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HI all I think this is Charles's post from a while back I saved it to my hard drive.

If everything has been renewed & properly lapped into their seats with the tappet screws faced flat, .010" intake & .013" exhaust is a good COLD set up. The actual hot setting you need is .009" intake - .011" exhaust, the cold settings will tighten to the proper hot setting as the engine warms to normal temp due to heat expansion. These cold settings are also good for use in engines that have been run many miles & simply need a valve clearance adjustment when performing normal maintenance. If the tappet screws have not been faced flat, you will need to set up COLD at least .001" tighter on both intake & exhaust. The reason for this is it is normal for the face of the tappet screws to indent slightly, this is normal wear. When this happens a ridge around the outer edge of the screw face where the valve stem never hits becomes very evident. When adjustments are measured with a feeler gauge, it is on top of that ridge instead of where the valve stem actually contacts the screw face, thus the adjustment will be wider than the feeler gauge says because of the indent. In engines with a LOT of wear or indent in the screw surface, it may be necessary to bring the COLD adjustment as tight as .008" intake - 011" exhaust, but in most cases only .001" tighter will take care of it & produce a good running non-ticking set up. Remember these guidelines are for engines that are in good condition as far as the valve train is concerned. Ticking can also come from worn tappet bores in the block which allow the tappets to be pushed side ways slightly instead of straight up by the cam lobes. This condition will also produce a ticking noise that can be mistaken for loose valve clearance adjustment. If an engine has excssive wear in the tappet bores, the ticking noise will continue no matter what the adjustment. Also remember that a too tight adjustment can cause leaking valves & eventually burned valves. When your engine is started after adjustments are completed, it should be warmed up to normal operating temp. If all looks & sounds OK you should be set, go ahead with closing everything up. If you feel further fine adjustment is needed, let the engine COOL DOWN THOROUGHLY before readjusting, always remember you are working with COLD settings.

That's THE post I remembered-thanks for posting it again!
Gary

In addition the use of a vacuum gage can help verify the correct final settings when you warm it up and a leak down test will confirm weather you have any valves so tight they are held up off the seat.

rixm37 wrote:HI all I think this is Charles's post from a while back I saved it to my hard drive.

If everything has been renewed & properly lapped into their seats with the tappet screws faced flat, .010" intake & .013" exhaust is a good COLD set up. The actual hot setting you need is .009" intake - .011" exhaust, the cold settings will tighten to the proper hot setting as the engine warms to normal temp due to heat expansion. These cold settings are also good for use in engines that have been run many miles & simply need a valve clearance adjustment when performing normal maintenance. If the tappet screws have not been faced flat, you will need to set up COLD at least .001" tighter on both intake & exhaust. The reason for this is it is normal for the face of the tappet screws to indent slightly, this is normal wear. When this happens a ridge around the outer edge of the screw face where the valve stem never hits becomes very evident. When adjustments are measured with a feeler gauge, it is on top of that ridge instead of where the valve stem actually contacts the screw face, thus the adjustment will be wider than the feeler gauge says because of the indent. In engines with a LOT of wear or indent in the screw surface, it may be necessary to bring the COLD adjustment as tight as .008" intake - 011" exhaust, but in most cases only .001" tighter will take care of it & produce a good running non-ticking set up. Remember these guidelines are for engines that are in good condition as far as the valve train is concerned. Ticking can also come from worn tappet bores in the block which allow the tappets to be pushed side ways slightly instead of straight up by the cam lobes. This condition will also produce a ticking noise that can be mistaken for loose valve clearance adjustment. If an engine has excssive wear in the tappet bores, the ticking noise will continue no matter what the adjustment. Also remember that a too tight adjustment can cause leaking valves & eventually burned valves. When your engine is started after adjustments are completed, it should be warmed up to normal operating temp. If all looks & sounds OK you should be set, go ahead with closing everything up. If you feel further fine adjustment is needed, let the engine COOL DOWN THOROUGHLY before readjusting, always remember you are working with COLD settings.

This is what Carter needed Rick, thanks for saving me needing to re-write it.

As far as what Cuz mentioned about having a too tight adjustment, you can easily tell if that is the case when the engine is brought to temp. The engine will be losing compression, you will notice a distinct sound associated with that. I know it may not be as easy for a non-experienced person to pick up on this as it is for us, we do it frequently. That being said, I'll leave it like this; use the setting values in Rick's post according to the instructions in that post. There is nothing wrong with trying a slightly looser setting if you feel more comfortable with that, if you get no tick as a result, OK. Just be sure you are tight enough, as running too loose will accelerate wear on the system. Common sense in how the valve train works goes a long way here.

Thanks Rick and Charles, it's longer than I remembered and I didn't think before asking you to do it again Charles. Old age not creeping up on me but racing at me full tilt.
This time, like you Rick, I'll save to my hard drive. Again, thanks to both of you.

Carter wrote:Thanks Rick and Charles, it's longer than I remembered and I didn't think before asking you to do it again Charles. Old age not creeping up on me but racing at me full tilt.
This time, like you Rick, I'll save to my hard drive. Again, thanks to both of you.

No problem, I would have went through it again for you; anyway it all worked out to the good. Anytime I can help, just call, I will be happy too as soon as I can.

I am glad to help. Whenever I find a thread that I want to keep I copy and then paste it to microsoft word and then save it in a file in my Docs called M37. I also print out a hard copy and put it in a plastic slip cover that I buy by the box from office max.
There are so many great threads here that for me its a way to keep track of them.