by "Tim" (dirtsunrise)
Published 04/19/2017 at 10:55
by "Tim" (dirtsunrise)
Published 04/19/2017 at 10:55
Tags: Porsche
; Porsche 911
; aircooled
; DIY
; Ferrari
STARS: 15
It’s hard to believe that I’ve put over 16,000 miles in the year and a half I’ve owned this thing! The idle didn’t seem right and it started to even seem a bit down on power.
The story of buying my “dream car” is here:
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Our Honeymoon car camping roadtrip:
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I’d waited too long to adjust them! Damnit! There is something about adjusting valves on a car like this that scares me a bit. If you get it wrong you could hurt something that you can’t afford to fix or replace. Working on our old FJ40 was so much more simple. Everything is easy to reach.
So, I drained the oil on Monday night and let it drip until last night. I contorted myself and dreamt of one day having a lift... or maybe just walls on my carport to do this kind of work. All in all it wasn’t that bad. I even bought a little tool to do the adjustment which made it much more simple than trying to get feeler gauges into where they needed to go.
So, the tool sits on the rocker arm and then the big nob is where you adjust the valve clearance.
You loosen the lock nut and then spin the large knob until there is 0.00 space/lash. Then you back it off the pre-marked .1mm that is the correct distance for each intake/exhaust valve.
As you rotate the engine through it’s cycle you get each one done and then you can be reasonably sure the measurement is correct instead of using the “feel” method. On a straight 6 the feel method is easy because everything is so accessible. On a flat 6 the location is so difficult to reach that I worry that the feel will be different on each one and therefore the variance could be too big!
Riveting photos of me trying to crawl into the engine bay I know...
The absolute best part of working on anything is the test drive. Well, assuming you don’t hear any horrible noises the best part is the test drive. At first I heard a noise that my brain said was similar to a knock, but different. It just ended up being the oil pump working to get oil back into all of the spots it needs to be so it was alright. (Why I didn’t notice this on every other oil change? I wasn’t just messing with the valves usually)
We putted around and hopped on the freeway. The rough idle that shook the car (When I first bought it I thought this was normal) was gone. It was a smooth as a sewing machine again. Power was back to normal and I enjoyed a few triumphant freeway on-ramp WOT’s before heading home.
Phew, I worked on it, made it better, and didn’t hurt it. Great success!
Tim
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"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
04/19/2017 at 11:07, STARS: 3
"SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman" (dasborgen)
04/19/2017 at 11:16, STARS: 1
Borat would be proud!
I felt the same anxiety when I was checking valve lash on my Ducati... Luckily, I didn’t have to modify anything
"Peter Monshizadeh" (practicalenthusiast)
04/19/2017 at 11:23, STARS: 1
What a cool little tool, and great job! I think I would prefer a tool like that regardless of engine accessibility. It’s so nice that it tells you the exact amount to adjust to, instead of the back-and-forth that is the norm with feeler gauges.
"Tim" (dirtsunrise)
04/19/2017 at 11:27, STARS: 2
I agree. I like to think that I’ve started to learn the correct “feel”, but in reality the best part of the tool is being able to see if the adjuster has moved AT ALL while you tighten the set screw. Sure enough, each time it moved a bit so I was able to back it off and correct it.
"WiscoProud" (wiscoproud)
04/19/2017 at 11:33, STARS: 1
Good job. I absolutely would buy that tool too. Seems pretty foolproof.
"TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts." (thebloody)
04/19/2017 at 12:15, STARS: 1
Your garage is so much cleaner and organized than mine.
"Tim" (dirtsunrise)
04/19/2017 at 12:27, STARS: 1
“cleaner and organized” —-> Wife.
I try to keep it sorta nice, but it’s worse than it looks. I need a warehouse, not a 2 car carport. Woof.
"TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts." (thebloody)
04/19/2017 at 12:37, STARS: 2
Preach!
My problem is my wife comes from a family that sees garages as storage for stuff and not for vehicles. I’m constantly finding new crap that is displacing my crap!
"Tim" (dirtsunrise)
04/19/2017 at 14:29, STARS: 1
NOOOOO. I told her we are building a shed for the same reason. That... and I’m trying to purge as much as I can. Even stuff I like. If I’m using it, tryiiiiiiing to get rid of it so the garage will stay for cars and motos!
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
04/19/2017 at 14:47, STARS: 1
I need to adjust the valves on my motorcycle. They’re getting a bit chatty. It uses torsion bars instead of valve springs, so I’m a little nervous about screwing something up. At least it’s a sub $2k motorcycle instead of a Porsche.
"Tim" (dirtsunrise)
04/19/2017 at 15:02, STARS: 0
True true! Less valves etc. Adjusting them on the old beemer motorcycle i have is less worrisome because it’s old, simple and weak so it can’t really tear itself to shreds.
"torque" (torque01)
04/19/2017 at 19:55, STARS: 1
Top work.... And Result!
This doesn’t remind me, it wasn’t that long ago that I learned that at least as recent as the E36 M3 required regular valve adjustments recommended every 30K miles. Seemed so old school & unique as I hadn’t heard of any regular production cars made available in the US market in the past 20 yrs. that had such a maintenance recommendation
"Tim" (dirtsunrise)
04/20/2017 at 00:18, STARS: 1
That’s sorta wild. I wonder how often E36's really got them adjusted that often? Hopefully they are the screw and not the stupid shim type.
A buddy just adjusted the valves for the first time on his 1997 4runner with the 3.4l V6 at 230,000 miles... yep 230k. Only 3 exhasted valves needed adjusting, but they were the annoying shim kind. Still, with that kind of interval, fuck it.
"torque" (torque01)
04/21/2017 at 17:38, STARS: 1
That’s sorta wild
I Know! That’s exactly what I thought. Initial reaction was “what!?! a car sold w/in the past 20 years that needs 30K mile valve adjustments? WTF
Needing (or just wanting) to adjust them at 230K miles that I can totally see and understand.
I’m sure many an E36 M3 owner with less than 100K miles simply sold / traded them in w/less than 100K on the clock b/c “it just doesn’t seem to run quite like it used to & I’m scared what might be the cause...”
When all it might have needed was a valve adjustment.
That’s not to say that maintenance $$$ fears past 100K for an E36 M3 weren’t justified...
"benjrblant" (benjblant)
12/11/2017 at 17:38, STARS: 1
Have you done this job on the 1FZ? My valve cover gasket holds about much oil as the Valdez. Thinking I should check valve clearances while the cover is off.
"Tim" (dirtsunrise)
12/11/2017 at 20:26, STARS: 0
I started to say yes thinking 2F, but no I haven’t on the 1fz! The 2f sure is easy though!!