Hints & Tips: Valve Adjustment: Difference between revisions

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*As far as how much force to use on the feeler gauges, not that much. Just set it so the right gauge slides in and the next size up does not.

*Don't drop your feeler gauge into the engine. You have two choices: Make a leash for it and tie it to your (wrist/belt/earring), or have a long magnetic pickup standing by.

*Finding the correct amount of gap with a feeler gauge is easier if you use a "go-no go", or "stepped" gauge. The old school technique was to feel a little drag on the feeler guage... it was described as about what you'd feel when pulling a sheet of paper out from under a magazine or two. Slight drag. New way of thought is that ANY adjustment, within spec, is good enough (and it is for street riders). So you just make sure the gauge for the middle spec goes in fine, but the next thicker one doesn't go at all. The stepped feeler gauges have the smaller clearance on the first inch of the blade, and the next higher clearance on the upper part. This makes it easy to see where you are with just one gauge instead of flipping back and forth between two different ones. Like this:

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 *As far as how much force to use on the feeler gauges, not that much. Just set it so the right gauge slides in and the next size up does not.
+*Don't drop your feeler gauge into the engine. You have two choices: Make a leash for it and tie it to your (wrist/belt/earring), or have a long magnetic pickup standing by.
 *Finding the correct amount of gap with a feeler gauge is easier if you use a "go-no go", or "stepped" gauge. The old school technique was to feel a little drag on the feeler guage... it was described as about what you'd feel when pulling a sheet of paper out from under a magazine or two. Slight drag. New way of thought is that ANY adjustment, within spec, is good enough (and it is for street riders). So you just make sure the gauge for the middle spec goes in fine, but the next thicker one doesn't go at all. The stepped feeler gauges have the smaller clearance on the first inch of the blade, and the next higher clearance on the upper part. This makes it easy to see where you are with just one gauge instead of flipping back and forth between two different ones. Like this: