to work around the A/C compressor, plus all the intake valves were easily accessible from the bottom side of the car. While the tin is off, it is also really easy to change spark plugs and do a little cleaning.

good tip! since plugs should be changed at about the same interval - thats a great idea.

is it easy to remove the tin?

hmmmm.

lol, hey, you cant leave it at that!

whats missing?

sounds "sound"!

What tin are you talking about removing? The rear part of the car?

Something tells me your engine is out of the car or something.

three bolts and the A/C pump is out of the way. pull it up and lay it on top of the engine with some sort of padding.

I've heard of mechanics removing the engine tin like you say.
-Chris

Mark,
I am talking about the left and right side engine sheet metal, approx. 7 bolts per side, some on the bottom some on the top-all but one are easy to remove. The engine is still in the car. The whole process including valve adjustment took approx. 2 hours and this is the first time I've done a valve adjustment with the motor in the car, and the second one I've ever done.

John,
With the car up on jack stands, and the engine tin removed, It was very easy to adjust the intake valves, no adjusting by "feel" I could see the adjusters on cylinders three and six and get the feeler gauge in there without a problem.

For a beginner, removing the tin made the process less frustrating, more accessible and much more clear.

Hmmm, that's a cool idea. The one thing that gets to me, though, is the catalytic converter. Seems like it leaves *so* little room to adjust those 1-2-3 exhaust valves. The 4-5-6 bank is pretty much cake.

Sorry, should have mentioned no cat. SSI's

wow JW's speachless? I think that deserves a Congrads, you may have just been the first person on this forum to do that.

edit: both render JW speechless and to do the engine tin removal for VA.

No cat (backdated exhaust). No A/C (useless in PNW). No air ducting on the right side of engine (backdated heat).

The only way to go.

i guess if it made it easier for you, that's what it's all about. it just seems that the two minutes spent moving the A/C pump would make access easy enough. there's quite a bit of room to get at 3 and 6 on a carrera, even though you have to feel the blade go in, as opposed to seeing it.

See! John wasn't speechless .... He was just mulling!