Need advice on my rocker assembly (with photos)

[smitty24]

Installed 1.1:1 rockers on my 40 horse. Previous owner had been setting valve lash .008 intake and .012 exhaust. **It has late '65 square boss 373 heads which are supposed to be .006. As a result, the old rocker tips were trashed and the valve stems don't look the best.

Today I installed lash caps and shimmed at the stand with .055 shims. I need to know if my geometry looks incorrect. ****Keep in mind, I was doing experiments with the other rockers. In the photos, pics are only of #1 intake and exhaust. #1 exhaust was still 1.1 early rocker in the picture. Later today I installed the later rockers at ALL positions.
One concern is that I may need to remove the .055 shims at stands altogether. I feel that my tips are hitting a hair too high on the valves.

*The heads with rockers removed. Shows wear to valve stems

*Shows rockers at closed position and LASH CAPS/shims installed

*Half lift

*Full lift

*Best picture I could get of swipe on lash caps

*What the rockers looked like BEFORE stand shims and lash caps.

Any help is appreciated! THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME[/img][/url]

[mark tucker]

if it's a .080" lash cap and 1:1 rocker I wood thnk it needs .040" worth of shim.1.1 rocker probably .045" I cant tell from your pics the geo. but i would a,lso reemove heads and either replace them or fix them.

[FeelthySanchez]

Was this rockerm swap just a quick upgrade, or did the lil' 40HP have a valve train issue?
The valve stem tips in 1st pic appear hammered: at minimum, it would help to recondition or replace the adjuster screws.

[smitty24]

[FeelthySanchez]

The plan is a tiny bit clearer, so maybe focus upon what you'd like to achieve here - 'cuz so far everything points to throwing cash at a terminally ill engine:

[nsracing]

If you are just trying to get home, in the middle of nowhere, then this is what you do to make it home. But if you are installing these caps to prolong the agony, then save yourself the trouble and just pull the heads and change out those valves.

if the stems are already pounded down - they are trash.

If you use the caps on those stems, make sure the caps are NOT sitting on the keepers. You have to shorten them so they are sitting on the valve stem.

Even lawnmowers do not get this kind of treatment you guys do to these engines. Pathetic.

[smitty24]

[Vanillagurilla]

I'm surprised the caps even fit on to the stems. Even on my brand new heads there a tight fit and may require a special tool for me to get them off lol. But to agree with what others have said, new valves or heads. Stock heads can be had cheap and you might take them to a machine shop to find cracks and the like. Sometimes new is cheaper but even on new heads I would still lap the valves.

[FreeBug]

There's a fixture on valve-grinding machines to clean up valve stems.

[mark tucker]

[smitty24]

Thanks Mark. I will look at CB and some others. VW shops that know this type of work are drying up. I thought about sending them to Brothers but it would most likely exceed what I want to spend right now.
If there were no cracks in the heads, would there be machining involved or basically just lapping valves in? I am not familiar with what labor and parts it takes to typically do new valves and no machine work. I myself could buy the compressor tool and do the valves, but assume these heads are going to be a lot more involved than that.

[Vanillagurilla]

With new valves you would still have to have the seats ground if the seats are still ok. Lots of variables in valves lol. If you were closer I have a set of dual port heads that could be cleaned up and lapped but maybe look for a machine shop that does head work. Valve and seat grinding tools are fairly universal. I learned in high school how to do valves and seats on vw heads but haven't done it since then lol.

[bugguy1967]

SCAT caps are so loose sometimes that they'll fit over anything.
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"A petrol engine can start readily, run smoothly and give every appearance of being in good order, without necessarily being in good tune." - Colin Campbell, "The Sportscar Engine"