The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop valve adjusting on a 216

Firstly let me say thank you to all. If you helped a fellow stovebolter in the past or will help one in the future. We couldn't do it without you. Thanks.

I hope the following will give us all something to ponder, raise a few questions and hopefully, a few more answers. As we all know, these Old Chevy 216 and 235's require a bit of maintenance to run properly, especially when it come to valves. I read in the Chevy shop manual that the engine should be "normalized" before attempting a valve adjustment.

So here's the rub, Didn't GM Assemble these engines at room temp? Didn't they install them at room temp? Wouldn't they have had to adjust/set the valves at room temp in the factory.

There is no way GM or its dealers could have normalized the engine and adjusted the valves on every new vehicle before they were offered to the public. I guess they could have adjusted them upon the first dealer service, but how many of us take it back to the dealer unless it's warranty work?

So my question is simple: Does anyone know what the room temp valve/tappet setting is?

I sincerely appreciate any info. If I've missed something let me know, it won't be the first time.

Mannymoejack

You would be surprised how much "dealer prep" work was done on new cars back then. The floor mat was rolled up. The radio & heater were installed at the dealer. I'm not sure about the valves but we used to pack the front wheel brgs. They came with just a thin film of grease on them.

Who (what manual) said room temperature was the normalized temperature for valve/tappet settings?

The Shop Manuals state normalized driving temperature (the engine should be run approximately 30 minutes to properly normalize all parts).

are you saying that the factory sent out new vehicles without properly adjusting, tuning and testing the engine?? these vehicles were driven off the assembly line to a marshaling area to be driven onto trucks and trains for shipment .... yes, they were assembled at ambient temperature, and when complete the engines were test run before they were put on conveyors to the line for installation

cold valve setting is "close", so it will start and run, leave a bit extra and adjust as soon as it's up to temp

Bill

I'm sorry, I think I have misstated my objective or am possibly misunderstood. What I was trying to say was that there must be a cold valve setting. I find it hard to believe that GM or any other manufacturer at that time could or would have had the time to run each and every engine for at least 30 minutes to "normalize", before approving said engine for installation into a new vehicle on the assembly line. Thank you to all whom responded. It seems there is at least 1 other person that agrees as I have since located their post on this site and they have tested their theory and it seems an additional .002 -.003 added to the hot (normalized) lash setting seemed to do the trick.

The Shop Manuals state that the valves might be off by .005" when cold.

So, to be sure that the valves are not always open, set them by as much as .005" wider than the normalized setting. If I am off in the wrong direction, someone will quick correct and clarify.

This is not brain surgery. Even setting them at the normal setting when cold will not cause problems, as long as you are setting the valves after 30 minutes of running.

First let me say that I am not an expert at anything and my only experience adjusting valves is from the 60s and 70s when I had a 396 Chevelle with solid lifters. What I am saying is any attempt is better than nothing, I bought a 1955 2nd series in March and changed plugs, wires, distributor cap, replaced points w/electronic ignition, kit in carburetor but still had a dead miss in No. 4 cylinder. Got engine hot removed valve cover No. 4 intake rocker was completely off the valve, all the intakes were loose and all the exhaust were tight. Now it runs like a different engine.

Larry

I have assembled at least several hundred solid lifter engines, and the rule of thumb I've always used is to set the cold clearance .002" wider than the reccomended hot setting. One exception to the rule than clearances tighten up as the engine heats was on air-cooled Volkswagen engines. The cylinder barrels actually "grow" faster then the pushrods as the engine heats up, and hot-engine valve clearance increases over the cold setting.
Jerry

I worked right next to a GM dealership for over ten years. You should have seen what I did in the evenings in their "Back Shop." Alias, "New Car Get Ready Section." I even saw them with broken fuel pump and inline fuel filter bowls either broken or missing. How do you move one of these off the auto transport? Better yet, no speedo cable.
Normbc9

Thank you to everyone whom replied. I think some real useful info came to the surface. Mannymoejack