Valve clearances?

[crankedup]

Anyone know what the tappet clearance should be on a Meadows 4.EB engine please. This engine dates back to 1925.

[rev-erend]

Rover V8 is 12 thou..

Not that it helps

[Steve_D]

A valve clearance is there to ensure that when everything gets hot and expands the valves are not held open.
'When I were a lad' the mechanic I learnt from would set tappets with the engine hot and running. Using a .0015" feeler he would adjust until it made no more noise. On removing the feeler you could barely hear anything. He would start by pressing on each adjuster to find the noisiest and adjust that first.

To be on the safe side if you set them at .003" hot but engine off you should be close enough. If you thing they are too loud drop them a thou. If they are completely silent you have gone too far.

As a side note setting them with the engine running makes quite a mess of a feeler.

Steve

[crankedup]

Thank you for the good and helpful advise.(no not you Rev-erand ) by the way whats your TVR model at the moment?

[rev-erend]

See my profile.. same car (SEAC) but a more radical colour

[V10Mike]

Engines of that age don't have quietening ramps on the cams, so run at minimal clearance. My 1934 Alvis runs 2 thou inlet, 3 thou exhaust -I doubt your Meadows will be much different.