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Do not attempt this at home or anywhere else

3K views 30 replies 28 participants last post by  scot 
#1 ·
Taking the advice of some of the people in this forum. I did what I would say was the stupidest thing I ever did in my life. I adjusted the valves on my engine while it was running. I always set my valves on the engine stand. I thought I would check them with the engine running method to see if there was any gains. I lowered the RPM to 650 and took an old valve cover and cut the top out to stop oil splatter.

I started the motor and oil shot over the top of the valve cover all over my newly painted engine compartment, ceramic coated headers, brand new polished intake, new alum heads, and my newly painted fender. The oil burning off the headers was gagging me. My hands and ratchet were covered in oil to the point I couldn't keep a grasp on it. The socket fell off the extension, hit the fan, and shot right into my new aluminum rad. When I was done. I had to polish my intake and heads, degrease my entire engine compartment, wash the oil off the car, clean my tools, change my clothes, have a shower, hose down my garage floor, and my new headers are stained beyond fixing.

I have found that adjusting the valves statically is more accurate, quicker by hours, and makes no mess. Luckily the socket hit the rad, not the side of my head, and I am amazed my car didn't catch on fire. I don't think advising people to use this method of valve adjustment is safe let alone practical.
 
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#5 ·
I usually do mine @ 4500 rpm because it is easier to hear the rocker clattering. An added bonus is that the oil pressure is high enough to shoot most of the oil over the fender and on the ground. That helps keep the dust down behind the shack when that 4 o'clock wind comes up. The fan blows some of the oil back on the windshield. Helps the water bead up and saves on wiper blades. Gives the firewall a nice sheen too. In all my years of doing valves this way I never have to use liquid wrench on any underhood fastener. I never have a problem with people touching my car at shows either. The oil that burns itself onto the headers and hot sections of the manifold give my motor that well seasoned iron skillet finish so sought after by....... .Sorry, I couldn't help myself on a friday night. You are right. it makes a mess to do it when running. I never had quite the experience you did, though. For the stock drivers I made some valve covers that expose just the rocker nuts and it keeps most of the oil in the motor. The old guy I learned valve adjustment from used the box the valve cover gasket comes in to get the oil back towards the head. I won't do either of those ways on a show car. Doing it statically takes all of the potential for disaster out of the equation. And lastly, Mr bracketeer, if that is, (like you say),the stupidest thing you ever do in your life you should consider yourself extremely lucky.
 
#6 ·
I dont know man,I never had a problem with this.I use a piece of cardboard about a foot wide and cut it to about 3 inches longer then the cylinder head and shove it between the springs and the valve cover rail and curl the edges up at the ends to make it fit inside the head.I dont usually find any of my rockers to shoot oil much more then about 3 or 4 inches,but every once in a while one or two valves might shoot a little more then others.I have run engines like this for many reasons.I just did it 3 times in one week trying to figure out which of the stock hydraulic roller lifters on my GTA is crapping out and causing a clack.I was running the engine with the covers off and doing everything from turning the rocker arm nut to holding my hand over the rockers one at a time to see if I could make the noisy one stop clacking.Of course after all this effort I am still not sure which one is clacking,or it could even be a broken piston skirt or bad wrist pin or some other short block noise,but it sounds like the top end so I am starting there.It is nearly impossible to do solid lifters with the engine running,but I know guys who do it,and doing solid lifters with posi lock nuts on the rockers is almost impossible when the engine is running.Static adjustment is usually fine,but sometimes it is a real pain to get your fingers around a hot pushrod and get enough grip to turn it especially when the engine has guideplates,and it is also hard to bump the starter and watch the valves when you are working by yourself.

I guess you can say that my approach as always been somewhat "Ghetto",and while some guts wont even pull the valve covers off their engine unless they are in a clean shop with all their tools present,I am not opposed to changing the valvesprings on my race car on the side of I-95 while traffic zoomed by at 80 mph kicking dirt up into my engine,and the retainers and keepers were bouncing around in the dirt in the shoulder of the road while I compressed the valves with a piece of flat metal plate that I bent into a home made spring compresor right there on the roadside.You should have seen the look on the face of the state trooper that drove by when he stopped to tell me to get back in the car and wait for a tow truck.I told him that before the tow truck could get there I would have the valvesprings back in and be back on the road,and sure enough within 10 minutes I was motoring along with 3 new valvesprings and some extra grit in my engine which I can only assume made the rings seat better.
 
#7 ·
Hot setting valve train adjustments

Im not too sure if this will work on other engines, but I just put a cardboard "fense" around the entire inside of the rocker cover area of the head, about 4 inches high, and this prevents the oil from shooting out all over the place on small block Fords. The oil shoots out, hits the fense, and drains back into the engine. The afore mentioned clips that fit over the pushrod end of the rocker arm work even better, since you dont have the oil shooting up all over your wrenches and hands.
As for Superstreeters plight, Ive done "head on engine" engine valve spring replacements using the old rope trick.
 
