3vz valve adjustment

Chasing a miss fire and stumble, I checked my valve clearances and found three valves (all exhaust, go figure) that were out of spec, two of which were real bad, at .0025 and .0035. Should be between .009 and .013. What a pain in the keester! I waited forever (so it seemed) for the tool to compress the bucket, only to realize that the #6 exhaust valve was impossible to get the tool on without pulling the brake booster. On top of that, the tool is left- handed, as it only gets close the left hand side of the cam lobe. A real head scratcher. So, I made this. It's short enough to fit and with the socket one can stick a ratchet on it for the leverage needed. It took hardening the end and fitting and grinding but it works... Now waiting on the correct shims to come. I just hope after all this the miss and stumble is gone.

 

the tool

 

I dig your ingenuity, those shims can be challenging. If you're in SW Colorado and still need a shim, I've a drawer full of them and would be glad to hook you up.

 

Wish I was closer... In south west Missouri.

 

Well, I finally got the 3vz back together. The design engineer that thought up this manufacturing short cut never had to go through that adjustment procedure. Runs better! So, I fire it back up. Then the weather turns warmer. Now the A/C won't come on. I think the same guy designed the AC system. There is an amplifier, thermistor, various relays, and if you have the automatic trans, there is a water temp switch ganged up with the other ones on that pain in the a&& block behind the intake plenum that will not let the AC compressor run unless it's switched to ground. In all the hooraw of the valve adjustment I busted the wire off the connector. Odd ball connector that I didn't have on the donor rig. Long story longer, I lengthened the wire and landed it on the fire wall. That cutout relay buried in the dash is no longer relevant because of the manual swap... So now I have my AC back!
Yay!!!

 

The tool that I bought for the valve adjustment was not great. I mostly used it with the two half pieces split, and just one side. I also used a bent screwdriver.

I had an impossible time on the #6 Exhaust. My initial clearance was unmeasurable with my feeler gauge set, so essentially 0.000”. I initially installed a 2.3mm shim, but the clearance measured only.0015” (.04mm). I got the engine running while I ordered a 2.2 mm shim. When I took it apart the second time to install the 2.2 mm, I found that the clearance now measured 0.12” and was in spec. I assume that the shim was not properly inserted / set in the valve lifter, but dropped into proper position once the engine was started.

My intake valves were mostly within spec, but all of the exhaust valves were out of spec (too tight). The exhaust side valves run much, much hotter than the intakes (intakes bathed by cool fuel) and valve recession in the heads on the exhaust valves is what likely causes the too tight clearances.