Tips on adjusting intake valves

[s_wilwerding]

I had my valves adjusted last fall, and now one of them on the driver's side of the car is making enough noise to drive me crazy. Since I had to change the oil last week, I figured I'd pop the lower driver's side valve cover and check those valve clearances. #3 was a little loose, but after adjusting it, the car still makes noise, which means the noisy valve is one of the driver's side intake valves (I kind of figured that's what it was all along, but I hoped it was one of the lower, since they are so easy to adjust).

In any case, does anyone have any tips on adjusting the intake valves? Does taking the engine tin off and doing some of the work from underneath help?

Thanks.

[350HP930]

If the valves have been correctly adjusted and are still making noise its likely that you have a worn out valve guide and/or a bad rocker arm and/or a bad cam lobe.

[BGCarrera32]

Obviously, get as much stuff out of the way as you can. An extra 15 minutes of removing air box stuff or sliding hoses around can help a lot. I put a dribble of motor oil on my feeler gauge, loosen the tappet considerably, insert gauge, tighten tappet down onto gauge, slide gauge to obtain correct clearance "feel" if you will, secure nut. Much easier than trying to slide that little .004" piece of metal in there and then adjust. Hope this helps and that there isn't something more serious looming...! I also use a little 3/8" drive Husky air ratchet to zip off all the valve cover nuts so you don't have to sit with a ratchet for a half hour working your way around.

I would check "their" work on your own before you panic.

-BG

[yelcab1]

What I have always done with valve adjustment on my 84 (about the same degree of difficulty as yours) is:

1. Get a very good easy to use valve adjustment tool. I am sure you have one that looks like a small hook.
2. Loosen the valve adjustment rocker nut to have alot of slack,
3. Put the tool in (since there is so much slack, you do not need to kill yourself trying to find the darn 0.1 mm gap)
4. Then tighten the nut until the valve tool almost does not want to come out. It is a 3-hand operation, so you need to figure out how to hold the tool, the screw driver, and the wrench in place at the same time.

Then, I even reused the valve cover gasket without any problems.

That is what works for me. What works for anyone else is none of my bidness. Then again, I could never get rid of that valve train noise. My brother had a turbo look 85 with the engine that sounds soooo sweet that it just makes me jealous, and he never works on his car. I never got that sound for any more than 5 minutes while the engine is warming up. Mine always sounds a little too clapped out after it has reached temp, even after a valve job with new guides. It comforts me to know that other 911 sounds the same as mine.

[Superman]

I use the P-207 tool and a dial indicator, rather than the feeler gauge. Piece of cake.

[s_wilwerding]

Originally posted by 350HP930
If the valves have been correctly adjusted and are still making noise its likely that you have a worn out valve guide and/or a bad rocker arm and/or a bad cam lobe.

I'm pretty sure it's just that the valve was incorrectly adjusted. I noticed the problem almost immediately after it was adjusted - I don't think the person took enough time to do it correctly.

[Mukilteo911]

can someone post a mono recording of upper and lower valves so we can have a good indicator of what they should sound like ?