Valve Adjust before or after DE??
 

I'm planning on finally taking the car to the track middle of next month for my first DE's (NCRC - Sears Point and Thunderhill). Yay!

In prep, I plan to self-tech the car, which primarily means bleeding the brakes. While I'm in there, I might replace the clutch master and slave cylinders since I have them and they are original (clutch sometimes binds downshifting from 2nd to 1st). And I might call Tom Amon to come over and help me out for a second pair of eyes.

In terms of recent service, Oil (M1) was changed just 1200 miles ago (but almost two years ago, yes, yell at me for not driving it enough), I rebuilt the front calipers, replaced the rotors and pads, SS brake lines at that time. One year ago I had the shocks and ball joints replaced, front bearings adjusted.

I'm coming up on miles for the next valve adjust (15K interval), though it was done almost seven years ago.

Here's the question: Do I have the valve's adjusted before the four days of track time, or wait until after?

Thanks,

Don

I agree. Adjust them now.

I agree Don, if you can get them done before, I would.

One tip about Tom. I had him do some work for me, including valve adjustment. I took everything off ahead of time so all he had to do was show up and adjust. 45 minutes of labor = CHEAP!

I plan on getting into my brakes starting tonight, so I may call on you for advice :)


-Chris

Chris - I saw your post about Tom. You have a PM with my tel numbers.

Don

Bad news/good news: Tom is booked until mid-December. Great for him!

My reasoning about after the DE is that after four days of high rpm stress, then bring the valves back into spec.

After. The reason is you get a more accurate setting after all the “cobwebs” are blown out. This is assuming you do regular adjustments under similar circumstances as part of a complete tune-up. That includes measuring cylinder leakage.

The risk adjusting them when the valve and combustion chamber has carbon build-up is that when the carbon gets blown out, the clearance closes up. Not good.

Best,
Grady

I did my valves earlier this summer. I examined the lash after three days at Watkins Glen, just to see what kind of beating they took. Lash needed no adjustment after DE, so I was quite happy about that.
Pat

Don,

ALWAYS go with Grady :)

As the saying goes, he has more info in his pinky finger than I will ever have!

-Chris