CORRECT Hydraulic Valve Adjusting

[vwnate1]

Hi Bruce ;

The deal is this : when the engine was new , and _IF_ it wasn't a
Monday or Friday build and the machinist wasn't drunk , etc. etc. ,
GM said you'd set the cylinder to TDC and adjust to _zero_ lash then
tighten the ball nut 1 - 1/2 turns more (that works out to 540°)
but , in real life that's almost always WAY too much , so , set each
valve to TDC and adjust the rockers to zero lash then start the
engine and warm it up , it'll prolly click a fair bit , use a socket
on a flex handle not a ratchet and slowly and gently tighten each
valve only enough to where the clicking noise stops .

If you cannot tell any clicking stopping , loosen it up until you
hear it click then tighten it and move on to the next valve in line .

If the engine slows down or begins to miss , you've tightened that
valve too much , loosen it up until it clicks then try again .

Of course this must not be done until you've set the dwell to 33°
(points gap tp .016") timing dead nuts to either 10° BTDC @ idle or
32° BTDC all in .

-Nate
Bruce Asked :

Hi Guys, Please tell me the amount of clearance on valve lifters
for a 59
Chevy six with hydraulic lifters. Seems to be some mis-information
in the
books. Thanks, Bruce

 

[cowboy357]

Good post Nate !! Thats the way it has worked for Me for Years also. I Quit reading & Beleiving the info in them books Years ago .

Thanks for taking the time to Post in a way I can even understand .

Bob

 

[vwnate1]

You're Welcome

No worries Bob ! .

I remember working on a Corvair many years ago and the service manager looked in the book & told me to give each one 1 - 1/2 turns , I asked ' are you sure ? ' his reply ~ listen kid ! I been working on these cars since you were in diapers ' etc. . etc. ~ needless to say , when I firede it up , the lifters
were *so* tight , they squeaked like mine and the engine didn't run well....

I personally think the books are generally right but there's much to be said for applying a bit of experiance and common sense....

Delco Dealer training taught me the right way to adjust hydraulic lifters .

Heck , they even told us to get a rocker box (or two for the V-8's) out of stock and cut a hole across the top so's we could work cleaner....