Hi all

Heading down to my mum's tonight and i was going to have my first go at setting valves tommorow on my day off.

However i got to work and realised i left my "idiot book" (john muir one) back at my boyfriends place, which is a 30 min drive away.

I can't be bothered going back home to get it, but read the
chapter on it last night, and i think i can remember it..

Tell me if this is right...

Find TDC on cylinder 1, pulley at to on timing mark furthest to the the left, set valves on cylinder 1 at .006 inch.

Turn engine 180degrees counter clockwise to find bridged part of the teeth on the flywheel, centre with join in crankcase, set number 2 cylinders.

Repeat..

Is that right or have i missed something??

Wrong...

First only adjust the engine when its cold.

1. Pop off your distributor cap and rotate the crank pully so that the 5 degree timing mark and TDC mark are at the top while the rotor button is pointing at number 1. (Follow the ignition lead to cylinder 1 to identify the correct position).
2. Put the rotor button back on.
3. get a rag and cover up your j-pipes or heater boxes under the rocker covers.
4. pop off the drivers side rocker cover.
5. get out your feeler gauge and find the 0.006 and 0.007 gauges. Check the intake is at 6thou and the exhaust at 7thou. If they are loose or tight adjust accordingly by loosening the lock nut and adjusting the gap.

Its a good idea to keep a log book for your maintenance. Record the odometer, and make a note as to whether you had to adjust the intake and exhaust valves, and guess (or measure) how much. Its helpful if you start to see a trend forming you can work out the wear rate of the valve train.

6. rotate the engine anti-clockwise and repeat step 5 for cylinder 2.

7. Pop off the passenger side rocker cover. Rotate the engine counter clockwise again and check cylinder 3 and finally rotate one more time and check cylinder 4.

8. Now, its a good idea because your new to this to re-check all your clearances. So, rotate it once more and start rechecking your gaps at cylinder 1 again. Repeat for each cylinder. If you see your feeler gauge is too tight or is too loose, your not adjusting them properly, so start the process from the start again.

9. Its not necessary to use gasket glue on your rocker cover gaskets. Provided they are in good shape you can re-use them otherwise replace the rocker covers and your nearly done.

The paranoia check...

10. Go for a drive around the block and then park the car and re-check your clearances when the engine is hot. The pushrods will have grown due to thermal expansion and the gap should have closed to 2-3 thou. Provided there is still some gap ther its all good. If its a LOT larger (5thou or bigger) you've done something wrong during the cold re-adjustment.

Chromoly pushrods are set a little differently. On a race car they are set at 0thou and then when the engine heats up the don't grow with the rest of the engine so the gap will increase to about 2-4 thou. On a street engine I used to set mine to 2 thou, and just let them run noisy when the engine was hot. This is the reason i've gone back to alloy pushrods with my new engine.

What Ian said is right

But

keep this link as the on line repair manual

http://www.vw-resource.com/valveadj.html 

Rob use to post here and lives in Adelaide

it is a good manual

I use the 8 thou feeler gauge as a "whoops" test. If you can fit it in the gap after you've done the adjustment there's something wrong!

just did mine today, i am very inexperienced at doing the tappets but each time i do them it gets easier , what i do with the gasket and rocker cover to avoid leaks is clean the rocker cover with steel wool around where the gasket sits ,i like to fit new gaskets because they are not very expensive, make sure its got no crap on it at all then run a smear of grease around it put in the gasket then run a smear of grease on the other side of the gasket, make sure the rim on the head is clean aswell then put it back on, this way the next time you do them its easy to clean the rocker cover
t2

Thanks for all the help.. thats why i asked

Now i don't know if i'll be doing that tommorow... lol... i've started replacing the dash panel in my car with the one out of the wreck, and i'm getting the surface rust off the rims of the guages and reapinting them...
Should look good! (I Hope!)