Valve adjustment and dissy question
zz4 cam.
1. How much of a turn do you tighten after resistance felt on pushrod.
2. how often is shimming normally required on valve springs,seem pretty even to me?
2. the brown and white connectors for the dissy,which colour installed closest to the firewall(brown one?)..its on an 89.
Last edited by oldalaskaman; Nov 5, 2010 at 08:52 AM. Reason: spelling







Distributor is marked tach and B+ where they plug in. Use a light and read it on the connector cover.
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SLIGHT is hard to define - what's SLIGHT to one isn't to another - so many are now using the 'up and down' method instead of the 'twist the pushrod until slight resistance is felt" method.
"How much of a turn do you tighten . . . " After a lot of reading on this, I've concluded it depends on the lifter. Different make lifters call for different amounts of preload in order to correctly position the plunger in the lifter body.
Some, like some of CompCams lifters, only call for .020"/.040" of preload which translates into 1/2 turn or so. Others call for as much as .070" which calls for twice as much. Although they may look the same, lifters do vary. Plunger mechanism, pushrod cup height, oil hole position, etc.
After so many back and forths on this over the years I now recommend following what the lifter manufacturer recommends.
Jake
Last edited by JAKE; Nov 8, 2010 at 01:42 PM.
The .040 shown by comp. translates to approx. 3/4 turn. When given a real measurement the amount of pre-load can be determined by the threads per inch (on the stud)....or you can always put a dial indicator on it.
The .040 shown by comp. translates to approx. 3/4 turn. When given a real measurement the amount of pre-load can be determined by the threads per inch (on the stud)....or you can always put a dial indicator on it.
My 96 GM FSM recommends one full turn, plus or minus one-quarter turn. That tanslates into anything between one and one quarter turns from Zero Lash on the high end to three-quarters turn on the low end. Anything within that range is in factory spec. What's important is for Zero Lash to actually be Zero Lash; correctly found.
Shimming the springs to recover lost pressure isn't something that's usually done on street driven engines. Some may but I believe most don't. How often depends on how hard the springs have been worked; whether the valve train has been subjected to valve float, etc.
You'd need a spring pressure tester, made by different companies, and an assortment of different thickness shims. You'd also have to be careful of coil bind too if you add thicker shims.
Adding thicker or add'l shims eats up what precious little coil spring clearance there is. Installing new springs may be the only option if the pressure falls off beyond a certain point. Don't skip the correct spring break-in procedure which extends their life-span.
Jake
Once zero is truly established, and depending on the stud used,
a 3/8 fine thread is 24 threads per inch, which equals 0.042 inch per 360 deg turn of the poly lock, a half turn would then equal .021
7/16 fine thread is 20 threads per inch, which equals 0.050 inch per 360 deg turn of the poly lock, a half turn would then equal .025
Comp recommends 1/2 turn (.030" ?) preload without stipulating stud size. Is there a geometry issue that increases the pre-load at the plunger of the lifter ?
.021 x 1.5 (using 3/8 x 24 as an example and a half turn times rocker ratio) equals .0315". Fairly close to .030". Take .030" and divide it by the .021 and you get 1.428571... that would be real close to the ratio of stock stamped steel rockers.
Again, if there is any doubt when using a real measurement setting pre-load it can be double checked using a dial indicator.
This has been discussed before and currently on another thread. What I do not understand is why anyone would set the pre-load any differently than what the mfg. suggests. I've read the claims and reasons for different amounts of pre-load, yet I've never had an issue at higher rpm when using the mfg.s recommendations.
I'm not sure why you went on to discuss shimming the spring..I don't recall recovering spring pressure being asked.
Last edited by mseven; Nov 9, 2010 at 08:45 AM.
OP, did you get all that? mseven's your guy when you want to play the numbers game! LOL
Question #2 started it for me -(well since he has two posted as #2 you'll need to read both of them) - and sent me down that "shimmng" path.
Jake






