Valve clearance/tappet- parts/tools list

[scotty_d]

Going to be doing this job soon with the help of a mate who owns his own performance Garage and who i trust to work on my Cerb.

I am going to open the Valve clearances a couple thou on both sides if needed as advised by joo for my re-map. Does any one has a list of what specialist tools i may need or any advice for things that may catch us out that would be great as well.

Cheers Scott

[ukkid35]

Try not to drop one of the cam sprocket bolts, because you'll have to pull the engine to retrieve it to avoid this

[ukkid35]

I sanded the shims on my car to get them to spec. This was probably a very bad idea, as it's apparently easy to remove the hardened layer, which means the shim could shatter with predictably unpleasant consequences. Some of the shims in my car had probably been sanded already, but it wasn't obvious. Therefore the only truly safe thing to do would be to replace the entire set.

[Rufus Roughcut]

I recently set my tappets, they're not too difficult if you have access to a decent set of tools, except for the cam sprocket holding tool (make your own) there is nothing a good workshop won't have.

There is one thing that caught me out and could possibly delay you, there are 4 off 8mm x 16mm cap head fine pitch screws that hold the sprocket onto the cam, they are held in with locktite and guess what...one of mine wouldn't budge (even after a bit of heat).

In the end I bought one of these

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...

I have compressed air in the garage, however the air ratchet wouldn't touch it (Only 270Nm) the one in the link whizzed it off no problem, of course then the screw was completely fudged.

That was a long way of saying you may need one or more 8mm x 16mm fine pitch screws

[a1rak]

ukkid35 said:

I sanded the shims on my car to get them to spec. This was probably a very bad idea, as it's apparently easy to remove the hardened layer, which means the shim could shatter with predictably unpleasant consequences. Some of the shims in my car had probably been sanded already, but it wasn't obvious. Therefore the only truly safe thing to do would be to replace the entire set.

I thought it was standard practise to grind the shims down, not all sizes are available so normally you buy the next available size up and grind them down. Thats what I thought????

[Tanguero]

The shims are definitely fully hardened - you can perfectly safely grind them down to size so long as they don't reach annealing temperature - (around 550 C for carbon tool steel)

[scotty_d]

I think the standard clearances from TVR are 8thou and 10thou but i am getting a re-map done in the new year and going to open them up 2thou on both sides.

[ukkid35]

Tanguero said:

The shims are definitely fully hardened - you can perfectly safely grind them down to size so long as they don't reach annealing temperature - (around 550 C for carbon tool steel)

That is very reassuring, and they definitely didn't heat up significantly as I sanded them by hand. This may have introduced other issues of course, although I did polish them with 400 paper to try to ensure they were entirely flat.