Allan in Ne

Britt

Yes, I've seen a lot of those old mechanics do that; like Mark said, they were trying to seat an oil burner by abnormally "wearing" the rings and cylinders. Sure don't know if I could ever do that, but maybe it worked???? Dunno.

One thing those old guys taught me, that I immediately got in the habit of doing, is that you don't have to pull the intake manifold and all that associated paraphernalia to pull a head; she'll come right down outta there while leaving everything else in place.

And also on a rebuild, by keeping your wits about you and counting turns & always mindful of camshaft position, you don't have to adjust those hydraulic lifters while the engine is running.

Likewise, you don’t have to pull the hood to swap engines; they will come outta there without all that extra work.

Another one is pulling the engine instead of the drive train to swap a clutch on a 4x4; it’s so much faster.

Old iron, aint it great? Glad I don’t HAVE to do it anymore, though. :>)

Allan

Never had guts enough to set the preload by counting turns. Never knew if the lifter was prefilled to the right level or not and didn't want to burn a valve due to too much preload.

Great sport..... ...yeah right!

Mark

Chevy V-8 18436572

Make a chart using the first 4 in the firing order above and the last four below:

1843
6572

Watch the exhaust valve on #1, when it closes and the intake just starts to open, adjust the valves on #6, watch #8, adjust #5, etc. Works on solid lifters also for setting cold clearance before starting. Two revolutions of the crank and you are done.

Works on any engine with an even number of cylinders, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc. Don"t know what to do on 3"s, and 5"s.

During the rebuild, the lifter doesn't even have to have any oil in it at all; this will work on a set of brand new lifters as well ('course, I can't imagine re-using a used lifter).

First, make absolutely sure that the cam is rotated away from it's throw so that the lifter is "away" from any lift at all.

Then, if you will notice, the lifter has a somewhat "weak" little spring inside it's bore which holds that check valve in place. This little weak spring will push up against the push rod with a somewhat 'weak' pressure.

So, what you do, is to go around all 16 rockers and bring them down to "JUST 0 LASH AGAINST THAT LITTLE SPRING" while rotating the engine as necessary to get that camshaft in the right position for each lifter. (Actually, you can adjust 3 or 4 rockers at a pop before you have to rotate the engine.)

Then, once you are totally convinced and absolutely sure that all are at set at 0 lash (against that little spring), very carefully (and without loosing count) go around all 16 rockers and bring them all down 'exactly' one more turn.

At that point, you can put the gaskets on the covers and install; paint the dude and forget it, 'cause those valves are set. Promise.

Ignition timing can be done in somewhat the same manner, but this is another whole chapter.

Allan