Valve Adjustment - Three Perspectives

[Oldman]

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Courtesy of Schmoburger :

ADJUSTING YOUR VALVES IN EASY STEPS.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1m of thin nylon rope
14mm socket and ratchet or bar.
14mm combination spanner
medium to large flat screwdriver
large adjustable spanner (shifter)
prybar (optional but highly recommended)
10mm open end spanner(only needed if 2nd timing mark is not present)
30cm length of string (as above)
liquid paper (as above)
tape measure (as above)


PROCEDURE:

1. Leave engine to cool completely before adjusting, and place transmission in neutral with handbrake pulled on firmly.

2. feed end of rope through left hand side rocker cover retaining clip, then tie a thumbnot around the prybar, ratchet handle or breaker bar using both the ends of the rope.

3. after ensuring the knot is secure, grasp both ends of the bar with a hand at each end and yank sharply outwards and downwards until the clip disengages from its slots on the cover, then tap or pry it down onto the heater box.

4. you should be able to now pull the rocker cover off fairly effortlessly by gripping the top half with a few fingers on each side and pulling so it pivots on the bottom endge, then slide it out. In some cases it will have been ill-advisedly stuck to the top of the rocker box with gasket goo or some other sealant, and will not come off. the only thing for this is GENTLE persuasion with a screwdriver. If you are over-zealous you can damage the rocker box edge and rocker cover which will promote messy and smelly oil leaks after the cover is put back on.

5. undo the rope and pull it clear... then repeat steps 2 3 and 4 on the right hand rocker cover.

6. pop the engine lid, then pull the HT lead out of the coil (the coil is a metal cylinder with wires at one end, the fat one in the middle being the HT), then move this lead out of the way.

7. Undo the two clips holding on the distributor cap on, then noting the rough position of the #1 contact post, take of the cap and move it aside so that it is not in the way of the distributor rotor.

8. grab the shifter, then adjust it so that it fits nicely around the nut on the alternator pully.

9. using the shifter on the alternator pully nut, turn it clockwise until you see a little notch in the fan/crankshaft-pulley line up with the "0" mark on the plastic scale. If the metal piece on the distributor rotor button is pointing away from you, turn the pulley again until the notch is again lined up with "0", this time the metal contact on the rotor should now be pointing towards you (more or less). This means the engine is now at TDC (top dead center) on cylinder #1 (both valves closed, at the end of compression stroke... if the engine were running, it would be about to fire on #1).

10. go round to the drivers side cylinder head and working bhind the rear wheel, locate the spring for #1 exhaust valve... this is the rearmost of the four springs. Take the feeler gauges and find the one reading .006 , then slide this between the tip of the threaded adjuster on the #1 exhaust rocker arm and the top of the round spring retainer. If clearance is correct you should be able to slide the gauge right through from the top of the spring and out the bottom with a slight drag. If a fair bit of resistance is felt, or there is a gap significantly greater than .006 (this is usually accompanied by a noisy clinking noise when running), they will need adjusting.

11. If the clearance is tight, take the 14mm socket and ratchet and break torque on the #1 exhaust rocker locking nut and continue onto step 12. if clearance is too wide, move onto step 13.

12. use the flat screwdriver to turn the theaded adjuster out (anticlockwise) until the gauge slides through.

13. gently turn adjuster clockwise to tighten it down till it ever so slightly nips the gauges.

14. holding the screw exactly in potition, put the open end of the 14mm combo spanner round the locking nut and tighten it, still holding the screw in position with the screwdriver. after this, switch spanner ends, put the screwdriver back in the slot, then give the locknut a final 
nip up and remove the gauge.

15. repeat steps 10-14 with #1 inlet valve... this is the 2nd rocker and spring from the rear of the car on the right hand side.

