Valve adjustment

I just finished reading the Tech report on how to adjust your valves on the 911 and I am GRATEFUL that PelicanParts is presenting these guidelines. I paid my mechanic $250 last week and watched him do this and said, ENOUGH ALREADY! This is nuts!!!!! He made it look too easy. The article on the valve adjustment you folks presented will help a home mechanic like me ge over the fear of messing these machines up every time I pick up a screwdriver! One question though? Where do you purchase those nifty feeler guage "s" looking handle units? All the Porsche shops have them so they do not appear to be fabricated through some secret mechanics society. Can someone let me know where to purchase one with the extra feeler blades? For you folks like me who tinker and hate seeing those hard earned bucks roll out the pockets for repairs or changes that you really want to tackle but are afraid to for fear of causing more damage; I am going to adjust these suckers come hell or high water!!!!!!

Peace
BR
1973 911T

They sell them here on Pelican Parts. I bought mine, along with plenty of replacement feelers, here. Pelican also carries valve cover gasket kits as well, so you can get the whole shebang pretty cheaply.

I'm going to adjust my valves this weekend. Wish me luck.

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Mark Szabo
1986 911 Targa 3.2

Check out skywaytools.com or performance products/automotion for the feeler gauge. Skyway has a good selection of porsche tools and I believe baumtools.com has a catalog ($10) of all porsche factory tools.

As for the P213 tool and extra blades, Pelican has them at this page:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/ptoo/por_ptoo_miscel_main.htm

One thing I recommend for your first valve adjustment on a car new to you is to have 12 adjuster jam nuts on hand, just in case ... you never know who bungled the job over the past 27 years, and left them buggered up out of laziness! Those jam nut are shallow, and the alignment of the wrench to the angle of the rocker arm is quite critical ... easy to do if you are careful and patient. Don't use an open-end wrench to loosen or tighten those nuts!!! The 'PERFECT' wrenches are a flex-head 13 mm or 1/2" wrench for loosening, and a box-end, 12-point wrench for tightening, which can be used with a stubby slotted screwdriver for adjusting. The loosening of a stubborn jam nut is quite critcal, hence the use of a flex-wrench or six-point socket on a flex-handle is a good idea! Tightening is not so likely to be troublesome, but DON'T USE an open-end wrench, unless you enjoy practicing mayhem on fasteners you can't get at your local hardware store! Except by special order from a bolt supply that handles metric fasteners! Fine-thread jam nuts are not your everyday metric fare!

One comment about the thread pitch of the adjuster ... it is 1.0 mm, which means your 0.1 mm clearance is gained by turning the slot of the adjuster 36 degrees (1/10 turn) counterclockwise from snug contact! Good luck!



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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Wow, that's great information we can get almost nowhere else, Warren. I wonder if there's a book somewhere......

Couldn't resist. It's been a tough week at work.

Luck to you, Mark, and BRose. There's another 'valve adjust' thread nearby.



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'83 SC

That was.