i'm just starting a valve adjustment. noobs, feel free to ask any questions here. i can also post up any pictures that would be helpful.

just trying to give a little back to h-t

 

My question is...How do you do it?

 

Why should I?

I just have Chris do it for me

Thanx again rod-nee!


Good idea for an informative post Aaron



A. who has watched a few valve adjustments already and just might try it sometime if rodney lets him.

 

what are the consequences of a valve adjustment if it it too tight vs too loose? Which is more advantagous?

 

From my understanding having the valves on the tighter side you get less top end power but more midrange power from 4,000-6,000 RPM's? That is what i noticed when i had mine set way too tight. I had a buddy check over them after i dynoed and they were too tight. The car felt good for daily driving but little sluggish at higher RPMs.

Someone else chime in and explain

 

Mine are a little too tight and the idle is rough. I don't think there is much other disadvantage to valves too tight; well at least when they are not unreasonably too tight.

 

i have mine a little bit tight...as long as the feeler can go in n move around its fine right? even though its drags alot? dont want to have it too loose and start ticking

 

heres the factory clearance specs from the Helms: be sure to do this on a COLD motor:

Intake: .006-.007
Exhaust: .007-.008

 

describe "slight drag"

 

Slight drag means you feel tension, then no tension, then tension, then no tension .. continuously.

My advice is don't over torque the adjustment screw. Oh man, is that hard to replace .. you have to take the whole head off! Doh (luckily I did this on the CRX, not on the R) lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slash00R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My advice is don't over torque the adjustment screw. Oh man, is that hard to replace .. you have to take the whole head off! Doh (luckily I did this on the CRX, not on the R) lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

18 ft/lbs. i have a snap on torque wrench that measures in in/lbs - nice!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by garageSPECial &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">describe "slight drag"</TD></TR></TABLE>

you know it when you feel it. it feels like metal sliding over metal; not a grinding feeling but rough. the easiest is to set it so the proper feeler gauge slides in, but you can't slide in the next larger size.

most of my valves were 0.001in loose, no big thing.

 

how do you hold down the screw and torque with a torque wrench to 18?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by type r 01-1063 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My question is...How do you do it? </TD></TR></TABLE>

same, how DO you do it???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by keith_phan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how do you hold down the screw and torque with a torque wrench to 18?</TD></TR></TABLE>

i use the snap on valve adjustment tool to snug up the adjustment bolt then use the torque wrench to tighten it to 18ft/lbs - the screw doesn't move.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by REFLUX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

same, how DO you do it???</TD></TR></TABLE>

heh, that is too noob for this post. go to c-speedracing.com

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EleanoR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">From my understanding having the valves on the tighter side you get less top end power but more midrange power from 4,000-6,000 RPM's? That is what i noticed when i had mine set way too tight. I had a buddy check over them after i dynoed and they were too tight. The car felt good for daily driving but little sluggish at higher RPMs.

Someone else chime in and explain </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm sure the reason you lose top end is because you are unable to get as much air into the cylinders due to the smaller gap opened from the valves due to them being too tight.

 

umm do it without a valve adjustment tool from snapon.
i want to see it done with a ratchet and a screwdriver, no bent wrenches.

 

http://www.c-speedracing.com

 

egaD man, if ever there were a topic for me... this is it.
I am the Orlando/Tampa Valve Adjustment Beeotch
Hey I got a ITR valve cover out of it though... ask jeff helms
about the rocker shaft radius to rocker pad distance... hehe

yea man... there are some fun ways to knock this out quick...
if you still have PS you can use the 19mm open ended wrench
to rotate the motor... cool trick I learned here.

be sure the motor is cold, 1-2hrs with a fan w/o valvecover seems
to work well IMHO. run through them and measure them first. I
suggest this because sometimes you dont need to waste your time
doing them. If you sit there and back them off and start from loose,
you dont know what you have to begin with. keep in mind too, there
are only so many times you can reset a fastener before they get funky.

so:

cold motor
measure cold valve lash, adjust if necessary.

also check them in the firing order... yada yada...
.007, .008 is where I tend to set them. if you have adjustable
cam gears, it is important that you set them with the cams at
dead 0,0. otherwise you can wear a flat spot in the heel of your
cams due to improper LCA alignment. ask me how I know. I
owned my own ITR exhaust cam last year because of ignorence.

&gt; just a note:

tight as hell valve lashes are used by some engine builders to assess
how much cam the motor wants, and what kind of grind. For instance,
someone adjsuted EleanoR's valves with factory cam heel specs of
.007, .008 on the valve tops and that ***** them tighter to the tune
of about .003 per valve. the distance from the center of the rocker
shaft to the center of the rocker pad is X distance and I believe the
distance from the radius to the valve stem is like 12mm. This is enough
to make that .003" difference. They were like: .003 or less, .004 or less.
If you do this for giggles on a dyno its cool, I dont suggest running them
that tight longterm unless the cam manufacturer calls for it. bad for valve
seats and rockers and cam lobes fo sho. you will also sacrifice some
top end power with them like that due to friction... mainly.

His old dyno was sick tho with them tight like that. 128-130 at 5252 and the power curve was almost H series 2-Literish for torque, falling off early 178peak whp. I woulda said keep it if it werent for the valve stems returning to the seats... made the motor sound like a playing card in the spokes of a BMX bike! We straightened it out back in feb, sounds and runs great... made up 5 peak whp from previous dyno and 5252 was about 115 with 183peak, 129peak tq.. overall there was like 8-10whp more across the curve with some vafc tuning also. PS that was running on Skunk2 stage 1 cams -2,-2.

Once you adjust the vavles, I suggest a ecu reset.

just some thoughts on the topic. happy valves to you.

 

so its better to have it "smooth drag" then "yanking hard drag"? for daily driver of course

 

heres the deal with that IMO.

if you have a yanking drag and it still fits clearance consider the spec
closer to the actual measurement. the drag accounts for about .00025-.0005"
so if you set one to .007" for example... loose drag not letting in an .008 feeler
will be closer to .008 than a tighter drag. so if you want them tighter... you could
technically use a .006 on intake and go with a looser grab where .007 will just barely nudge in there... that would be about .00675" which would be closer to the middle of spec on the intake side. all motors run a bit different... and it all comes down to what works for you. I have found that .005 or tighter on one or more valves on stock cams to create a lumpy idle.

.0065-.007
.008 should be just about perfect on stock cams at 0,0 for best overall
power

 

Can failing to adjust valves hurt the motor?

 

you wont make as much power if they were in spec, however I dont think it is super critical. if driven high rpm alot, maybe then something could go wrong if in the .011"-.013" range and I have seen them that loose...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by keith_phan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what are the consequences of a valve adjustment if it it too tight vs too loose? Which is more advantagous?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Too tight means MORE Friction More Friction means More Heat and this is NOT good. Too Loose means the rockers will SLAP the cam and you get the Ticking Noise.
Excellent tool to use for this adjustment is the Gear ratchet It has a hole through the center perfect to fit a flat screwdriver through.