16. If your engine does not have a second timing mark already painted 180 degrees around from the factory notch on the fan read on with this step... if one is already painted on, move onto step 17. take the 10mm spanner and undo the plastic grill over the fan and remove it and the timing scale from the engine bay. take a piece of string and tape it exactly on the factory notch. then tape it down as close as you can to the exact opposite side of the fan. now take the tape measure and measure across the string at a 90 degree angle and adjust the position of the string at the non-marked side of the fan uuntil there is even distance between the string and either side of the fan. when this is measured, mark the position of the end of the string with liquid paper. a more permanent marking of this position on the fan can be made later. Remove the string and tape and reinstall the fan grille and timing scale, then turn engine back to #1 TDC position as described in step 9.

17. turn the fan pully clockwise until the 180 mark lines up with the "0" timing mark and the rotor contact is pointing to the passenger side (sort of), then on the passenger side cylinder head, measure and adjust the #4 exhaust and inlet valves as described in steps 10-14. #4 exhaust is the rearmost spring, #4 is the one 2nd from the rear.

18. turn pulley clockwise again until the factory timing notch is again lined up with "0", this time with the rotor contact poiting away from you. Go back to the passenger side cylinder head and check and adjust #3 inlet and exhaust valve clearances as before (steps 10-14). #3exhaust is the one closest to the front, #3 inlet is the one 2nd from the front.

19. turn the pulley clockwise again, until the 180 degree mark is once again in line with "0", with the rotor contact still pointing away from you, then move back to the right hand side and check and adjust clearances for #2 exhaust and inlet valves as before. #2 exhaust is the frontmost valve on the right hand head, #2 inlet is the one 2nd from the front.

20. When you are satisfied that the valves are correctly adjusted, get both rocker covers and wipe any grit or foreign material out of them, and replace the cork gaskets if you wish. do NOT put any gasketing compound on the side of the cork that is going to contact the rocker box.

21. place the covers back over the rocker boxes, then slide the retainer clips up enuff to hold the covers just in place. one cover at a time, thread the rope through again as you did when you took them off, and holding the covers on, yank the rope until the clips hold firmly, then pry the clips up until they snap back into the notches on the cover.

22. put the distributor cap back on top of the distibutor body and turn it till it locates in the keyed slots (it wont turn when it is located correctly). hold it in place and squeeze the metal clips one at a time towards the body until they snap over the edges of the cap.

23. reconnect the HT lead to the coil securely and check the plug leads at either end to make sure they have not pulled loose. sheck that center HT lead is securely on at distributor cap end also.

24. remove all tools, rope etc from the engine bay, close all things that are open, and drive another 6000km. 


I am anal retentive so check my valve clearance every 1000km, but this isnt necessary on a healthy engine with strong heads.

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Courtesy 1500king (Andrew):
(Mod. note - I use this process as it saves a lot of time....and there is no need for a 2nd timing mark)

I short cut as I hate adjusting them...

At #1 TDC, the valves are at the following positions;

#1 Combustion
inlet closed- adjust
Ex closed-adjust

#4 Compression 
inlet open- do not adjust
exhaust closed- adjust

#3 overlap
inlet going on lobe-do not adjust
exhaust coming off lobe- do not adjust

#2 Exhaust
inlet closed-adjust
exhaust open- do not adjust

Notice the firing order above and the stage each cylinder is at?? .... 1432, it is just the position of each cylinder in the 4 stroke cycle. 
The next cylinder in the firing order is just one stroke behind the firing cylinder and so on.

Then, turn the motor over one revolution to get #3 on combustion TDC and do the rest of them. 
That way , you always see the timing mark on TDC and you do 4 valves each time.

[Oldman]

....and from Emby:

My "new" rebuilt motor has now done 20,000km. Big service today to make sure everything is sweet. Started off by checking the tappets. 

The biggest tip I've got here is when you're planning on doing your tappets think one day a ahead and park the bus where you have easy access to everything the night before.

To those new to doing this I've taken a few photos so hopefully it's easier to understand.

