First major tuneup: final notes

[a-dougk1]

These are some final notes for this thread:

Day 3: First major tuneup

After finishing my first major tuneup of my '79 930, I was unsatisfied with the results of the valve adjustment. The valves just seemed to click too loudly. So I took the car down to Max RPM in Bremerton, WA, and asked Alex, the owner if it sounded right. He said "Nah, they're way too loose."

So last weekend I took the intercooler off, removed the spark plugs, took the coil off to get the the distributer again, and all the other disassembly required to get to the valves. This time I decided that I would spend the whole weekend learning how to do the valves correctly. Here is what I learned:

When I originally did the valves, it seemed impossible to get the valve adjustment tool to go in the gap. I discovered that if you try to get it in the gap by trying to insert it on the side opposite the rocker arm (that is, closest to the outside of the valve cover), it would hardly ever go in. The way to do it is to slip the tool underneath the rocker arm and slide it towards the outside of the valve cover. For some reason, the tool will easily slip into the gap between the rocker arm and the valve this way. This worked on both the intake and exhaust valves.

Next, when I originally did the valves, I adjusted the adjustment screw until it firmly held the adjustment tool in place, then backed off 1/12 of a turn. This is way too far to back off. You should just barely turn the screw, just enough to let the tool slide out between the gap with some resistance. If there is no resistance, the valve is too loose.

Someone in an earlier thread (sorry, I couldn't find it while writing this) mentioned that you can remove the exhaust valve covers without removing any of the engine oil by just jacking up one side of the car, waiting about 20 minutes, then removing the exhaust valve cover. I tried this and it worked like a charm. Only about a thimble full of oil came out. I put papers over the heat exchangers to keep the little bit of oil off, and that worked fine. I jacked the side of the car up until the rear wheel was about 1/2 inch off the ground. That appears to be enough.

After adjusting all of the valves (since I'd screwed them up the first time), I rechecked all of the adjustments, made a couple of readjustments, and reassembled the engine parts. Fired it up and there was still some ticking, but most of it went away as the car warmed up.

Anyway, hopefully some of the information I've provided in these threads are of some use to first-time DYIs. Also, thanks go to SoCal911SC for keeping me honest

Doug