Don't understand what you mean by "whenever I adjust the valves, they aren't
tight (as would indicate wearing valve seats) but a few thou. loose." unless
you mean that every time you *check* them after several thousand miles the
clearance has opened up and you have to readjust them. I have found that
some valves can exhibit significant differences in clearance either side of
the strict 'rule of nine' point which gave me problems in getting repeatable
adjustments until I discovered it. I now check either side of the 'rule of
nine' point and set the gap at its widest point.
Valve lift is a measure of cam lobe wear (and possibly slop in the bearings)
and seems to be specced at .3645" for all engines.
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Trebelhorn <matttrebelhorn@netscape.net>
To: <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 2:40 PM
Subject: How to check cam wear?
> My '70 B roadster, daily driver, is in need of a valve job -- mostly worn
> guides, but I won't know what the seats look like until I get there.
>
> The thing that makes me worry about the cam is this: whenever I adjust
> the valves, they aren't tight (as would indicate wearing valve seats) but
> a few thou. loose. This makes me think of cam/tappet wear as the other
> major possibility...
>
> On the other hand, I may just be paranoid about cam wear because the
> previous cam (which may have been the original) wiped one lobe, resulting
> in one hot cylinder, blown head gasket, etc. etc.
>
>
> So, how do I check the cam for wear, preferably without (or, more to the
> point, before) tearing everything down?
>
> Thanks,
> Matt
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
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