Tool for setting valve clearance, by degree method

[Smallfry]

Wha....... ? £86 PLUS VAT.

Who on earth, with full possession of their marbles, is going to pay that ?

I would bet that you would still check with feelers gauges afterwards, just to make sure

 

[addjunkie]

A bottle of "Tippex" turn the screw in, mark it then back off required degrees by eye sight, also method for cylinder head bolts, torque then tighten, mark then by degree angles...

That was the methodology use on older big diesels for heads and the like. From the book, tighten, 1 average man with a 2m pole, plus 60 degrees. Often achieved with a big flogger and sledge! Tappet, a screw driver, and two floggers, and a hammer!

 

[brightspark]

used to set all my tappets with a dial gauge very accurate because if there was a dimple it would be measuring that as well where a feeler gauge would not

 

[Melvyn Best]

the old Vauxhall/Bedford engines were an oddity as well, it was recommended that the tappets were set with the engine running, it was the best way to get them running nicely if I recall. I don’t know why this should be, it all looked a normal setup. First time you did it, it was a bit tricky, but easy enough once you know how.

They were a rubbish design, suffered from timing chain wear , there was a circular section in the sump with a corresponding section in the timing cover but it didn’t allow the crank sprocket or chain to come off when changing it. The rear main oil seal was retained by a ridge, the only way to replace the seal was to remove the engine and take the crank out or at least remove the main bearings which sometimes gave enough movement to do the job. The flywheel ring gear wore badly and often needed replacement along the starter bendix , the only small engine around that time that needed the exhaust manifold removing to get the starter out. The only good thing about them they were cheap

 

[tom2207]

The Ford Crossflow was much the same. We grew up with a series of Mk 2 Escorts (the 1.1L, before anyone gets excited), they always sounded like a bag of knitting needles at idle.

My Mum eventually bought a Mk 3 Fiesta, the first brand new car she'd ever owned. I remarked how smooth and quiet it was, with basically the same engine.
When I came back a year or so later it had done 10,000 miles and sounded like a bag of knitting needles again

The only OHV engine I ever managed to get running quietly was the 1256 lump in a Chevette. That had individual hemispherical bearings for each rocker. I always wondered why nobody copied the idea.

dont mention the fact that the oil pressure was so low on old fords it was normal enough practice to turn the tick over up just enough to keep the oil pressure light off at tick over when warm ,,, [ thats about 4psi ].

 

[tom2207]

used to set all my tappets with a dial gauge very accurate because if there was a dimple it would be measuring that as well where a feeler gauge would not

I used to set them by ear ,,, lol

 

[8ob]

I used to set them by ear ,,, lol

All the BMC`s I had over the years just got the tappets finger tight and backed off a quarter of a turn, that was for both inlet and exhaust, never had any issues with them

Bob