could i do it myself or will i need some special tools. my friends and i are pretty sure we know what to do but just making sure... search didn't give me anything.

 

Its easy as long as you take your time and do it properly, you might need a new rocker cover gasket depending on the condition of your old one, you'll also need a feeler gauge to adjust the gaps. Other than that just make sure you do it in the right order and you turn the pully wheel to the correct places. Oh yeah, when you use the feeler gauge make sure you hold it at right angles to the valve stem, when the gap is correct it should feel like you are dragging it across a magnet..

 

a helms tells you exactly how the crank pully should be at each piston
a helms also tells you what measure of feeler gauges to use
a helms also tells you to use a special 'tool' to spin the screws that loosen or tighten the valves, but you can do it with a flathead screwdriver
however the process might be a bit tedious and perhaps frustrating, its not that big of a deal. just always double check the valves, you may think it feels right, then you accidentaly hit the screw and it opens all the way up again.


other than that just pop off the head-disconnect spark plugs and your set(first, of course)

 

Yeah some good points Paranoid Android, like you say make sure you check the clearance after you have tightened the lock nut just incase its moved.. take your time, if a clearance seems way out double check everything, if your tappets don't sound too bad at the moment then the valve gaps are probably within the service limit so be wary of anything which seems way out, you've probably moved onto the wrong cylinder or something.. I forgot to adjust the gaps in the firing order the second time I did them and soon realised I was doing something wrong! Oh yeah I don't know if Helms says this but remove the spark plugs so its easy to turn the crankshaft pulley wheel..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Paranoid Android &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a helms tells you exactly how the crank pully should be at each piston
a helms also tells you what measure of feeler gauges to use
a helms also tells you to use a special 'tool' to spin the screws that loosen or tighten the valves, but you can do it with a flathead screwdriver
however the process might be a bit tedious and perhaps frustrating, its not that big of a deal. just always double check the valves, you may think it feels right, then you accidentaly hit the screw and it opens all the way up again.


other than that just pop off the head-disconnect spark plugs and your set(first, of course)</TD></TR></TABLE>

So another words... get a Helms.

 

I adjusted mine today, btw.. if anyone has a Haynes manual they have written the wrong specs for the gaps, they are tossers I could have fucked something up big time.. The exhaust gap lower service limit is 10 times too small, they've put 0.023mm to 0.27mm. I checked with Honda and they said 0.23mm which is the figure people post on this board as well. The spec in inches is correct its just that my feeler gauge is metric and I didn't bother to read it...