As the post states, 2001, AP1, with 22K miles, two other owners so I wanted to check the valve keepers for piece of mind as well as Billman saying check them early at about that mileage. My first check after getting the valve cover off was condition of the retainers on intake side, as far as I can tell they all looked great. The next check was valve clearance and I came up with .009" literally on all valves, intake and exhaust. I was not expecting them to be that consistent. Now the question is that is a perfect spec for the intake side but out of spec tight by .001" on the exhaust side. Not sure I should run it without adjusting and just recheck in another 10K or so? I second guess my feel but have done hundreds of valves over the years.

 

Set all the exhausts to .011. .009 is asking to burn a valve.

 

Thank you Billman, your confirmation is all I need, my thoughts exactly, wrong is wrong, I know it's off and -.002" is lots relative to valves. I do it all the time on everything else. Only difference is I feel like a doctor to my S2K, it's a big deal to me that I do it right and perfect.

 

Well finished it, was a fantastic experience but felt lots of pressure not to screw up my F20C in some stupid way, like dropping a screw into engine, dust, etc. And no way did I want the dealership working on something I probably can do as well or better than a new service tech and a quoted $400+ job. Did everything by the book perfect, double/triple checked torques. Finished up by washing valve cover with Dawn dish soap in kitchen sink on top of two buckets to raise it up



after corking all the holes up with rubber stoppers so I wouldn't get inside wet at all. Only problem is when I went to start it. I turned the key, nothing but lights on the dash. Turned it off, turned it back on 2 more times, what the crap? How stupid, never pushed the start button! Winter has been so long I forgot how to start the car! I don't own any new enough car with a start button, lol. Runs absolutely perfect. It did feel a slight bit ragged before adjusting.

 

If you did not this time, next time you do this (or anytime you will be bending over working under the hood for a while) use the straight up hood prop hole. If you google it, you will find this. There is another hole you can snap the hood prop into that will hold the hood vertical. Gives you a lot more room to work without being hunched under the hood and makes it a bit nicer for doing stuff like this. The only annoying part of doing this is having to bend over the sides of the car to reach and not being able to lean on the car for support since the fenders bend pretty easy on this car.

 

My back was pretty tight, after the first time I adjusted the valves. It's not so bad the second time, as you know pretty much what needs to be done.

 

My back was fine I checked them last week:

Attachment 141272

Bit easier at this height though

 

Very nice buggy!

 

So you're single then?

Or you were brave enough to be sure all evidence would be gone before they got home?

 

Not single. Aloe plants are a good hint but the 2 snowpeople on the mug give it away.