Hi S2ki/Fellow Enthusiasts,

Hope you're having a great week so far. I'm not new to this forum and try to do work on my S2000 when I can and love learning. I've never done a valve adjustment and I've looked at certain threads and posts and have a basic idea, but it's something that I am not 100% confident in doing myself until I learn it from someone who's done it before.

Are any of you located in SoCal willing to give me a lesson while I drive and do the valve adjustments for the first time? I have most of the tools. I'd be super grateful and I would definitely take you out for a meal and beer afterwards!

Thanks and very much appreciated,

Van

 

Have someone come to you otherwise it will be an all day affair while you let the car cool down :/ guess depends how much beer you want to drink

 

Just open it up and do it. The DIY threads walk you through it pretty well.
I'm about half a bubble off retarded and I managed to do it.

 

When you get to the part where you feel for drag on the feeler gauge. you want it so that 1 when you pull on the feeler it noticeably drags, but not so much you have to fight to pull it out of the gap. 2 the next size feeler should not fit.

So if you did the intake correct, the .008" feeler will fit but the .010" won't. Exhaust side the .010" should just fit, but the .012" should not.

Also for cylinder 4 it's rather tricky, use the sound of the rocker arms moving up and down to guide you. It's easy to get a feeler gauge to give you false readings back there.

Finally don't overtighten the jam nuts they will strip, you don't need a tq wrench, 14ft lbs isn't much but make sure they're all tight. It's a pita but since it's your 1st time triple check your work and don't rush.

 

I'm curious as to why you adjust two sizes on that?

mainly because I just did mine 2 weeks ago and I adjusted mine to where intake .008 would drag .009 wouldn't fit. and exhaust .010 would drag .011 wouldn't fit.

I used the 10mm powerbuilt tool for valve adjustments you can get off amazon. I would've hated to do this without it especially on cyl 4.

 

There is a certain feel to it. Use the angled feeler gauges and try to keep the gauge as parallel to the valve tip/follower as possible. The difference between noticeable drag and cant get it out is not much on the adjustment screw. Just go slow, take your time and make sure the cam lobes are off the followers.

 

are you ap1 or ap2? if AP2 read billmans post.

 

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies and as usual, the S2ki community is awesome indeedand very helpful. I have an 03 S2000 (AP1), and I feel more confident now that I've been watching tutorials and reading up on threads to get a better understanding. I did have a quick question:

Q1: When turning the crank 180', the CAM gears will turn 90'. Doing so for 1,3,4,2 (firing order); is it more accurate to pay attention to the marks on the cam gears OR pay attention to how accurately I'm turning the crank, or both? That's the part I'm most worried about is not setting the proper cylinder. Should I also look at the cam lobe positions?

Other than that, I found this thread/link most helpful: https://robrobinette.com/S2000ValveAdjust.htm

Thanks to everyone for the input. As usual, I'll be extra careful and it's better to "hear than to smell." And heck, if all of you are here in SoCal, we could all get beers (soju, sake, vodka etc). It'd been raining lately here so as soon as it clears, I'm tackling this.

Best,

Van

 

Lobes will be at 10 o'clock (exhaust) and 2 o'clock (intake).

-- Chuck

 

You really can't get the wrong cylinder if you're paying even a little attention to what you're doing. If you have the wrong one, the lobes will be pressing on the valves and you can't get any feeler gauge in there.

Get long, bent feelers and the proper tool on Amazon. Then follow up with a torque wrench afterward, and double check they haven't moved after torquing.

It's intimidating when you read about it, but once everything is in front of you it's really not that bad.