How To: Valve Lash Adjustment

Tools needed:
10mm socket and ratchet
10mm box end wrench
medium standard screwdriver
feeler gauge set
1/2" drive ratchet and a 6" extension

Procedure:
1. Take the car out for a drive long enough to get it up to full operating temperature. You'll be setting the valve lash on it while it's hot, so be careful what you touch.

2. Park the car, turn the steering wheel all the way to the right, and shut the car off. Take the key out of the ignition and pop the hood.

3. Remove the black plastic engine cover. It's three 10mm bolts across the back of the valve cover. Set the cover aside (it makes a great place for all the bolts if you set it upside-down).

4. Disconnect the wiring for the coils, and remove the four 10mm bolts (one per coil) that hold the coils in place. Also remove the two 10mm bolts that attach the wiring harness to the valve cover. Put all those bolts aside.



5. Remove the coils and set them aside.




6. Remove the six 10mm bolts that secure the valve cover (red arrows), and pop the wiring harness holder through the metal bracket (yellow arrow) to remove the valve cover. Also disconnect both of the rubber hoses that are attached to the valve cover.




7. Remove valve cover. I had to pick it up a little, then pull the end in my right hand towards me to clear the metal bracket the wiring was attached to, then the rest came out easily.

8. With the valve cover out of the way, what lies before you is a mess of rockers and springs, and buried under all that is the camshaft. Now comes the fun part...




9. Put the 6" extension on the 1/2" drive ratchet, and stick the square end of the extension in the center bolt on the crankshaft pulley. Turn it CLOCKWISE by hand until the timing mark on the pulley lines up with the "T" on the timing cover. (Hope you guys with Joe's pulley put some kind of mark on yours before installing it, like I did)

10. Try to rock the intake (further from you) and exhaust rockers (closer to you) for cylinders 1 (by your left hand) and 4 (by your right hand). Whichever cylinder both sets will rock on, that cylinder is at TDC, and that's the one you'll adjust. Also, the exhaust rockers of cylinder 2 or 3, and the intake on 3 or 2 will rock. Adjust those, too.

11. Adjustment is as follows: Loosen the jam nut on the adjustment screw, loosen the screw a couple turns. Rock the rocker back so the gap opens, and insert the appropriate feeler gauge (Intake valve: 0.20 mm (0.008 inch) Exhaust valve: 0.30 mm (0.012 inch) ). Tighten the screw with the screwdriver, but not so tight that the feeler gauge is difficult to move around. If it gets too tight, you'll be pushing the valve open slightly with the setscrew. Not a good thing. Anyway, while holding the setscrew in place with the screwdriver, tighten the jam nut with the 10mm wrench. Check the feeler gauge again to make sure it's not binding up in there.




12. When all those are done, rotate the crank by hand (again, clockwise) through one complete revolution, and line the mark back up with the "T". Again, either #1 or #4 will rock both sets (the opposite of the one that did before), and the exhaust rockers of #2 or #3, and the intake rockers of #3 or #2. In other words, the ones you didn't adjust the first round, do them this round.

13. Replace all the stuff you took off, take the ratchet and extension out of the crank center bolt, and start your engine. Check for oil leaks from the valve cover, and listen for anything that doesn't sound right.