<VV> valve adjustments

[Tony]

At 1923 04/19/2004 -0600, Geoff Johnson wrote:
>Your suffering from over complication here...
>It goes starting with warm engine, remove valve covers, adjust valves 
>running, in nice simple order, replace valve covers...take a bath.... no 
>big deal... none of that adjust 1I, 1E, 3I, 4E rotate 180 degrees stuff... 
><VBG>
>


And if you have a pair of those cute valve covers with the holes punched in
them (available from various vendors at most shows, or the overhead joists
hanging on hooks in my basement) the oil spatter is cut to a bare minimum to
begin with, hardly worth going and getting the kitty litter.   

Or, if you're already funky just pull the valve covers and adjust, scatter the
kitty litter and be done with it, leave the nifty holy valve covers on the
hooks, then go do the dishes which gets most of the motor oil off at the same
time.   This method takes about 30-45 seconds per side once the valve covers
are off.   

Of course if you have time on yer hands and you wanna be a player and do it
like the adjust-cold guys do, you can drag it out, have some ice tea while
getting up to go back and forth to turn the engine to get the lifters on the
heel of the cam etc.    


And, if your oil level is a bit high and the car is jacked up in the right
position, you too can drain oil out of the sump through the pushrod tubes onto
the patio even with the engine not running.    

Once in a while, after having had a rocker off and a pushrod out (such as
during a tube seal job) you find that upon reinstallation a pushrod has been
parked on the rim of the lifter and you curse and moan as you attempt to
adjust
what amounts to a solid lifter on a cam with no ramps meaning that under no
circumstances will it get quiet without stumbling the idle.   And, the pushrod
will sit on that lifter rim for a half-hour without slipping off and seating
into the lifter like it had oughta. 

When  the pushrod finally slips off the rim and into the dimple the engine
will
make an alarmingly loud "klink" noise that's reminiscent of a seat coming
loose
and smacking a piston.   

You will jerk around in alarm, ready to kick the ass of whoever suggested that
adjusting Vair valves was easy... claiming difficulty with such.  

I scoff at your pain!   I laugh... I, who have adjusted the valves
*running* on
a 426 ci Mopar engine that incorporates the adjustments on the shaft-mount
rocker arm itself...  try THAT with an engine loaded with so much camshaft
that
it won't idle below 1200 rpm... with stiff-assed springs that will eat up a
set
of feeler gauges in a single setting.   

Now, THAT is an excuse for static-adjusting valves... but it still needs to be
hot.          

Be glad it's Vairs we're talking about and not a Hemi.   Or a Napier Saber 24
cyl aero engine w/4 valves/cyl.   



tony..