I have the factory service manual, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on shimming the valves after having the valves and seats machined. Did you have to replace all of the shims. Also, I heard that there are some shims from Honda that are less expensive that will work with 3.0 Toyota.

I bought my gasket set from one of the big parts dealers on eBay. It features multi layer steel head gaskets that look to be slightly less than an eighth of an inch thick, probably at 0.10”. I am amazed at how thick they are. Is that normal?

 

Just check your clearances before mounting. May have to replace some, and possibly be able to switch some around. Is really easy to do if you can remove the camshafts instead of having to use the special tools. A warning on the driver side rear cam bearing cap and passenger side front bearing cap, the threads of the bolts due not engage alot of the threads in the head and it is very easy to strip the threads in the heads on those 4 bolt holes. I ended up studding mine.

The last time I had the heads overhauled I made the mistake of assuming all of the valve clearances would be taken care of by the machinist instead of measuring them myself once I got them back. Machinist basically stated that they would grind down the end of the valve stems to get the proper clearance. Ended up with a real mess. One cam lobe totally wiped on driver side and 2 mores lobes partially destroyed. So your thinking is correct, check clearances before installation. After all was said and done I ended up replacing 2 camshafts and all the shims plus a couple of lifter buckets. The shims I got from Toyota, I forget what I paid for them but I think it was approx 8 dollars a shim. My neighbor was head of the local Toyota parts department so he would give employee price on parts, was really helpful at times. I have seen in some other threads they were running about 11 - 12 dollars per shim. http://www.toyotapartsdeal.com is showing them at 10.90 per shim plus shipping.

Did find this link https://www.fastservsupply.com/searc...=valve%20shims
that someone posted in an old thread as a source.

I'm of no help on headgasket.

Cheers

 

Thanks for your reply. The machinist working on my heads made it very clear that he would not shim the valves. He is going to grind the ends of the valve stems to compensate. It will be up to me to adjust the final clearances by installing shims of the correct thickness. I have an extra set of high mileage heads. Does it make sense to look at those shims as possible replacements? And what about special tools for taking the shims in and out while the cam is in place?

 

should I invest in a tool like this:

 

Then why is he grinding the ends of the valve stems? It's a tedious method to adjust the valves, used by some to avoid buying a few shims. But I don't know of any other purpose to grind valve stems. And, obviously, it makes every valve shorter, requiring (on average) you to acquire thicker shims.

Absolutely! Shims don't (usually) wear hardly at all. Unless the head has been really abused (left out in the rain for a few years?) the shims are fine. You'll want to invest in an inexpensive micrometer or caliper. The marking will have been scrubbed off, but all you care about is the thickness.

Yes! Removing the shims any other way is heart-breaking. (Remember: in a real valve adjustment, you can't remove the cams -- they're connected to a timing belt).

This tool is slightly tricky. It will take you 15 minutes to remove your first shim, then 15 seconds per shim from then on. You'll (almost certainly) need a magnet-on-a-stick.

Valve adjustment is just a game of shuffling. Some will be too close, others too far. Keep track of your shim thicknesses, and move them around to minimize the number you have to buy. Shims are available in 0.05mm steps, but the acceptable setting range is 0.10mm. So you will always have the choice between two (and sometimes three) different shim thicknesses.

 

My understanding of the process is that in grinding the seats and the valves, the clearances will become tighter. Grinding an amount off of the end of the valve stem can compensate for that putting you closer to your original clearances and increasing the chance that you original shims will be useable.