I'e got a Haynes and read through it, it advises to start at top dead centre on cylinder no.1 then follow the firing order when adjusting the next ones.....can someone confirm that top dead centre will mean that the 'lobes' on the cam at cylinder one will be pointing down (on slight diagonal not perfectly veritical) whilst cylinder 6 will be starting to lift the rocker arm? Am i right in thinking that i then have to move crank so the next in the sequence has cams ponting down and can i adjust both inlet and outlet at the same time for each cylinder?
I wouldnt worry about firing order as all the tappets on the valves are set the same anyway so cant possible see how firing order would make a difference. Easiest way to do this is to put the car on flat ground, put it in 4th gear and then push the car forwards/backwards to turn the engine over. You want it so that both valves (exhaust and inlet) are closed at the same time on the cylinder your adjusting, you'll be able to tell because you'll be able to move the rocker on the tappets. Then its just a case of getting your feeler gauges, undoing the small nut, sticking a thin allen key in the ecentric (or whatever its called) roller and pushing down against the feeler gauge until its just catching, then tightening up the nut again.
Hope that makes sense!!! It should when your actually doing it. Both inlet and exhaust can be done at the same time as they will both be shut on the cylinder your working on.
Its a tad fiddly at first. I did mine on a 6 cyl engine easy enough so you should manage it yourself
Cool, thanks for the reply.....i had a go last night but must have adjusted one of them incorrectly as its a bit ticky now...just wanted to make sure i was doing the right thing. So when they are closed does that mean the lobes will be pointing down then...think that makes sense to me as they would open as the lobe lifts the rocker arm?
When the cams for cil 1 are exactly in between (both valves closed, on tumble we say in dutch as either way one valve is about to open) you can adjust cil 6, both intake and exhaust.
The magic number for the 6 cil engines is 7:
1 on tumble means you can adjust 6 (1+6=7)
2 on tumble means you can adjust 5 (2+5=7)
and so on...
Use 0.25mm for intake and exhaust at stone cold engine, perhaps slightly wide on the feeler gauge so you get 0.27-0.28mm makes it run a bit more smooth but with slight valve noise.
The pointed ends on the cam lobes are what press the valves down. Not sure if they would be pointing down, cant really picture it in my head now but you can tell when the valves are released from the cam. Make sure the car is stone cold when you do this and when your pressing that little cam into the feeler gauge that its nice and tight against it. It should drag a little when you pull it out
thanks Jeroen, i'm following the order as you described turning the crank to get the relevent cylinder in position eg cyl1 on tumble and adjusting cyl6 and using a .254mm feeler guage...for some reason it runs ok but noisier than before i started adjusting.....going to have some dinner and let my back chill out a bit (i could never be a mechanic) as its aching from working under bonnet then have one more go tonight whilst someone is watching to make sure i'm not making any silly mistakes
Sorted it It was just a case of re-adjusting the gaps....now i am familiar with what a good gap is it should be a breeze in future.
Thanks for your help guys, no doubt i'll be asking for help on another issue in the near future as i bring this car back to its former glory, i'll need to get some pics up and start my topic in the owners gallary section over the weekend once i've mopped the paint up a bit.
Ok so i failed at getting the pics up....actually moved on to fixing some things on my e36 to get an MOT and get it sold.
Does anyone know what the markings on the crank represent on the m20, there is an 'o' and a 'v' and a mark inbetween which i think is TDC (hole underneath this mark?)
I've got a timing gun/light and going to do the timing now
Cant see where i'm going wrong
It was just a case of re-adjusting the gaps....now i am familiar with what a good gap is it should be a breeze in future.
