Vent: That shop in Dallas ruined my valve adjustment routine

I went to a shop down in Dallas last month and watched a guy do valve adjustments without even pulling the valve covers off the exhaust side. He just used a borescope and some feeler gauges on a stick. Now I'm wondering if I'm wasting 2 hours on every job doing it the old way. Has anyone else tried that method?

3 comments

3 Comments

blair_taylor321d ago

Did he actually get accurate readings on the exhaust side or did he have to guess at the clearance?

seth_shah1d ago

The machinist I work with on side jobs had a similar issue on a 2005 Civic build last month. He ended up using plastigage on the exhaust side but had to shim it twice because the first reading was off by about 0.003 inches from the factory spec. Turns out the block had a tiny bit of warp from overheating, so he had to measure at three different spots on each journal and average them out. Most guys just check the middle and move on, but that can screw you if the bearing has any twist in it from age.

mason_lopez1d ago

Is using plastigage for valve adjustments actually measuring the right thing though?