Valve adjustment on 1915 engine

I need to add that VW's have always been a HOBBY of mine, NOT a profession...just to clarify.  I do not profess intimate knowledge on the subject...obviously...

Intrigued. Could you be more descriptive of the differences between the two techniques? I've never heard of a bored out Type 1 needing a different valve adjustment technique than a stock one—only difference in clearance for chromoly pushrods vs stock aluminum. The steel rods are "loose zero" and the aluminum ones are .006 - (.004 if you like to live on the edge and/or hate that VW clatterjet sound). All this assumes solid lifters, of course. Hydraulic lifters don't supposed to need lash adjustment after they are set.

Am I out to lunch?

My engine is a CB Performance engine and uses an aluminum block (I don't think that has anything to do with it) and is MADE, I think, in the large configuration.  I assumed that there was a standard 4 and 6 valve adjustment was told that the big difference was the steel pushrod tubes, and that they expanded at a different rate than the aluminum ones.  My car is adjusted at zero lash, with the tubes being able to be 'twirled' with your thumb and finger at correct adjustment.  I watched  my friend adjust the valves but I should have looked at what he did with each step.  There is a BIG difference in performance when using the single valve method.

 

CB normally uses chromoly push rods which are set at loose zero. If you're uncomfortable with that, Pat tells people to adjust them to .002.
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I understood that but the METHOD of adjusting is what I'm having a problem with.  If you adjust with "The VW Method", you'll come up with a different clearance than the "single valve" method.

 

Meade,

When I got my Speedster I hadn't done any real engine work whatsoever. When it came time for my first valve adjustment and oil change I went to the internet for instruction. I watched as many videos as I could and after seeing several and seeing that they were doing them the same I felt confident that I could do it too. 

Here is Part 1 and Part 2 on adjusting valves that I followed and I haven't had any issues and I've adjusted mine several times. Good luck Meade. Keep us posted.

Thanks Robert, yup, that's the way I've always done mine on VW motors.  If you check with CB performancem they'll tell you that there's a LOT closer tolerance...like ZERO or .002 clearance.

For the love of all things mechanical, DO NOT use that Permatex Hi-Tac stuff on the valve cover gaskets.  VERY 1950's, that, unless you're putting the engine into an airplane.

Yes, it seals like crazy, but it is akin to coating both surfaces with Epoxy glue.  In the 1940's-1950's, that stuff was called "Aircraft Dope".  After going through a few heat/cool cycles the stuff petrifies and is only removed with Dynamite or a BFH.  You'll have a devil of a time getting the valve covers off the next time you want to set the valves.

Instead, clean the cover and head gasket surfaces, give the gaskets a liberal coating on both sides with wheel bearing grease, let them sit to soak the grease in for an hour or so (you could apply the grease ahead of time so the sitting won't hold you up) and then wipe off any excess and install the gasket and cover.  The gasket (doesn't matter a lot whether they're cork or composite) will have swollen a bit and will compress nicely into place.  Make sure there are no "bunches" in the gasket when the cover is applied to the head - a bunch will cause a leak.  When it's time to do the next valve adjustment, the cover should pop off with a slight pry on the ends.  The gasket should come right out of the cover, too and cleanup is super-easy.  

There are those that believe that you have to adjust the valves differently (like you describe) as the "heel" or base circle of a lot of performance cams isn't always exactly at 0 and 180 degrees. Experience with my W125 cammed 1750 seems to bear this out, as no matter how diligently I adjusted the rockers to .006" they still seemed to be noisy (a mechanic friend told me that's the way it was and get used to it). Adjusting them to .004" quietened them down a lot, but I didn't have the guts to leave them there, so just ended up living with it. 

I'd like to learn the sequence for doing it the other way as well. Al

There is a procedure for adjusting a pair on the right side and a pair on the left side without turning the crank.

I prefer to do one pair at a time. The usual sequence is 1, 2, 3, 4, turning the crank counter-clockwise. I had the crank bolt come loose one time doing that. So, I do 1, 4, 3, 2 going clockwise.

I'm lost.

This isn't a secret handshake, or part of a special club-- it's a valve adjustment. Just turn the engine over with a wrench, find each cylinder's TDC, and tighten the adjusters until you can no longer spin the pushrod. Back the adjuster out until you can, and Bob's your uncle.

Everybody wants to use a feeler gauge. If you have Cro-Moly steel push-rods (and I'll bet a donut you do), there couldn't be anything easier. Leave the feeler gauges in the tool stack.

I used the intake open, exhaust closing method. Lots of videos on YouTube on it. Real easy and it worked fine.

That's the way I have always done it and no, I don't use a feeler gauge except my my thumb and index finger like Leon told me.

THAT'S the video  I want to see! Where is it??

Stan Galat, '05 IM, 2276, Nowhere, USA posted:

I'm lost.

This isn't a secret handshake, or part of a special club-- it's a valve adjustment. Just turn the engine over with a wrench, find each cylinder's TDC, and tighten the adjusters until you can no longer spin the pushrod. Back the adjuster out until you can, and Bob's your uncle.

Everybody wants to use a feeler gauge. If you have Cro-Moly steel push-rods (and I'll bet a donut you do), there couldn't be anything easier. Leave the feeler gauges in the tool stack.

I forgot to tell you Stan, I like chocolate frosted donuts...

:-)  Meade

Meade when was your last valve adjustment done?

crhemi (Bill) poboiinhawaii posted:

Meade when was your last valve adjustment done?

His friend just did the valve adjustment and his car is running infinitely better.

Robert M posted:

crhemi (Bill) poboiinhawaii posted:

Meade when was your last valve adjustment done?

His friend just did the valve adjustment and his car is running infinitely better.

Got it. I thought he was trying to adjust them again...

Meade posted:

I forgot to tell you Stan, I like chocolate frosted donuts...

:-)  Meade

Me too, Meade-- but they don't like me. Rather, they like me too much. I look at the donut and my blood sugar spikes and I need to pop another Metformin. 

Are you saying you've got AL pushrods? Because, that was the bet. A dozen donuts says they're Manton cro-mo.

If a magnet sticks to them, I'd like a dozen chocolate frosted cake donuts, fresh from the frier, please.

Send me your address...Again, I didn't read ALL the post. Yes, they are CM tubes, and I still didn't use feeler gauges.

I got my Webers back from Leon and put them on (I'm getting good at swapping out carbs) and the engine fired right up, at least on 3 and 4 but 1 and 2 were dead and the floor of the garage was covered from the stuff being vomited out the exhaust pipe.  I took the carbs back to Leon and he went through the bad carb and couldn't locate anything so he said he'd close off the cold start circuit and if that didn't stop the flushing, he figured something was wrong with the innards and the carb was trash. (Steve at Pro-Flow Performance said the same thing about one of the carbs earlier this year.)  Anybody have a good right side Weber 40 for sale???

They are interchangeable

I will play with them, thanks.

Bill:  You can move the throttle actuator lever around to either end on a Weber?

Yes, $20.00 conversion kit if I recall. Will try and find it later.

...and it won't help me. I got my carb back from Leon and swapped sides and the bad carb remains the bad carb. I didn't adjust them yet but pulling the plug wires still indicates failure of that carb.

Gordon Nichols posted:

Bill:  You can move the throttle actuator lever around to either end on a Weber?

CB performance

Pissah!

oops....sorry.  My Boston accent slipped out.

Those CB guys - they got all the good stuff.

They really do.

Hey!  I see Santa and his elves are hangin in Hawaii, before the Big Night!

(Hope he remembers my lift).

"My Speedstah's outside, covered with snooow...  (No place to go, now)....."