Tappets

[jim sewell]

Richard
I strongly recommend you do several adjustments now that you have started your engine ,
1) Retension your cylinder head , bring the engine to operating temperature and working from the outer ends of the engine slacken off the head studs about 1/8 th of a turn then working from the centre retorque the heads studs down to the correct torque .( the reason for backing off is to break the lock of the thread )
2) Making sure the engine is at operating temp adjust the valve clearances by iether of the sequence methods referred to in earlier replies.( using feeler gauges with a slight drag )
From memory the book species are 006'' for inlet and 016'' for exhaust and an option of 020'' for h/duty operation , you may want to go to 018'' as an in between for l/duty operation in Aust.
3) Tighten the manifold bolts to head including the hot box ones.

I have assumed you have used a convential head gasket and not one of the no retorque ones.

The above was a standard procedure when these engines were in common use.
Some workshops used to retorque the cylinder head and check the tappetts again after 300 to 500 miles as a precaution against blowing head gaskets .
p.s. I have just done my 235 after it's rebuild and the head came down part of a stud turn.
Regards
Jim S.

[Keith Orpin]

Richard,
Glad to be of help, after all, that's what we are here for, to help each other.

Phil, Never thought about using a vac gauge, good idea. I'll store that idea away for another day. If you happen to have a spare camshaft lying around, you can see how the rule of 13 works ( it also works on a 4 cylinder in line engine as well, only you follow the rule of 9 !)
Trouble is, that most modern mechanics would not know how to adjust tappets, let alone dwell angles and point settings !
Regards
Keith

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Jim,
Thanks for your advice, have retourqued manifold and head already, but have not tried the turnback first. Have not heard of that one, but will do it when I have a go at the tappetts.
Regards
Rich