quietest valve gap?

[cadman20]

What is the quietest gap? .011, .012 or .013? Right now I have mine set at .012, still a little chatter. I have seen where .013 improves idle, .011 improves performance, but, I haven't seen anything on making them a little less noisy.

Also when setting the valves, I point the lobe (exhaust or intake) of the valve that I am working on directly at the ground, is this correct?

According to Brunos site it says to "4. The work out starts: turn the crankshaft until the no 1 cylinder's camshaft lobes are pointing downward, valve fully closed (cylinder 1 is the closest to the radiator). "

[Robin-535im]

I've tried from .008 through .014 and it's generally quieter as the gap gets smaller, but it will never be "quiet." However, it seems quietest when they are all exactly the same. It sounds noisy when you have one or two that are off and then you hear a clicking... but if they are all equally set then you don't notice it so much.

The measurement should be the largest gap that occurs during the rotation, i.e., when the smallest part of the cam lobe is under the rocker foot and the high point on the lobe is 180 degrees the other way. This is not the same as pointing at the ground since the engine is slanted in the bay, and since the rocker arms are not exactly on top of the cam shaft.

What was it Micah said... a slappy valve is a happy valve? The noise doesn't hurt anything, it's the correct sound for that engine, assuming they are all adjusted correctly.

If you search on "valve" you can probably get a boatload of past info on the subject... it's discussed quite a bit!

HTH

- Robin


What is the quietest gap? .011, .012 or .013? Right now I have mine set at .012, still a little chatter. I have seen where .013 improves idle, .011 improves performance, but, I haven't seen anything on making them a little less noisy.

Also when setting the valves, I point the lobe (exhaust or intake) of the valve that I am working on directly at the ground, is this correct?

According to Brunos site it says to "4. The work out starts: turn the crankshaft until the no 1 cylinder's camshaft lobes are pointing downward, valve fully closed (cylinder 1 is the closest to the radiator). "

[cadman20]

Robin,

Took your advice on how to set the valve gap, much better (quieter) than just pointing the lobes at the ground.

Thanks........