The first thing I do is pop the distributor cap off so I check that I'm adjusting the right valves. I have a Vacuum Advance distributor (check out the mushroom can on the side of the dizzy). In the photo you can see the lead going to cylinder No. 1 is different to the others. I had two kombis and swapped the leads over on each one so it was easy for me to identify number one on each of the kombis. For the 009 distributor the firing sequence is the same but the plugs on the distributor cap are all rotated 90 degrees clockwise.



In the next photo you can see the rotor arm is just before firing on No. 1. This rotor arm is a 5400 RPM limiter (Don't ask me why, it just is). There's a notch on the distributor body that shows where No. 1 is. You can't quite see it in this photo, but a later one shows it up better.



Using a 22mm combination spanner on the alternator (mine's 22m, but my other bus was a 21mm) I rotated the engine anticlockwise until the rotor arm lined up with the notch on the dizzy.



I know this is the right position now because I've marked the fan wheel on the engine and it lines up with TDC (0 on the timing scale)

 

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Next job is to get to the tappets.

To those new to this they're located behind the rear wheels, just above the heat exchanger



This is the rocker cover



As you can see from the first photo I don't have mudflaps. The other bus has got them. I'll be honest, they can be a pain in the arse working around when you're doing the tappets. Also, as opposed to working inside the bus I love working on the right hand side when I'm doing this, but hate working on the left hand side. I always scrape some skin off my hand somewhere when I do the left hand side.

OK, getting the rocker cover off is easy. I use an big screw driver, pop it under the bail arm and lever down..... 

(Mod. note: If you have an assistant, thread some heavy cord through the bail arm and ask them to pull/lean away from the bus as you prise the bail arm down and off.. This lessens the tension on the rocker cover and the bail arm will snap down easily...saves any pressure on the heat exchangers too....  )




... and off it pops

 

[Oldman]

Inside the rocker cover is a cork gasket. This one's been on for aboot 4,000km and needs changing.



So what's under the rocker cover??? These are the tappets and rocker arms. 



This is the right hand side of the bus. The two on the right are No. 1 cylinders exhaust and inlet valves, the two on the left of No. 2 cylinders exhaust and inlet valves. 

As I've set the firing sequence to top dead centre (TDC) on #1 I'm going to be checking / adjusting the right hand pair. First the Inlet valve... (I think this is the right way round, but will stand corrected if I'm wrong. Not thiat it matters because you're doing both and they're both set the same)



This one is good. I can get the .006 feeler gauge in between the stud and the valve spring with just a little bit of drag between the two on the gauge.

Now the exhaust valve..



This one is good too.

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Now on to cylinder #2.

Again, with the combination spanner on the alternator nut rotate the engine ANTICLOCKWISE. I've put this in caps because it's very easy to go the wrong way. If you do then you won't be able to adjust the tappets beacuse the valves will be closed.



Remember the firing sequence on a kombi is 1-4-3-2 and this is in a clockwise direction around the distributor, so when you're adjusting the tappets you work in the opposite direction. Going ANTIclockwise starting at one turns it into 1-2-3-4. (Also remember that 1 and 3 are the front cylinders on the bus, i.e. towards the front of the bus)

To get the engine firing on #2 you need to rotate the engine 180 degrees ANTIclockwise. (I didn't have a mark on my original pully so took the timing scale off, moved the pulley until top dead centre was at the bottom of the pulley and then used a plumb bob to mark the top. There are other threads around that can show you how to do this).

As above, I now have a mark 180 degrees opposite the notch in the pulley that you use to find top dead centre. Line this mark up with 0 on the timing scale



Check the clearances on #2 exhaust valve (the right one of the pair)



As you can see, this is a bit tight and the feeler gauge won't slip through between the stud and the spring (sorry if these aren't the technical terms, but a photo says a thousand words).

This tappet needs adjusting (opening a bit). I use a socket wrench to loose off the nut. It's 14mm.

