apparenty ive gone retarded.

im trying to do a valve adjustment and i would really hate to screw this up.

so for the dumbest question of the day.

with cylinders 1 and 4 at the top of the stroke (confirmed via screwdriver method) how do i tell which cylinder should be adjusted?

cylinder 4 with cam lobe points exhaust at 11 oclock and intake at 1 oclock (like this / \)

or

cylinder 1 with exhaust at 4 o clock and intake at 8 o clock (like this \ /)

 

all you need to do is adjust it on the base circle for each cyl each rotation is 90* of the cams from tdc i beleive it goes 1-3-4-2 hope that helped

 

right.

in procedure form: start at TDC (on #1, crank and cam timing marks lined up) and adjust #1. then rotate crank 180° CCW (direction of engine rotation) which in turn rotates the cam 90°. this is TDC for the next cylinder in the firing order, #3. then repeat for #4 and then for #2.

 

If you have a remote starter (available at Sears cheap) you can just rotate the engine so each lobe is pointing directly away from its corresponding rocker pad (or roller). That will ensure you are on the base circle. I personally don't like the 'bring it up to tdc' method as there is too much room for error.

 

could you explain. why is it more likely to cause errors?

 

Well personally since I have a remote start I find it easier to just bump over and can do it faster than putting it on TDC. If you are not exactly on TDC and you don't know what you are looking for it's possible to get it on the opening ramp which will affect your clearances. The method will work if you do it right but I've had to re-do other peoples valve adjustments in shops I've worked on it because they fundamentally didn't know what was going on when they did the valve adjust. If you get it so the lobe is pointing away from the rocker pads you for certain that you are on the base circle. Its not that you can't do it by bringing it up to TDC, it's just safer to be 100% sure you're on the base circle.

 

gotcha. what they lovingly call in the machine tool world "idiot-proof," haha.

 

if you want to be 100% sure use a dial indicator on the retainer and make sure its closed

 

can you explain "bump over"? I always thought you just turned the engine by hand until the marks on the cam lobes lined up.

 

I,m a crazy man. I take out the park plug, and rotate the engine with a wrench on the crank. I watch the camshaft lobes and turn the crank until the valve to be adjusted and all the closed. Also I make sure that the camshaft has only turned 90 degrees. Then I adjust the lash, rotated again and check it. I,m sure its not the right way to do it but it worked.

 

Get a long stick/rod/etc, remove plug, put stick in hole and turn the crank. A dial indicator with a long extension would get you perfection.

If you follow the helms manual procedure, it works fine. When you figure half the cam's rotation for each lobe leaves at least 50% of the rotation on the base circle, you'll be a little less concerned with getting to TDC. Since no lobe will open for a long period before/after TDC, you really can just eyeball it. Just don't have it on the wrong "cycle" (end of exhaust stroke).