valve adjustment w/ new head

[88accordSF]

adjusting my valves to .006" intake & .011" exhaust (cold) resulted in a very slight tick when the car is warmed up. and that's not a snug pull, that's VERY little friction between the feeler and the valvetrain parts.

i tightened up the valves to .005" / .010" VERY snug, that make the ticking worse... (since the valve sets deeper toward the piston after the head & valvetrain is warmed up, with the metal expanding)

going to try a looser setting tonight to see how it works (.007 or .008 for the intake, .012 or .013 for the exhaust, or even a thousandth or two looser on both), need to wait for the car to cool down. i normally wouldn't go looser than recommended spec, but this situation could mean my head was shaved too far by the rebuild shop? possibly? so for the time being, i'll give it a try....

maybe i need to install a head spacer?

anybody ever run like .009 for the intake, .014 for the exhaust?

[LX-incredible]

Shaving the head shouldn't affect valve adjustment.

[cygnus x-1]

Shaving the head has nothing to do with valve adjustment. And some ticking is normal with solid rocker type valve trains as these are. Just set the clearance to factory specs and leave it. You can go a little looser but it will likely be noisier. But do NOT go any tighter.

C|

[bobafett]

what kind of cam do you have installed?

for a delta 272/282 they recommend .006" intake and .008" exhaust (cold)
for a stock cam I believe its .007"-.009" intake, and .009"-.011" exhaust (cold) - I THINK.
but I know the .006/.008 is the specs for any worthwhile delta cam.

it will definitely be noisier, but not bad sounding...i had to spend a lot time getting my valves set perfect, but the car sounds fine once you do it. I have setup stock cams, 272s and 282s with these numbers, with no adverse affects.

[88accordSF]

just set the valves at .008/.013 (snug, not tight, not loose). i did notice that i may have overtorqued the locking nuts, because it took two hands on the 12mm wrench to release all of them. just in case the locking nut torque affected the valvetrain, i torqued them at the factory spec 14 ft/lbs (don't think it should affect the tapping regardless, since its only holding the adjustment screw in place, and doesn't function like a head-bolt torque, but minus well do it right all around...)

when the silicone rtv cures in an hour (spotted a little RTV on the gasket corners of the half-circles around the cam), i'll fire it up and see how it sounds.

Shaving the head has nothing to do with valve adjustment.|

what if the head was shaved to far, slightly past the allowable limit, could the valve tap on the piston if it was a close-enough scenario?

if so (which i'm not sure if it is), i was thinking a few thousands backed off the valve would give it that safety margin... not sure

what kind of cam do you have installed?

stock

[bobafett]

yeah the .013 is a little loose, but probably not loose enough to hurt anything. if you get inspired to do it again .010 is probably closer, but i'm sure you're fine, especially on stock cam.

[88accordSF]

ticking noise went down after the test drive.... just barely audible now. only after its fully warmed up.

maybe the head build was a little off from the rebuild shop... ack, who knows.

in process of locating a parts car for a complete turbo motor build, EFI & 5 speed swap, this new head should last me enough to build the new setup....

[tuxdreamerx]

yewah I just had my head resurfaced and had a valve job done and I had to adjust my valves I adjusted intake to .006 and exaust to .010 and i also hear the ticking I didnt know if this was bad but you guys are saying its normal so I feel a little better about the ticking.

[g.frost]

After having the head off and esp. after a valve job. Just initially set them and let them run in for a few thousand miles.... Then re-adjust, they settle down after a few heat/cool cycles and initial break-in (valve job)and don't need adjust for 25k+ miles. (ok this is going by my experience with other cars as I never had the head off my honda(s))

[88accordSF]

i stuck a ziptie on the cam gear UP arm, closed it tight, and cut it about 2" away from the gear.

turned on the car, and put my finger near the cam gear to feel the zip tie flying around, and compared that to the ticking noise

the ticking noise is going exactly as fast as the ziptie is rotating, which means the ticking is happening once every 2 crank rotations

was trying to rule out whether the problem was the timing belt adjuster bearing, or the other rotating bearing for the timing belt, which i think would have a faster, uncorrelated tapping rate compared to cam rotation (like it wouldn't be 1 : 1, or 2 : 1, or 1 : 2, because the cam gear rotates at 1:2 to the crank). i think this means its an engine problem

the ticking sound comes from the bottom-side of the engine. can't even hear it if your head is on the topside of the head. can only hear it from the driver's wheelwell and under the car.

driving me nuts. gotta find a parts car quick....

[2oodoor]

shaved head may not mean any difference in valve lash adjustment, but it does put the CC of the head closer to the piston. This raises the compression, as well as retards the cam timing even with it set to factory specs. This is one of the reasons I got an adjustable gear.
These A20 family motors like the lash a little loose, Also make sure your adjustment is still the same after locking down the nut sets. Hopefully you torqued the camshaft retainer bolts correctly as well.