valve adj night mare, grr Options

[rhodyguy]

just let me know if i'm reading this right. two colored marks on fan. one red, on white behind it, or to the right while looking down. wanye writes in the pp artcile, "on most cars, there will be a paint mark at tdc, as well as a timing mark elsewhere on the fan. do not confuse the 2 marks, as it will lead to confusion later. additionaly on the impeller there is a notch that also indicates tdc for cly #1" ok, i see no notch and i presume the white mark is tdc. i have an 009 and i can see that the rotor is at approx the #1 plug wire on the cap. with all other rockers tight and a small amount of free play on the #1 rockers, is it safe to say i'm ready to go forward? i see to remember that the vw emblem was to be upside down on the valve covers upon reassembly, correct? mine didn't come off that way.

kevin

[lapuwali]

I think the various PP articles have caused more confusion than not...

The key to remember is that there are only four lobes on the camshaft. One intake shared by 1 & 4, one exhaust shared by 1 & 4. Ditto for 2 & 3. So, the opposite cylinders are 180 camshaft degrees apart. If the intake valve on cylinder 1 is open, the intake valve on cylinder 4 MUST be closed. Same on the exhausts, and same for 2 & 3.

You don't have to find the EXACT TDC to measure valve clearance. With the valve covers off, if you rotate the engine and watch the intake valve on cylinder 1, as soon as it opens, the valve on cylinder 4 is off the lobe on the camshaft, and can be checked. For sticklers, if you want the rocker until it pushes the valve open, pauses, then JUST starts to close the valve, you'll be within a few degrees of TDC, and plenty close enough to measure the clearance on the opposite valve within 0.001", which is plenty good enough.

Repeat for all of the valves, and you never have to look for those hard to see marks on the fan, or even remove the distributor cap. You never even have to get out from underneath the car. Just watch the rockers. If you use a remote starter button, which is absurdly easy to wire from under the car given the location of the starter, you can bump the engine forwards and not even have to go through the trouble of jacking up the car and immobilising one wheel to turn the engine over with the tire.