The V8 Owners Forum -

Thanks - that's useful .. I was going to try and figure out a method as the inlet in currently off but you saved me the job

I have a Kent cam and can only adjust the valve clearances cold, it is running quad sidedraughts so it takes 20 mins to get them off. Set at .022 as KC spec sheet it sounds like a bag of spanners, I have read that cold with I could take .012 off the clearance. Does anyone know for sure ?

Regards
Chris

I find i hard to find TDC, because the nr 6 and 1 cilinder are close at tdc what is the easy way for this ?

No1 plug out, rocker cover off, rotate the engine, watch for the No1 inlet valve to close, and you are coming up on the compression stroke, you canhold a small screwdriver in the plug hole and turn the engine over by hand, the piston will push the screwdriver out of the hole, it is remarkably easy to get TDC by doing this

ian.stewart wrote:No1 plug out, rocker cover off, rotate the engine, watch for the No1 inlet valve to close, and you are coming up on the compression stroke, you canhold a small screwdriver in the plug hole and turn the engine over by hand, the piston will push the screwdriver out of the hole, it is remarkably easy to get TDC by doing this

I also do it like this and no problems so far
I don't like the use of a screwdriver , as you never now what you can demage but a use a torch and look at turning point of the valves

I am with Ian. If you want a bit more accuracy .. drill out an old spark plug big enough to take a bit of welding rod (about 5" long seems to work well) bend the end of the welding rod over so it can't fall down the hole (in case you made it too short!) then turn the engine over by hand and watch the rod. If you want absolute accuracy (not really necessary for setting tappets) then put a mark or tape on the rod say 5mm down from where you think the highest point is. Rotate the engine until the mark appears. Mark the pulley against the TDC marker on the front cover, now continue to rotate until the mark on the rod comes back down to the same position .. mark the pulley again .. TDC is precisely half way between the two marks on the pulley.
As for the tappet setting .. I would go for about .016" (16 thou) cold, that should be enough for most applications.

Nice tip !

Have you drilled out many sparkplugs, LOL, Not an easy job, grind off the rolled lip the holds the ceramic in position then try and punch out the ceramic from the plug. I think, the whole plug must be crimped to hold the ceramic so tight rather than the rolled edge, normally ends up with me attacking the ceramic with a center punch to get it out

ian.stewart wrote:Have you drilled out many sparkplugs, LOL, Not an easy job, grind off the rolled lip the holds the ceramic in position then try and punch out the ceramic from the plug. I think, the whole plug must be crimped to hold the ceramic so tight rather than the rolled edge, normally ends up with me attacking the ceramic with a center punch to get it out

Last one I did I just chopped the ceramic off flush and put it in a pillar drill down the center .. worked fine for me .. but that was a while ago!

have a nippel from my compression tester to put in the sparkplug hole so with the welding rod i think this will work fine

Thank you for the tappet adj info