Hi all

I did my tappets a week or so ago (at .006 intake .007 on exhuast)

This seems to have made the tappets quite loud, i can hear them tapping away quite loudly from inside the car at idle..

Is this ok? Is it going to do any damage?
It seems to be running OK..

Oh, and yes i double checked them a few days later...

Lets get the obvious out of the way first. Did you set the tappets with the engine stone cold?

Noisy tappets are unlikely to do damage as it generally means they are loose. Tight tappets will do damage. Are they noisy when hot or only when cold?

I always set mine to 004, inlet and exhaust, and check them every 3000 miles. nice and quiet.

yes i did them when the engine was cold, hadn't started the engine since the day before.

They seem to rattle all the time.

Isn't .004 a bit tight?

.004 was recomended by VW in the early years and would give u minute advantage but was wearing valves away earlier. so then they switched to .006 i was under the impression that it was .006 for both e4xhaust and inlet

check yout tappet screws are still ok, and not worn out where they touch the valve, they are hard to feel a proper gap and adjust when they are badly worn.

Thanks..

It seems everyone has their own opinion of what the tappets should be set at... *Sigh*

Remember though "A tappy tappet is a happy tappet!".............Told to me years ago, mind you I would replace "happy" with "bloody annoying" LOL

Just a thought, your motor is standard or hotted up? if you have steel pushrods in there they need to be set very tight when cold, or they will rattle a lot when the motor warms up.

Yes, its a stock motor..

And noisy tappets are annoying.. even if it is good for the engine... it sounds terrible :cussing

I might re-do them at .006 for all

.006 all round is the best compromise. Pretty sure that VW went to .004 for a few years then back to .006 because of clearance issues when hot caused burned valves at .004. The valve stems and the push rods all grow when the motor is hot. Personally I have always set mine to .006. Some will aways rattle a little bit when hot probably due to ever so slight variations in the gap depending on how tired you are when doing the last ones, how easy it is to get to etc. How are doing the adjustment. The remember where the right place is when tightening down the adjuster lock nut method or the trap the feeler guage under the adjuster and back off a tiny bit before you lock it down method??

the difference in the setting is dictated by the boss that supports the rocker shaft assemby. late model ones have a square boss and early have round. late should be set to 4 thou

Inches or millimeters

Jo

Check out this article about tappet adjustment

http://vwtrendsweb.com/tech/0106vwt_valve/ 

Page 101 of my "Idiot Book, about keeping Volkswagens Alive" reckons .006" for both intake and exhaust valves.........something about preventing burned valves.

Just my two bobs worth

Cheers

Rob:thumb