going outside to get started....

[bell]

well i'm going outside now to get started on my first valve adjust. i have to do a little rearanging in the garage so i have 2 "bays" to work in, not 1. i'm getting everything out of the way tonite (airbox and all the other stuff) and will drain the oil.
then tomorrow, bright and early i'll be out there wrenching, i'm sure i'll have some questions midway through so expect to hear from me tomorrow afternoon with some sort of question.
thanks to this board for the information and encouragement on this (and many future) endevours.
time to get to work.

[Thomas Owen]

Just take your time and be careful. Remember to use a little loctite on the 2 bolts that hold the feeler gauge blade to the handle, otherwise the entire day will be spent looking for a nut. If you start getting the adjustments too tight you may go through a couple of blades before you get the hang on it, but it will get easier.
Good luck.

[marcesq]

Bell:

Get the oil good and hot before draining. I was instructed by my local trusted wrench that oil can remain in the "elephant's foot" which is the pad that comes in contact with the valve. If this occurs, you will get a false tight adjustment.

What he told me to do was to tighten each adjuster down tight against the valve, thereby forcing all of the residual oil out of the elephant foot, and then back out and adjust to spec.

Good luck, and don't forget to check the head stud nut torque while you are in there.

[bell]

well i'm done for the night
i went for a spirited drive for about a half hour, then drained the oil, man that stuff can be hot i now understand why you want the oil warm for this, it's coming out sloooooowww but in a steady stream.
this is what i found which made me say "what the****"!
when i removed the plastic airbox, 2 of the 4 bolts that affix it to the aluminum "box" before the elbow to the throtle body were laying in the bottom of the box, and the other 2 were loose.
not a big deal, i'm going to go through absolutely every bolt i can get to to make sure they're snug (not over-torquing of course).
along with the bolts there were what looked like rat poop (but was small plastic "pellets") that were there also, this has me a little concerned because there is nothing consistant that would say where they came from. when i get more into it maybe i'll find the answer to this one. the car has always run great but the past 2 days i've noticed a sporatic idle change (would bounce from 800-900rpm, before was rock solid) so i'm sure that was from air getting through where the 2 said bolts were out and causing a leak.
i'm thinking about pulling the a/c compressor also to remove the dead weight (compresor is siezed, was when i bought it) since i'm not using it.
so far that's where i'm at. now it's time to go make some burgers and relax.
again.....thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.