shoebox

It's a perfectly good way to adjust valves and what are you talking about "catching a lifter on a base lobe"? It is supposed to be on the base of the lobe when you adjust it. As long as you don't have a super wild cam, this procedure will work. BTW, this method is pretty much right out of the GM factory service manual and you will find it in nearly every other manual in print.

Fastbird93

What's your definition for that??

bunker

You won't know if your rolling of the valve stem tip just by turning the engine over by hand because lifter does collapse a sertain amount & won't go to full lift at the valve if there is no oil pressure, I suggest running the engine with the covers off & see, also adjust them to 0 lash no more I suggest, if you are having problems then there is something else wrong, dont bandaid it by tighting it up more cuz you could do more damage in the end, besides do the running engine method when the engine is up to full operating temperature, so whatever it runs on when fully warmed up.

Matt.

Fastbird93

Ok, I've been searching around and mulling things over, and came up with a couple of things.

Last night when I set them, I set them by taking all the slack out of the valvetrain, then when I started to feel a drag on the pushrod, tightening the retaining nut 1/4 turn and locking it in. I did each cylinder individually at TDC.

Here's a couple of questions:

Does it take a few times running for things to seat and quiet down??

How quiet should the NSA setup be?? My car still sounds like a diesel and I'm getting a REALLY aggressive snap every now and then under there.

With the motor running technique, it should be at operating temp right?? Do one side at a time, tighten until the rocker goes silent, back off ever so slightly, and then set your pre-load (for comp R's 0-1/8 turn).

I'm going to give the geometry a once over with a pushrod length checker provided I can acquire one today if a friend makes it down.

wile2k

Well, admittantly, my cam is pretty small (XE 224/230) but I've never had any kind of adjustment problems setting them this way. I set them at one point with the engine running and I'm not convinced that it was in any way better. I guess if you get a crazy enough cam, then I can see problems, but I've seen people use this method sucessfully on CC306 / GM 847 size cams.

How big is the cam Fastbird?

LT4orbust

after you adjust the lifters, and you think you've done them right, start the car let it warm up a little shut it off restart it in about 1 hour . I've seen so many times people adjusting valves , readjusting like you are doing, for no reason other than a lifter not adjusting quickly enough. The way i do is get zero lash in any of the ways the others have described, give another 1/2 turn and let it partially warm up , and restart in about an hour. You really shouldn't have to do this but lifters can be touchy. Any body else know what i'm talking about above? And if you don't ...try it

Fastbird93

That's exactly what I was thinking, that the motor needs to be cycled and warmed up a couple of times. I may just run it for a while today, to the gas station and back maybe (it's riding E) and give it a couple of start cycles to see what would happen.

94Formula/TA

What I'm talking about is what if one of those valves that was up is not exactly up and was on the base of a cam "lobe" say .05-.1 off of the base circle. If you do each cylinder at the top of the compression stroke then you don't have to worry about this. GM service manuals are good for stock parts not exactly what I want to follow with a cam duration in the 24x range.

Rich

LT4orbust

I thought the extra 1/2 to 1 turn takes care of any slight problems with being exactly on TDC.

97bowtie

I have found one method to be damn near fail proof in the 7 or 8 cam installs I've done:

You want to adjust ONE CYLINDER (both the intake and exhaust valves)at a time.

Rotate crankshaft until the exhaust lifter/pushrod begins to rise. Adjust intake valve. Adjust the intake valve just as you see the exhaust lifter/pushrod start to move up...don't let it move more than 1/16" or so.

Rotate crankshaft until the intake valve opens and closes. Just as the intake valve CLOSES (not as it starts to close, but rather when the lifter/pushrod are all the way back down), adjust exhaust valve.

If something is unclear, ask. If you do this correctly and you still have problems w/valvetrain noise you may have another problem.

Fastbird93

This is exactly how I was doing it. I'm starting to think that the extremely agressive ramp rates is causing some of the noise issues.

Highgear is bringing his pushrod length checker by tonight, so I'll check that over, not that I'm anticipating any problems.

I should have more words in a few hours, I'm getting to work on it at about six pm.

Fastbird93

OK, Psuedo update:

Valvetrain geometry looks good. However, after having set all of them last night, I ran the car for a few minutes with the driver valve cover off.

FIRST: Where's this oil mess everyone's been talking about?? I was idling at 800 and not getting any squirting. But oil circulation is obviously happening as said by all the residual.

SECOND: It was visually and audibly aparrent that on the driver side alone I had 4 rockers which were obviously moving up and down on the studs! Thinking about it now, I do believe that they were all exhaust rockers too.

THIRD: I'm getting fed up. Once my battery charges I'm giving the dynamic setting a go on the driver side, and if it turns out well, moving to the passenger side.

shoebox

Rockers sliding up and down on the studs? You've got something weird going on. Perhaps extremely too tight and collapsing the lifters. You said you were not getting much oil squirting, if they are way tight, the lifters cannot pump any oil.

Another crazy thought: what if those are solid lifters in there?--[edit]Nevermind, you said below you had these lifters in use before.

Fastbird93

THAT'S IT!!!! I'VE ABSOLUTELY F*%^#*G HAD IT WITH THIS CAR!

I tried to set them while running, no dice, I couldn't make heads or tails out of all the clacking. Only thing I found out was "tighten nut more = make idle bad."

So I try the two crankshaft turn method. It's going good, everything seems to check out. Good 1/8 turn on everything (motor had been brought up to operating temp at this point), nice. Start the car, and NO DICE AGAIN! This time everything is too tight and the car will barely idle!!!

I don't know WTF is going on with my car but it's about two seconds from getting parted out because I'm so aboslutely sick of trying to deal with it.

I can't find anything wrong with the geometry, I swear to god I've got TDC at the specified points, and for some reason I just can't get this! ARGH!!!!!

LT4orbust

... let it sit ... maybe a few hours maybe overnight, i've had this happen to me, i don't fully understand it,try running it for a few minutes inbetween... maybe an hour apart, were the lifters really clean, like the other guy said ...are you sure they're the right lifters?Another thing... if your lifters are or were dry when you installed them and your making your adjustment by feeling the turning pressure on the pushrod as you turn it ...it is barely felt when zero lash is achieved, you may have to pick up on the rod ,while pushing down on the valve stem side of the rocker to see when zero lash is achieved