A little background:

MY 2001
21,000 miles. Fairly aggresive street driving for the past 8000 miles or so.
Zero Track time

I've been noticing lately my engine making slight ticking noises. Nothing too alarming, but definately noticable when driving next to walls at low speed. With the top/windows up I can hear it slightly through the firewall. Seemed to be directly related to RPM. Overall the valvetrain was noisy and downright thrashy at high rpm's. I just figured this to be a characteristic of the F20C.

I realize Honda schedules valve adjustments at 100K, but I figured I had nothing to lose by doing it early. I've done plenty of valve adjustments on my old GSR with good results.

Overall took me about 2.5 hours to adjust the valves. Followed the detailed instructions found on this board (thanks Destiny2002).

Some things I found:
1. Getting the valve cover off was a b*tch! Even with the 5 bolts removed it was stuck on the head. After some aggresive shaking it finally came off. Wow what a nice looking valvetrain under that cover!! Precision machinery indeed.
2. My spark plugs were loose! Not finger tight mind you, but loose nonetheless! This is even after the recall I did about 3 months ago. The plugs did have an "S" marked on them, which indicates they were the new part.
3. Getting that feeler guage in position was very difficult, especially on the intake side. The engine being shoved against the firewall doesn't help any. My poor back!
4. Be very patient with the adjustments. Tightening the adjustment screw can throw off the setting. I was sweating like a pig under the hood but didn't give up until every valve was perfect. I was thinking to myself: "I know the dealer wouldn't put THIS much effort into getting it 'just right'." Made me glad I was doing it myself.
5. Out of the 16 valves, about 7 needed adjustment, which surprised me quite a but.

Couple of hours and a sore back later, I gave a quick prayer and started the car. Humm no smoke. I guess I DO know what I'm doing. I waited until the car was completely warmed up and checked the cover for any leaks. Immediately I noticed the car idled better. It was still loud during startup, but after a few minutes it quieted to nice smooth idle.

Put the top up and went for a 10 minute test drive.

Impressions:

The engine revs sooooooo much smoother!. I used to get lots vibration through the pedals near redline before the adjustment. Now it feels sewing machine smooth all the way to 9000rpm. More importantly that annoying ticking noise is gone. Also this could be my imagination, but the VTEC switchover appears smoother. Before it felt like an on/off switch.

Doing this adjustment definately made a believer out of me. From now on I'll be doing adjustments every 20K miles.

Disclaimer:
Your results will surely vary depending on how out-of-spec your valves are. Rule of thumb is: If it ain't broke don't fix it. But if you're experiencing louder than average valvetrain noise, or unusual roughness near redline, doing a valve adjustment should be the first thing to do IMO.

Enough typing. Going for another drive...............

 

Did mine at about 57k miles...3 needed a somewhat minor adjustment, but the car runs VERY quiet now

 

When I adjusted my valves at ~ 20k miles several needed adjustment as well, and I also noticed improved smoothness of the engine after the adjustment. I recommend this procedure to anyone with the skills and patience to do it properly.

BTW, angled feeler guages make the job easier.

 

i did mine at 70k and 8 needed adjusting. MADE HUGE differences.

 

I've adjusted my valves 4 times in 26K miles. Did you just adjust them to "within spec", or did you set them all to the exact same clearance?

 

I have adjusted mine 3 times in the past month...hehe .
I think the following is also worth mentioning. I apologize if i'm insulting anyone intelligence......

Its important not to lift the screw driver from fastening screw while tightening the bolt. If the screw driver is lifted, the clearance of your values will be off because the screw will move when you are tightening the bolt.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by beroznikmal
[B]I have adjusted mine 3 times in the past month...hehe .

 

or better still use a hollow socket with a hollow wrench.......

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gernby
[B]I've adjusted my valves 4 times in 26K miles.

 

I set mine so that a feeler in the middle of the range slides through easily, but the thickest feeler won't go at all. (If the book says .006-.008, .007 slides easily, but .008 won't go.)