bhawkin00

This has been covered a hundred times I know. The factory spec is .008 on the intake and .012 on the exhaust HOT!
I have found most are setting at .007 intake and .010 on the exhaust, which is where mine are currently set. I put a 261 crawler cam in if that helps with advice.

Question has anyone ran them at lower number to get a quiet valve train? If so what are your #s.

My 87 22r is as quiet as a field mouse my 91 is loud enough to drive me crazy.. I have just rebuilt the engine from top to bottom and currently have about 200 miles on it. When I get to 500 I have to check head bolt torque, I plan to run the valve again and I would like to know what #s quiet them up so I'm only taking off the valve cover once.

millball

A noisy 22R is a happy 22R.
A bit of valve clatter tells me that my engine is OK.
Tight valves make for hard hot starting and the potential for burned valves.
I usually set mine cold and 1 or two thousands looser than spec.
Runs just fine. I am always worried when a solid lifter engine is too quiet.
The moderate clatter comforts me.

bhawkin00

I would be ok with moderate valve clatter. I can hear them from 20 feet away..

You set them cold? The FSM said to do it HOT.. I wonder if thats why mine are so loud.

Buck87

If you don't hear the valves something is wrong. The exhaust valves are the most likely to burn because they move hot gases. The time that the valves spend closed is the time that they are dissipating heat to the head. Stick with .012!
When I feel lazy and want to post without searching I use the newbe tech section because that is where those threads belong according to forum rules.

bhawkin00

Ok.. first off im not being lazy. I completely understand how a engine works and why the factory has specs for the valve train and other components.
I have read and researched this forum and others. The concenus is 7 and 10. Thats where im at.
I was just trying to see what people have actually set there valves to because im sure im not the only one who is annoyed by the amount of noise these make.
My thought is that much noise indicates they are to loose.

millball

FSM does say to adjust them hot.
My experience with many different solid lifter engines, both motorcycle and automotive, has taught me that if I adjust valves cold when specs call for hot adjustment, and open them up a couple extra thousandths, I get good results.

Your 'mileage' may vary.

bhawkin00

I will give that a shot.. I swore I read must be at normal operating temperature.

Buck87

I hate adjusting valves hot but the specs say to do it that way. After my next adjustment I think that I will let them cool down over night and check them to see how the cold measurement compares to the hot measurement.
For the record I said that I was lazy not you.

Buck87

EDIT: Unless you don't care about making the motor last as long as possible, with solid valve trains too loose is better than too tight. That's my philosophy.

bhawkin00

I agree that a little loose is better, I can deal with some valve train noise. Im looking at this as my 87 is quiet with 210k on it and the 91 is not. They are the same engines, they should be comparable. Ive actually thought about checking the lash on the 87 and comparing results.
The engine in the 91 is fresh but if I over tighten a valve or wipe the cam cause I ran the valves to tight then oh well my bad, tear it down and do it again.

Flash319

Check that your cover is not hitting the rockers. Mine was loud and found that the edge of the splash pan in the cover was hitting the tops of the rockers. Ground off and all good.

bhawkin00

Ive ran the valves down to .003 on the intake and .004 on the exhaust. Still seems a bit loud, I will replace the rocker assembly before I go any tighter on the lash adjustments.

bhawkin00

Oh and I set the valves cold. I set them at .005 and .008 hot. Checked them cold and they were still .005 and .008. So I ran them to the .003 and .004..

millball

Don't run your truck like this!! You will burn the valves before very long.
Open the clearances back up to factory specs.
If you have clatter as loud as you say, there must be something else wrong.

bhawkin00

Runs fine. Put about a 100 miles on it.

bhawkin00

My above post sounds rude. That was not intended. I realize that the valves are far tighter than factory spec, I'm suspecting I have excessive rocker and or shaft wear which is the cause of my noise. To replace the rockers the head has to come back off. My thought is, run the valves tighter now and see what happens. If I burn a valve then I will address that when I remove the head to replace the rockers. Either way the heads coming back off.

millball

I will be suprised if rocker and/or rocker shaft wear turn out to be the root of your noise issues. Even if those are worn, when you close the tappet clearance, you effectively eliminate most of any looseness between all of the valve train components, including any play between the cam, rocker, and rocker shaft.

I never meant to imply that your truck would'nt run 'well' with tight valve lash.
It just makes the exhaust valves run hotter, and if they are hot enough, they won't close completely, and soon after, they are finished.
Good luck, and please update this as you solve your problem.