tappet adjustment sprint

[knightrider150]

Hello all

Since ive put some miles on the dolomite the tappets are way out, I wouldn't have the first clue how to do this.

Anyone in the bath area who could do it for cash? whats involved?

James

[Mad Mart]

You must have put a lot of miles on then. They should go for ages without needing to reset the clearances.

To start with James (this you can do yourself), whip the rocker cover off & check the clearances as per the Haynes manual. The engine should be cold, so leave it to cool down over night at least. The clearances should be 0.018" on all of them. Then report back here with your findings. If the inlets are way out then it'll be a 'head off' job.

[Carl]

Mart, you can do the inlets with the head in situ if you are careful (I've done it a couple of times on my current engine as a few valves seemed to settle a bit). Drain off the coolant using the drain plug in the block just forward of the starter motor then gently release the head studs. As you say, make sure the engine is stone cold first and don't leave it standing like this for any length of time ie check the clearances, have the revised shims at the ready, then fit them and re-assemble in one operation. Re-torque in the correct sequence.

[Mad Mart]

If you've done it with no probs. Carl then I've learnt something today. I was always under the impression that once the head nuts/bolts had been released then the head gasket would have to be replaced. You're saying undo the stud nuts only, yes?

[Carl]

Yep, studs only. I wouldn't say this is the ideal and I certainly wouldn't want to do it again, but if done CAREFULLY, it should be ok. Mine's done about 8,000 miles since, including the Round Britain run, 10 Countries run, and a stint as my daily driver, so some hard use including 5000 - 6000 rpm in 2nd going up alpine passes, and hour after hour at 85mph on the autoroutes/autobahns of Europe. I would point out that the head had been on for about 3500miles already so had been properly re-torqued a few times and 'settled'. Something that would help I guess is to fit some spacers on the studs and refit the nuts with a gentle torque to keep the head down and maintain the seal.

[Jon Tilson]

I've also done it once as Carl said. Car has done 50k miles since...

This was because I had no choice and nothing to loose....when I fitted a new uprated cam they didnt tell me about the new valve clearances!

Drain first from the block AND radiator bottom hose to make sure and release studs only.

Jonners

[trackerjack]

Yep I have done it too but used nuts and sockets to keep up the pressure until ready to retorque.

[knightrider150]

Ill come back with results. but can you not remember what it sounded like at the national day mart? sounds tappy and less so when warm. thing is ive only done 1000 miles in this car since it was put back together

Thanks

James

[Yellow Banana]

I'm interested in this post as my tappets do seem quite noisy - particularly just after starting up. Just want to get a few points clear in my head from Carl/Marts suggestions.

When checking the clearances (from cold) I would need to put the car in 4th gear in order to push it forward to free up the valves that were originally closed. I recall trying to do this a few years back and I wrote all the figures on a big piece of cardboard with the 8 inlet valves across the top and the 8 exhaust along the bottom. I wrote the recorded clearances under each valve first, then wrote the recommended clearance (00.18) under the recorded then subtracted this to get the difference and the correct shim size to fit. eg 00.24 recorded minus 00.18 recommended requiring a shim of 00.06. Does this sound right?

Is it only the stud nuts you release and not the bolts? Also, when retorquing, is this done only with the stud nuts or should the bolts also be retorqued (in sequence that is).

Finally, as the inlet valves are the ones with the pallet bucket, how is it easier to fix the clearance on these without removing the timing gear - which then means both the head studs and bolts being released I would have thought that the exhaust valves clearances would be the easiest as these shims could just slip out quite easily - or have I got this totally arse about face!!

[Jon Tilson]

No...you can do the inlets but the cam and rockers have to come off to get the buckets out, hence only the angled stud nuts need to come off..
The studs can stay in place, and the straight bolts keep it all in place, hopefully.

Your sums are right and relect the difference you need. You can often move them about...and just buy the ones you need.

Jonners

[73sprint]

Ive done this loads of times,drain when totally cold,plugs out and check clearences,you can turn the cam on the end near number four inlet bucket with a large spanner.If you feeler gauge everything at least twice you get a good indication of whats needed.Remove the head stud nuts in correct sequence and also you need to remove and hang the cam sprocket in order to remove the rocker gear and camshaft. My head has a fast road cam and is shimmed to 0.9 inlets and 0.10 exhaust, but remember when re-assembling to torque the rocker gear as per the manual as i think this can make a difference.It seems to work this way but i dont ever leave the head too long torqued on by the studs only.

[Yellow Banana]

Mart, you can do the inlets with the head in situ if you are careful (I've done it a couple of times on my current engine as a few valves seemed to settle a bit).

Thanks Jonners / 73. Clearer now but Carl's reply to Mart was misleading me in that he says the inlets can be done with the head in situ (but he doesn't mention that the valve gear needs to be removed to do the inlets). Don't particularly want to disturb the valve gear because I think the helicoil threads on some of the valve gear bolt holes are a bit suspect and don't want to weaken them any more. Besides, last time I disconnected the cam sprocket lost one of the bloody bolts down the the timing chain channel... and you know what a pig that could turn out to be!!