Ok, have I screwed up... if so, how bad?

Just came bolt upright out of a sound sleep.....

I may have screwed up when I checked my valve shims today. At the time I was happy I got the shim tool to work first time and wasnt thinking of much more than taking the shims out to check them, problem may be....I kept them out.

My subconscious musta been trying to get my attention all day because I came awake with the thought CAN I PUT THE NEW ONES BACK IN???? Or have I screwed the pooch?

Should I go find an appropriate brick wall to pound my thick skull against??

 

Did the engine run after taking the shims out? Or did you turn it around by hand? In both cases I would check it there aren't any grooves/burrs in the tappets. I guess in case of turning the engine by hand there shouldn't be any.


grz Thijs

 

Oh I havent gotten that far....I havent put the new shims in yet....I just took all the ones out on the out of spec intake and exhaust valves, and there in lies the rub....should I have put them back in and taken them out only after I got the new shims to replace them??

 

i'm curious as to how you did it - did you remove the shim and crank the cam back around and then remove the hold down tool? or did you just remove the shim and remove the hold down tool?

 

Oh, it's possible all right. There really do need to be shims in there at all times when the engine is being rotated; I would use a spoon and thoroughly soak the tops of the buckets with clean oil and then turn it only as much as necessary to get the shims back in. The procedure is: Remove a shim, read it (or replace it) reinstall, then remove the tool. THEN move on to the next one.

 

That is the usual process - check the # then reinstall. Here is the problem I see. The cam pushing down the shim opens the valve so you can install the tool and hold the bucket down. I'm not sure how you will get the bucket down far enough to hold the bucket down.

But I'm sure it's not a huge deal just could be a pain to resolve. Worst case you can remove the cams and reinstall the shims.

 

The cam should still push the bucket down far enough for the tool to work; the tool doesn't hold the bucket all the way down, just far enough.

 

Oh bloody hell.....its just like me to do something like this THEN consider things afterwards. I learn hard.....

 

Woo hoo! Got em back in.....no scoring that i could see! Now I can sleep tonight....

 

Glad you got them back in because your next move would have been to remove the cams. Not that big a deal and some guys do it that way cause the hold down tool can be a PITA

 

Cool glad you got it resolved...

 

Thanks for all the responses guys, I really couldnt sleep after that thought hit me and if I had my engine in a shop where I could see, I would have been out there working on it....luckily I can reuse one of my shims in another valve.

One of the shims got put in with the number side up and the number was mostly rubbed off..... CSI to the rescue! I just recently bought a UV security kit for all my stuff. It came with a UV light. It lit that number right up! Y280.

 

That may be a very useful trick to read the hard to see ones.

 

Vernier calipers work every time...markings or no markings. That or a C frame micrometer.

 

Especially since the number was stamped on when the shim was new; DO YOU KNOW how many miles ago that was? Calipers or a mic; no guesswork.

These days you can get a very nice digital caliper for about $15.

 

Yep a good c mike can even help you out when you find you need a fat 280 or a skinny 275. That is if you have a bag of shims from about 1/2 a dozen valve adjustments laying around. The shims vary a couple of tenths.