Valves louder after adjustment?

[Jand3rson]

Andrew and I adjusted my valves on Saturday, and they ended up being noisier than before. The car runs better and is noticeably stronger, but the valves are pretty noisy, making almost like a clacking noise, the car almost sounds like a diesel. We adjusted them exactly according to the Bentley instructions, with each valve fully closed to cold specs of 0.010, after the car had been sitting for around 4-5 hours. This weekend we're going to go through again and double check them, it's possible we missed something, but I don't see how. But at the point of doing the job, we were both getting tired and worn out from working on cars all weekend, so who knows. Anyone have any idea on what to re-check besides the obvious?

Also, we replaced the valve cover gasket, but since I'm pulling the cover again this weekend, is it okay to reuse it, or should I get another one?

[KenC]

You can reuse the valve cover gasket. How tight did you have them against the feeler gauge? You want them to be pretty tight against it, but still able to slide it out. I put mine to 0.008 on Sunday and it's as smooth as butter now.

[arsevader]

Anyone have any idea on what to re-check besides the obvious?

...the obvious. ;)

When I do valves I usually go up a size on the feeler gauge and then make them pretty tight on that. THen I double check with the right size gauge. You want to feel some drag on the gauge bit not so much that the gauge is hard to move.

Tight valves will be quiet but can cause problems such as burnt valves. Better to be a little loose.

[Spaz]

you can attempt doing this when the engine is warm, .012" is the spec for warm engines,

Good things:
You are adjusting the valves at (close to) their designed operating temp, so a small amount of error doesn't magnify to a larger amount of error

Bad things:
It's hard to get consistency when engine is warm.

[Jand3rson]

Thanks for the tips, fellas. I'm going to let the car sit overnight after work on Friday, and we'll hit it again the next day and re-check them all. I'm sure we just missed one, or didn't tighten down one of the nuts enough, something like that.

[T.Dot E30]

I was just about to say, i've always had the best results when the car sat overnight.

Sometimes 4-5hours and the engine is still warm.

[arsevader]

I was just about to say, i've always had the best results when the car sat overnight.

Sometimes 4-5hours and the engine is still warm.

Yeah you either want it at operating temp or stone cold, not in between.

[Sean]

Yeah you either want it at operating temp or stone cold, not in between.

x3

[Jand3rson]

So in talking to James and Jordan, I've heard that getting the adjustment down fairly tight against the gauge is the best way to do it.

Not tight to the point where you can't pull it out, but good and snug down on the gauge. Can anyone else verify this?

[KenC]

I've heard that getting the adjustment down fairly tight against the gauge is the best way to do it.

Not tight to the point where you can't pull it out, but good and snug down on the gauge. Can anyone else verify this?

+1

[kailuaboy]

just did mine 2 weeks ago, sounds perfect to me......especially at 6000:-D rpm

quote
So in talking to James and Jordan, I've heard that getting the adjustment down fairly tight against the gauge is the best way to do it.

Not tight to the point where you can't pull it out, but good and snug down on the gauge. Can anyone else verify this?
yes!!

[arsevader]

So in talking to James and Jordan, I've heard that getting the adjustment down fairly tight against the gauge is the best way to do it.

Not tight to the point where you can't pull it out, but good and snug down on the gauge. Can anyone else verify this?

Yeah, you don't want to have to reaf on it to remove it but you want some drag on the gauge. You should also go back and double check after doing all the valves.

[Jand3rson]

SUCCESS!!!!

I left the car sitting since I got home from work at 5 yesterday, and we just finished re-adjusting the valves about 5 minutes ago. Everything is as smooth as silk. Most of them were fairly out of adjustment, and we think this is due mainly in part to the feeler gauges we were using. They were all on a big Swiss-Army knife sort of thing, and Andrew was having a hard time getting them in flat against the valve, so we think that it might not have been seating all the way. He found a set at his house that are actually angled at the end, putting them at the perfect orientation to get them perfectly flat. We also got them a lot tighter, and went back and re-checked them again after we were done. Started the car up, and it sounds and runs beautifully. Thanks again for all the tips, guys.