Andy A

Looking to set the valve lash on a 3VZE and would like some input as to the min/max tolerance.
Is it best to try and shoot for the min tolerance of

Intake .18mm/.007in
Exhaust .22mm/.009in

and expect wear and tear to open the gap as time goes on.

or shoot for somewhere in the middle of the range

Intake .18mm/.007in - .28mm/.011in
Exhaust .22mm/.009in - .32mm/.013in

TNRabbit

It's a royal PITA as you have to replace the shims to set the gap. When I reassembled mine after rebuild, I just swapped shims around until I got them all within the tolerance (some were CLOSE~). It was astounding how little wear there was on the engine (I've run Mobil One for 165,000 miles now). Runs great with 32,000 miles on the rebuild.

MudHippy

I put mine as tight as I could when I did my rebuild a year ago. The exhaust had all tightened 2-3 thousandths, not loosened, with 200K+ miles on them. I replaced those due to excessive wear to the faces. The intakes hadn't moved out of specs in more than 20 years. Didn't appear to have tightened even .001" . Can you believe that? Stems miked good so...left them in there for another 200K.

Both the intake and exhaust all still needed tightened. But that's because the specs changed after 88.

OutlawMike

My two cents:

Set the intakes close to the minimum clearance, they do not move much over time.

Set the exhaust at the mid range or higher in clearance, as they do move in over time. What happens is the exhaust valve slowly moves inward over time, hence reducing the clearance. If you have the exhaust valves too tight and they move in and contact the lobe, then you start hanging a valve open on the seat, lose compression, and more important, the valve cannot dump heat into the seat when it is fully closed, so you burn an exhaust valve.

It is such a pain to get in there, you won't want to be checking them all the time.

I picked up a bunch of shims at the boneyard and use that stash when I have to do an adjustment. Sometimes you can swap them around like is said above, and sometimes you have to buy them for $10 a piece.

JamesD

WAIT!! Before you start tearing it apart you also have to factor in valve seat wear. This will effect valve lash which many people overlook on the 3VZE engine. If it has high miles or anything over 150k then I would recommend a valve job. Also if it is just ticking slightly, LEAVE IT ALONE! All of them do that. It is not worth the time and money to mess with it. If it was a 22R then by all means go for it.

James

Andy A

Thanks everyone for the tips,
Some of my valves are definitely on the way too loose side, but will not know by how much till I get in there and poke around.

For some background the heads were just recently refreshed, valves reground, new seals, seats reground, shaved, etc... for a HG teardown/rebuild. I purchased new camshafts as my passenger side cam had some issues. The machine shop did the best they could do in getting the valves adjusted, as they did not have any shims available. I just wish I had checked all the clearances before I put the heads on as it would have been soooooooo much easier. Hindsight sucks!!!!!

Not really looking forward to doing it but it really needs to be done, hopefully in the next few weeks as I have another car project that needs attention. There is alot of valvetrain clatter when I first start it up and it subsides somewhat as the motor warms up but still to much noise. Kind of reminds me of running solid lifters way back in the day on the old sbc.

So far it is running pretty good, especially after Mudhippy helped with an EGR problem. Still somewhat of a slight bog/hesitation during light throttle acceleration when fully warmed up but tons better than before with the EGR issue.

Looks like the best bet is to shoot for spec on the intakes .007in and alittle under on the exhaust, maybe .011in.