Hi, while looking trawling youtube during these isolating times, I came across a video from Vintage speed with an alternative method where you can do your adjustments in one rotation and only using TDC marks. Just wondering if anybody uses this method? Link below shows the video! Thanks, Harry
I like the look of the method for the reason that not everybody has BDC marked on the crank pulley on Type 4. I will be sure to give it a go next time round I adjust my valves
Simple !! I was shown this method years ago but stuck to my tried-an-tested one cylinder at a time method . I do like this way, thanks for the heads up Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
I like to jack up one side at a time to encourage any oil in the head to run back to the case, for ease of access and in the dusty car park it's best not to take too much apart at once. I'll carry on as I was.
I'm no expert but surely if the valve clearance's are bigger, then I would have thought that the noisy cupboard is going to be even noisier than normal?
That's about what I thought. Even when I've just adjusted mine they still sound like someone hammering nails in, but my chum Nigel who runs a few old Triumph motor bikes often reminds me that air cooled engines are noisy without a water jacket.
............."the noisy cupboard"................. ............."rattle a bit more"............ .............."sound like someone hammering nails in"............ ............."clattery aircooled noise".................. To a T2 fanatic it's called music!!
Compared with well setup T1 engines most T4s sound like a bag of nails at idle to me.. If you are running solid rockers then they rattle like crazy unless the shims on the rocker shaft are set up properly. Also there was a batch of T1 rocker adjuster screws going around a few years back that were so soft, the bit hitting the valve would flatten, and any overhang of the screw tip on the valve stem would hang down as a lip on the end of the screw. When you put a feeler gauge under it, it would be held away from the end of the screw by the lip and so you would end up with more valve clearance, hence clatter. I have done this so often over 10 years, I can actually tell the rough difference between tight, loose and about right hearing the sound of rocking the rocker by hand.. so if it sounds wrong to me I will have another check with the feeler gauge. Then pull the screw and swap it with a less hammered one if I could see the 'lip'. I also have seen on a T4 which ran on LPG that the exhaust valve had receded so much that the rocker arm was hitting the spring retainer.. In the interest of keeping it going, I shimmed the rocker arm out and readjusted things..while muttering under my breath that saving money by using LPG is fine provided you dont mind killing £400 worth of head from time to time.
What a great idea. Never even considered it but obvious once explained. Anything that saves me time grubbing about on the floor with my feeler gauges has got to be good. On the subject of clearances - A long time ago I had a Honda motorcycle apprenticeship - which I never finished. The old workshop sage always set the valve clearances on the loose side as he thought tight clearances would damage the valves or the seat. This was before Honda started shimming their valves on their higher power bikes. I never questioned him and have always set my clearances just a touch loose. Stirlingmoz
Seems a great way to minimise work when the vehicle is way off the ground on a ramp. But for most of us at home, I'm not sure this means fewer "trips" under the vehicle. I've always done all valves on one side first, involving a "trip" above ground to turn the engine to do the final valve on that side. While I'm on the ground doing that final valve, I can then replace the cover, saving time.
To revive an oldish thread, I did my valves this way yesterday. It seemed simple enough, but afterwards I checked out cylinders 2 and 4 at the usual TDC points and found a couple were a bit tight. They shouldn’t be because the logic of the method is correct. I deduce my cam is worn as the circular back side is no longer quite circular, and this might be a way of measuring engine wear without dismantling.
The circular bit shouldn't be wearing.. that's when you have a gap and no pressure on the followers Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
I can see why it shouldn't wear but with this method you're measuring the gap 90 degrees out from the usual location and unless the hind section of the cam is perfectly round it'll show a difference. That's how I see it anyway.
It’s more likely the base circle hasn’t been ground perfectly round. Unless the followers are hydraulic there is no contact on the cam heel and there is no wear. Measuring lobe lift is a much more accurate indication of cam wear – if you know what the lift was originally. And each lobe on a new cam does not necessarily have exactly the same lift.
