Hey I'm looking at my valves right now on a 1966 289 Ford V8 They should be .022 cold or .018 warm. I can only get a .005 feeler gauge (with a bit of force)under the appropriate valves (at near cooldown)when I have the crank in the right possition. The previous owner was a punk, so do you think he just over tightened the 289s valves or could the gaps closed up over years of non-adjustment? I'm supposed to have hydrolic valves if it is stock, is there anyway to positively identify if I had some upgraded self adjusting valves or something?

Thanks,

Jason

Valve tolerances always close up as the valves/seats wear and valves sink(up) into the head. Prolly exhaust valves do this more than intakes due to the higher heat they must handle. 'Course, the older valveseats don't like non-leaded gas.

Cool, they were just so far off I wanted to make sure I wasn't on crack or something. Yeah, 11+ years of unleaded gas has to do something. I figured they would close up but I wouldn't have guessed it would be this much.

Thanks

jason, what you are seeing is valve recession.. exactly what I was talkin about in the other post.

Get them adjusted back to spec and the truck should run like new.

Funny, a friend of mie is putting that motor in a 40's era Jeep right now and was asking me the same question. Good to know!

quote:

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Originally posted by datz510:
jason, what you are seeing is valve recession.. exactly what I was talkin about in the other post.

Get them adjusted back to spec and the truck should run like new.

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Well, as it turned out I just started to back off the bolt, it had to back way off before the spring was released. There were only a few threads on the valve post. This seemed a bit strange to me. So I chickened out. I checked a book I had for the 302 engines and they suggested using a valve rocker press tool. The picture of this seems that the tool grabs the rocker and makes sure that the push rod does not come out at all. Has anyone done this job before? I tried to buy a tool and the only valve adjustment tool any shop (3) in town had in any of their books was just the valve spring surpressing tools. Know one even knew what I was talking about.

Would it be bad if the threads on the valve posts are almost not able to be seen or that they vary from one valve to the next?

If I go and set all the valve so that they are posting the correct specs, could they be too loose and just pop or misfire and end up destroying my engine?

I'm starting to feel that I might be a bit over my head on this project. There seems to be a lot of risk on this project.

Datz, do your book say anything the tool I mentioned or when the valve seals are too spent to be adjusted

Anyone want to go to the chat room and talk about this???

if the spring was compressed and you had to back the nut way off, you were on a cylinder that had the valve open. make sure the valve is fully closed before trying to set lash!

Hey drip, how are you? I agree with what you are saying, but I was only following the diagram that Datz posted in the other tread about my damn 66. I was at TDC mark and the I looked at the forward most valve of the number 5 cylinder. How is that not correct??? Anyway, shouldn't I be able to do this adjustment without any special tools, just a feeler and a socket wrench, right?

jason.. you sure you dont have a 351W in that truck? From that diagram, the firing order is different. Strange that the spring would be compressed at TDC on that cylinder.

YOu should only adjust the valves that are closed (valve spring fully extended). One way you can tell, Pull the dist cap off and watch the rotor as you turn the engine over.. when it points to each wire, that cylinder is at TDC and you can adjust its valves.

Jason.. that tool you are talking about is for the positive stop hydraulic valve trains.

"...requires a special tool, one that will be difficult to find. It rotates the rocker arm against the pushrod while the valve is in its closed position by hooking under the rocker arm on the valve side of its pivot and pushing down on the rocker arm on the pushrod side.. ...The purpose of this is the collapse the hydraulic lifter while the valve-tip-to-rocker-arm clearance is checked with a feeler gauge..."

Tool is Ford part number 6513-AC. It goes on to mention that only the 255ci, 302ci, and 351W engines for this type of valve train. The hydraulic valve lash clearance specs are different from the normal adjustable valve clearances:

302: 0.090-0.190"
351W: 0.106-0.206"

Here is some info on setting valves on a 289 w/ hydraulic lifters:

http://maverick.to/archives/mmb2/june00/messages/57.html

Thanks again guys for the feedback. About the 351 question. The heads have 66 and 289 molded right on each head. SO I assume that it should still be a 289. I too don't have any idea as to why the first valve to the front of the number 5 cylinder was not ready to be adjusted. I think I'll give it a shot the "long" way by following the firing order. That should work to get started.

OK guys, well I tried the process twice. 1st attempt was a cold engine and I followed the firing order. Fired up the truck, still no power, idled fine, but the valves were very noisy. So I tried again and followed the diagram Datz posted. Turns out I was not on TDC last time (I was 180 degrees off before) so I pulled the plug this time to be sure. I went through the 3 stage process. Same result as before (no power and signing valves). I will attempt this again on Tuesday but with the valves warm.

What is the deal with adjusting the valves while the engine is running? A guy told be to just tighten the noisy valves down a bit when the engine is running. "The old stop when it sounds right" Any thoughts, it doesn't sound too precise

Thats for hydraulic lifters. Old solid lifter motor HAS to have a little bit of lash in it, or the valves end up never seating and you lose compression.

ditto, you set it w/ the feeler gauge in between -while tightening locknut- for a solid lifter... cranking another turn tighter of adjustment -after contact is made- would be short death to solid lifter setup.


If it's solid lifter design, you definately need to have theengine stopped. I'm ignorant as to adjusting a hydraulic setup.

Are you sure the engnine has hyd lifters?
If so ,have you changed oil and filter recently?

we're all assuming they're solid lifters, given the engine and year, and the fact that they're supposed to be adjusted every 10k miles.