Valve adjust

Spin, no play.

Yup, that's about it.

 

Push on the adjuster (stem) end to make sure it's down, then, making sure your fingers are dry, simply spin the push rod gently between your fingers.  It should spin with just the lightest resistance.

 I preload the system so they all have the same chance to be right, if you have ever looked at a vw cam & thought about whats going on you should know what Im talking about. 1 st, it dosent matter where you start, but for beginers, get a pad&pen to keep track  of witch you have done.I usualy do 1 head at a time. start off by turning the crank or alt pully clockwize while your watching the valves,(if your good you can use a starter bump switch) watch for an exhaust valve to start going down(exhaust valves are the end ones and the intakes are the 2 in the center) let the ex valve go down about1/4" now you can adjust the intake valve that is next to that ex valve,I do mine at a tight zero,make sure the rocker is puled toward the rear of the car when adjusting/tightening as the pushrods are at an angle.you should just be able to spin the pushrod, not easy not so hard it slips in your fingers&hurts. tighten the nut & recheck the spin.(the nut pulls up on the adjuster so when tightening it the pushrod usualy gets looser a bit.you will get the feal of it & beable to do it easely.if it's looser just back off the nut about 1/4 turn &slightly tighten the adjuster &check again. use good wrenches& good screwdriver so you knuckels dont get mad at you.( I have a dedacated set for doing this, mine uses allen rench) after you have that intake done turn thr motor some more and watch for either the other exhaust or the intake you just adjusted to start going down, if the other ex starts goind down just do the same as the first one and adjust the other intake valve.

 to adjust the exhaust valve, watch the intake valves go down then come back up, stop about 1/4" from all the way up(the same distance as the exhaust was when you did the intakes, dosent have to be exzact but close, you can make a gauge out of just about any thingto mesure off the ajacent valve retainer if you ned to)so now that the intake valve is 1/4" from being all the way up(not going down,coming up) you can adjust that ex valve next to it. repeat this on all 4 cylinders.

     the preloading by having the ajaycent valve 1/4" down takes up the slack in the system like the engine sees when running, this will usualy create a quieter smoother running motor with a better power balance.and in most cases get rid of the "VW""power knock" that you always hear in movies and most vw aircooler cars. dont forget to tighten the rocker nuts good, dont snap them off and dont leave them loose.use a good wrench that wont knock off the corners of the nuts, these nuts are thinner than most, and they are not the same thread pitch as the rest of the motors nuts. wipe off the gasket serfaces&reinstall the valve covers, besure the gasket is positioned properly, it dosent need any sealer.

     stock cams can be adjusted many ways including this way, but a performance cam with more duration&lift should not be adjusted the oe vw way.I do them all this way, including race motors that spin over 9000 rpm.if you need lash just add the feeler gauge when adjusting using the same procedure.

 or do it the oe way and let the extra space not taken up make noise,dont forget the other side is pushing agnist the other side every now&then & not at the same time in each cylinder, so the preload helps counteract that too. good luck and have fun&plenty of clean papertowels&drain pan under the head for oil spilage.

Great write-up, Mark.

 

That's how I learned to do them, too!

 

Thanks.  gn

Thanks for the write up mark.  My old speedster did not use chrome push rods so it was a little different.  But I assume finding top dead center and then turning 180 for valves is proper approach for someone who has inly done this a time or two?  1/4" here and there etc may not work for someone who doesnt have the "eye" yet???

not if you have an aftermarket camshaft other than stock grind.

thickness of 3 quarters will do just fine. the system needs to be preloaded the way it is when it's running. lash dosent mater when it's not running.