[Oldman]

You only need to loosen the nut a bit. I usual only go about a quarter of a turn. Once you've loosened it you can adjust the gap between the stud and the spring with a screw driver in the slot on the stud.



It's only a very slight adjustment. I leave the feeler gauge in palce so I can see when it slips down abit as the gap opens. If your gap is too wide then you need to tighten the stud.



This is better.

The next bit can be a bit tricky. You've set the gap to the right distance (as I've said I set mine to .006 in), but you need to tighten the nut to make sure it doesn't move. This is where you need a 14mm ring spanner. Hold the stud in place with the screwdriver and tighten the nut with the spanner. 



Once it's tight check the clearance again with the feeler gauge. Sometimes the stud can move a bit when you tighten the nut. If this happens you need to undo the nut and readjust the gap again.

Once you're happy I also give the nut a final tweak with the 14mm socket wrench. (only a fraction though)

I checked the inlet valve on #2 and the gap was fine. Every time I've done this I've hardly ever had to adjust the inlet valves. It's always the exhaust valves and there's usualy only a slight adjustment needed because they've tightened slightly.

That's the driver side done (Cylinders 1 and 2). Time to put the rocker cover back on. As I said earlier the cork gasket needs changing

 

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Using a cloth I wipe away all of the oil (there's only a verylight coating inside the rocker cover)



The new cork gasket sits in the cover perfectly. I don;t use any sealant of any kind here. It just fits snugly.



A very very thin coat of multipurpose greass is applied the outside of the cork gasket (the bit that contacts the head). This isn't for any other reason than to get the thing to stick to the head and ensure it doesn't fall off when you offer up the rocker cover.



Rocker cover goes back on. Funnily enough the VW sign on the rocker cover should be upside down. I don't kow why this is. Someone told me to do it this way, so that's the way I do it and I've never had any problems.

(Mod. note: The VW symbols should be the right way up !! Maybe this bus had its covers swapped side for side at some stage....?)

[Oldman]

Finally you need the get that bail arm back into place. This is a pain in the arse if you ask me and is a good reason to have solid heat exchangers.
I usually lever that last bit off the exchangers. 
(Mod. note: If you have an assistant, thread some heavy cord through the bail arm and ask them to pull/lean away from the bus. This lessens the tension on the rocker cover and the bail arm will snap back easily...saves any pressure on the heat exchangers too....  )



So that's one side finished, now on to the side that I scrape my knuckles on. Again, rotate the engine 180 degrees ANTICLOCKWISE until the mark on the pully lines up with 0 on the timing scale



The rotor arm is now firing on cylinder #3



There's that notch in the distributor body I was talking about earlier that shows where cylinder #1 fires. See it's directly opposite the position of the rotor am at the bottom of the picture just above the red wire
 

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Remember you're now doing Cylinder #3 which is towards the front of the bus. I always have to check this cos I'm a bit of an idiot. Luckily VW help me out a bit here as they've marked which cylinder is which on the tinware. This is the first thing I see when I look at the tinware. A big number 4, which means that #3 must be the front one



Again, checking Inlet (left hand side of left hand pair) and exhaust (right hand side of left hand pair). As usual #3 exhaust was a little tight and needed a minor adjustment



Moving on to #4 is that same again. Rotate the engine ANTICLOCKWISE through 180 degrees until the mark lines up with 0 on the timing scale.

Mine was fine and I didn't take photos this time, but it's the right hand pair of the photo above. I changed the gasket as I did earlier and popped the rocker cover back on.

The final photo I took was a reminder to myself. 



Once you've finished make sure you put the distributor cap back on. I nearly always forget this and try and start the bus, then wonder why it won't start. 

Hope these photos help a few newbies. Saves me a fortune on servicing doing this myself. Particularly as you should do it every 5,000km. personally I do it religously every 4,000km and a few times in between to. It tells you what's happening to the valves and heads if you check it regularly engough.

Next jobs is to get rid of all that dust in the engine bay.
Bloody unsealed roads....