#10 ·
Hot setting valve train

You do have a semi valid point, Bob C, but it has been found that in both SBC and SBF engines, that using the hot running method of adjusting the valve train will generally give you at least another 500 RPM above the stock or recommended top RPM, as it slows down the pumping up process of hydraulic lifters, by giving slightly more volumn in the lifter for oil. This is especially nice, when you are running a stock cam and drop on a couple bolt ons like a 4 bbl intake and headers, but cant swing the cost of a bigger cam.
In one class of stock cars that I raced in, we were required to run hydraulic lifters, and it was nice, having that extra 500 RPM buffer on top end RPM, when getting midway down the straights.
 
#11 ·
Max Keith said:
You do have a semi valid point, Bob C, but it has been found that in both SBC and SBF engines, that using the hot running method of adjusting the valve train will generally give you at least another 500 RPM above the stock or recommended top RPM, as it slows down the pumping up process of hydraulic lifters, by giving slightly more volumn in the lifter for oil. This is especially nice, when you are running a stock cam and drop on a couple bolt ons like a 4 bbl intake and headers, but cant swing the cost of a bigger cam.
In one class of stock cars that I raced in, we were required to run hydraulic lifters, and it was nice, having that extra 500 RPM buffer on top end RPM, when getting midway down the straights.
You can do the same thing by setting them at zero lash with the motor off.
Bob
 
#12 ·
I have always readjusted the hydraulic lifters with the engine running on a new SBC after the cam has broken in and I will do so on the last one I ever build. The first few I did were stockers so the oil didn't go that far. :)

I have used an old valve cover with a slot cut out of the top just wide enough to get a socket through and the little clips. They both worked well for me but the little clips work the best. However if you loan them out write down who took them so you can hunt him down later when he doesn't bring them back....... :pain: :mad:
 
#15 ·
I have always and will always adjust them when running and hot- reason being is that it is the most precise way to d o it, none of those pushrods, lifters, rockers, or springs heights match perfectly and they all have different wear patterns, doing it that way is just cheap insurance. Also, I'm just a lot more careful when I work on a running engine, dropping placing, or even looking the wrong way at a moving fan is just stupid.
 
#16 ·
oops

ANYBODY, and I mean.

ANYBODY can make a MESS

I ran a eski 505-c. called for 20-30 valve adjustment. Well I tried that (on the strip) then went to 12-20 and it ran better and faster, I think because I got more action from the cam because the rocker didn't have as far to go to reach the valve stem, there for opening the valve farther, easier and faster flow into the cyl. So What I'm asking is why wouldn't a 1/4 turn (or any part thereof) on the nut change the amount of valve opening be it hyd. or mech.
I'm just old schooled, I set timing at spec.But I'll set it where it runs the best and cranks the best.
PS I also have the rocker clips plus a set of cut off valve cover
 
#17 ·
I usally try and set them static as best I can and run it to do the fine tuning. Things can get messy, especialy if you have good oil pressure. My oil shoots clear over the fenders. I do have a set of valve covers with the center cut out, but those just keep the oil from dripping on the headers.
 
#21 ·
I set everything up on my '93 with it static. But, I had to pull the covers to reset one valve on each side. Like ap72 said, I had just a small tick. I was 99% sure I had the valves set right, but I missed something. I figure now that I can get it really close (or at exactly 0 lash), and just replace the gaskets if it's wrong somewhere. No huge rush in doing all of them before the whole engine is coated in oil.


In a while, Chet
 
#22 ·
I set mine with the engine running. I just cut the top off an old valve cover and folded it back to keep oil from splashing, along with turning the idle down.
Worked good, until my dad thought of a funny prank....by revving the engine while I was adjusting it :pain:
He thought it was funny :rolleyes:



Brad
 
#23 ·
about your headers

Related to a part of your story....

I have some Hooker silver coated headers that got oil stained really bad too. I called Hooker (Holley) and they told me to use mag wheel cleaner, and it worked great! It took some elbow grease, but did a good job without scratching the coating. I came close to buying a new set. Hope it helps.
 
#26 ·
valve adjustments

20 years ago when i would only build 2 or 3 engines a year i would always adjust my hyd lifters with the engine running. After i cut a 1/3 valve cover and used the clips i never made a mess..... Now i set the hyd lifters when i assemble the engine and never have a need to remove the valve cover again... I have engines with 60,000/ 70,000 miles on them and never had the valve covers off since they were built.....

If you master the process there is no need to adjust them with the engine running.... Not that doing it with the engine running hurts anything it's just not needed....

Keith
 
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