Valve Adjustment and Painting Cover (pic + Q added)

[Werksmini]

Hey I took the valve cover off today to adjust the valves (they were clacking really bad) and I got to the point where you have to get it to TDC. Im wondering the easiest way to do this.

Using a socket wrench on the vibration damper bolt, hand-turn the crankshaft clockwise until the No.1 cylinder's camshaft lobes are pointing appx downward (valves closed)

I cant seem to get a socket around the damper bolt, hmm. The radiator and fan are way to much in the way to get anything around. Hints?

Also with painting. I sanded to make it look pretty nice but now with the paint; just hi-temp black paint? Hi-temp clear coat? Thanks.

[Jordan]

just put the car in 5th gear and roll it back and forth to move the cam, ALOT easier.

[Werksmini]

Clear coat?

[bimmerphile]

Clear coat?

if you want it glossy.

Glossy engine bays bother me, personally.

[Werksmini]

So after sanding down the bmw, just leave it? cool.

[bimmerphile]

So after sanding down the bmw, just leave it? cool.

yup

[Werksmini]

Well I got it TDC but now im just lost. Anyone have a writeup? Thanks.

[Werksmini]

K I got it TDC and got a feeler guage (painted the cover up nice too :P ) Now I dont know what to measure. I dont know if this pic is the right area so let me know. Also the feeler has lots of different tabs, do you just see how many stacked you need? Thanks Im a little lost.

[e30Matt]

Most sets of feeler gauges I've ever seen had varying thicknesses w/the individual thickness stamped on each piece. Pic of what you're using?

To adjust the valves, there's a 10mm nut on the side of the rocker arm you have to loosen, which frees up an eccentric. Rotate the eccentric w/a small allen key or stiff piece of wire until you reach a clearance of .012" between the tip of the rocker and the end of the valve stem. Ideally, you would do this with the engine at operating temperature, but since it's cold, you need to gap them a little loose so that they tighten up just enough when the engine heats up and everything expands. That's what I've set mine to, and it makes way for a steady idle and not-so-noisy valves. When you torque the eccentric nut back down, torque it to 89 in lb, and torque the valve cover bolts to 11 ft lb, using a new gasket if you need to.

Don't forget the firing order on an M20 is 1 5 3 6 4 2, so do them in that order to save yourself a headache.

[Werksmini]

Wow thanks a ton, but I still dont know the clearance of what? Can you see in the picture? Thanks. :?:

[e30Matt]

Right where the rocker tip touches the tip of the valve stem, that gap should be .012" with the rocker arm pressed against the lifter.

[Werksmini]

Its touching on all the rocker arms, umm?

[e30Matt]

Its touching an all the rocker arms, umm?

Grammar? If you mean the rockers are touching the lifters, you have to press them onto the cam lobe to get an accurate gap. While you're pressing the rocker onto the lifter, slide the .012" feeler gauge through. It should slide through with just a small amount of friction. That's how you know the gap is set correctly.

If it goes through with no friction, which it will the first time, you need to adjust the gap to be tighter, using the above method. If it barely or doesn't go through, you need to open up the gap, again using the above method.

[DaN]

Don't you have a manual on your car dude?
For each cylinder, (2 valves) the cam lobes have to be pointing down (closed) so the cylinder is on the compression stroke. When the cam is at this point on one cylinder there should be a gap between the tip of the rocker, and the top of the valve stem. This is what you are measuring with the feeler gauge, each one will have a different measurement printed on it.
My book specifies .012" when cold for the 6 cylinder engines, does bentley say different?

[e30sam]

Do you have a pics of the painted valve cover? Hope everything went alright.