Valve adjustment help

[Redlineshftr]

Yesterday I attempted my first valve adjustment. I followed the write up from the tech articles section. I checked and rechecked the gap 3 times and used the feeler guage from Pelican. When I went to start the car the valves were extremely noisy. What could I have done wrong? Should I have adjusted the gap smaller? I did the adjustment when the car was stone cold and tightened it down to "mild resistance" on the feeler guage. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Mike

[Redlineshftr]

Anybody? Should I recheck the clearances again?

[jet911]

There are certainly more folks on this board with much more experience than I, however it sounds like they may be loose. After you adjusted them, you say you recheck the gap 3 times, was this after you rotated the engine through the complete cycle? In other words, I insert blade, adjust if necessay, remove blade when I achieve resistence, (should still be able to move the blade back and forth), then re-insert the blade again to double check. I then move to the next set of valves, do the same until all valves are adjusted. I then go through them again to make sure I can re-insert the gauge with mild resistence.

I've only done one adjustment and that is the process I used. I only had to adjust 4 valves total and all are quiet.

Hope this helps...

[jester911]

Noisy means loose. It may not be all of them check each one for gap before adjusting.

[Redlineshftr]

Yea I turned the engine over and checked them twice. Im going to recheck later today. Thanks for the help.

[B D]

A cold engine will never be that quiet, have you let it warm up a bit. Sometimes after adjustment one valve maybe be making a little more noise than the others, so I just open up that valve cover and will adjust all three and I am good to go.

[yelcab1]

My thinking is if it is noisy, you did something wrong. There are some first time pit falls that are easy to fall into.

1. Starting with cyl 4 instead of 1. They both have the same marking on the pulley.
2. Not tightening the nut properly, needs a firm hand but not overly so
3. Use the right feeler gauge, 0.1mm is very hard to slide in.
4. Mild resistance is a subjective ter. I like to see stiff resistance but still abe able to remove the gauge.

Good luck

[Redlineshftr]

I am sure that I started with the number one cyl, drivers side rear. I made sure the distributor was lined up too. I did tighten the nut pretty tight but what difference would that make? If anyhting Id think that it would make the clearance too tight instead of too loose. but that could be part of the problem. I used .004 specified by the tech article and sold by pelican. Im now starting to think I was too liberal with my definition of "mild resistance". Should you just be able to pull out the feeler?

[ianc]

These engines will clack a bit, especially when cold. It's hard to say without hearing whether you have too much clack. If yours were too tight before, what you're hearing may be normal.

How were the valves when you adjusted them? Did they seem too tight so that you had to loosen them? Did you have to adjust all of them, or only some? Does the clacking noise seem to be coming more from one side of the engine than the other?

If you have properly adjusted the valve, you should be able to move the valve end of the rocker arm just slightly with your thumb and forefinger. You should get a very slight clicking noise from it.

Let us know what you find out,

ianc

[Redlineshftr]

Well the valves were so out of adjustment I had to reread the tech article just to make sure what I was doing was right. All of the valves were about 2-3 full screws too tight. I bent up the first blade because I wasn't sure how hard you had to shove it in there... Anyways maybe what im hearing is nomral but I just thought that the engine would sound a little tighter than it does now. It made me nervous that when I drive by the walls around my neighborhood I can really hear them. Anyone have a sound clip of an early 2.2? That would probably help a little bit.

[ianc]

OK, if they were too tight before and you had to loosen them then you may be fine. I can hear mine clicking off the divider walls on the freeway, close buildings, etc.

Try to listen to another 911 engine to see if yours sounds the same.

I agree on the 'stiff resistance'. My rule of thumb is that I like to manually pull the rocker arm off the valve head before beginning to make it easier to insert the blade. The blade should slide in after a bit of resistance and should slide back and forth without bending. When you remove your fingers from the blade, it should stay right where it is and not rotate down due to gravity. Try a .005" blade in the gap after setting it. You should not be able to fit it in there.

Try testing the clearance also with the blade removed. You should get a little click and a slight movement. Try this on every valve after you adjust it and you'll get the feel of how it's supposed to be. HTH,

ianc

[Redlineshftr]

I appreciate the info ianc

[movin]

There is a tolerance for setting the valve lash. For the Carrera series, '84 - '88 it's .002" to .004". Check the inside of the engine deck lid for this spec. I prefer to set mine about .003". Check your gauge also, some are actually .0045". I hone the .004" gauge to .0035" by rubbing emery cloth or fine wet/dry sand paper on it.

[Por_sha911]

Double checking basics: did you do the adjustment with the motor cold?

[Eagledriver]

I think you have made some kind of error. If the valves were 2-3 turns too tight they were open all the time and you'd have no compression. The adjuster screws are 1mm per turn. You might have had the engine turned to TDC on the overlap cycle instead of the beginning of the power stroke. The adjustment is done on the "low" area of the cam. You should be able to see that the rocker is not near the cam lobe when you do the adjustment. As long as you are on the low part of the cam it's not important to be exactly at TDC. An easy way to check this is to take off the intake valve covers and rotate the engine while you watch the valve. Once it closes turn the engine another 90 degrees or so then check the clearance. My bet is you'll find it about 2mm based on the number of turns you did.

-Andy

[Redlineshftr]

Today I rechecked the clearances when it was cold and They were all good. I think that im just not used to valves that make that much noise. I was thinking about my reply when I said it was almost three turns off, I was half asleep when I posted this morning, and I realized that when I backed it off that much I then could pull the rocker arm way up off the valve stem. It wasn't truly 3 screws off. Sorry for the mispost!

[Scott R]

I had a similar situation when I did mine the first time a few weeks back, turned out I was hearing too much noise and my mechanic confirmed this with me. So we did the valve job together so I could see how it was done.

Areas that I messed up on:

Instead of checking the clearance, just pull back on the ricker arm to "un-stick" it then loosen the adjuster and the nut four or five turns out, then adjust to spec after the feeler in inserted.

Secondly, my adjuster nuts were worn, and a couple of them did not want to torque correctly, these nuts are cheap and good insurance.

And the results, a very quite motor. No more clatter or excessive noise, just smooth and clean.

[rattlsnak]

Are you sure your rotating the engine to the correct spot when you check each valve? Simply look into the head and you can easily tell if the rocker arm is in the unloaded spot on the camshaft.

[jason2guy]

my first time i did them loose too. ive found that if you get them good and tight, kinda real tight on the feeler, they come out quiet.

[Redlineshftr]

Thanks for all the help guys, I figured id have to do it two times before I really got it down. Now she runs quiet and strong!