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Two small problems...


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Hi, many thanks for all of the advice with my resto, I think I am now nearing the finish line! Two small questions if I may;

 

1. I have a noisy tappet, the wear must be such that I can't find it with a conventional feeler - I read that there is a solution to this - trim the feeler or something??

 

2. The starter solenoid turns the engine over as it should but the key often turns the engine over VERY slowly - that means that I have a fault between the ignition and solenoid - where should I start to look?

 

Thanks

 

Christian

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Christian

To find the noisy tappet take the thinnest feeler you have and feed it into each rocker in turn with the engine running. It will mash the feeler up but you should be able to isolate the noisy one.

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Hi, many thanks for all of the advice with my resto, I think I am now nearing the finish line! Two small questions if I may;

 

 

2. The starter solenoid turns the engine over as it should but the key often turns the engine over VERY slowly - that means that I have a fault between the ignition and solenoid - where should I start to look?

 

Thanks

 

Christian

 

 

Sounds like a high resistance in the starter feed, check the block is correctly earthed, failing thas mating faces between the starter and block may be insulated by paint. Easy to check by using a jump lead from the battry to a good earth on the starter itself then see if it spins better.

 

Oops just reread the post sounds like a lazy solenoid try a replacement. The coil is not pulling the high current contact closed correctly causing high restance in the starter circuit. When you press by hand you are exerting more force and correctly closing the High current circiut to the starter

 

Alan

Edited by Kiwifrog
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I've heard stories about doing it with the engine running but couldn't work out how... So I can't just use the starter solenoid then? Thanks

 

No, the engine has to be running. It only takes a minute or so t do.

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I tried that the other day and it does tend to splash oil everywhere, so you might want to put some rags over the surrounding area.

 

It didn't stop the noise on any of my tappets either, so perhaps they all need closing up a bit!!

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I have run it with the cover off and it was a bit messy. I've made several attempts at setting the gaps correctly but one is not playing ball - if I understand this correctly just inserting the feeler in the noisy one will tell me which one is the problem as it will go quiet...

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The reason you wont get an accurate gap is because a feeler guage requires a flat surface on both components to measure accurately, over the years the rocker arm will have worn sightly concave. So when you insert the feeler to set the gap you are actually measuring across the edges of the rocker arm to valve stem rather than the clearance itself. Some people have successfully used adjusters of various types which are based on measuring the distance travelled for a particular type of thread and therfore take account of any wear in the valve stem/rocker arm. They come up from time to time on e bay

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I bought a Gunsons adjuster which works by setting one correctly with adjusting clicks from a screwed down position and then using the same amount of clicks on the rest - therefore avoiding uneven wear. This worked fine for most but it is still difficult to tighten up the outer nut without loosing the centre position. I only have one noisy tappet and I'm not going to let it beat me. Tonight I will line the engine bay with lots of kitchen towl and find the offending tappet! Then I'll make an approprite tool to set it correctly...

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Hi Christian,

with the rocker cover removed and the engine running how about pressing each rocker in turn with your finger on the valve end of the rocker.

This will/should keep the gap closed that causes the 'tap' - the other end is sat in an oil bath and should produce no/little noise.

 

Mind your fingers though.

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I've also used the 'Pilkie Process' once or twice. However, although you normally set the valve clearances with the engine cold, I think this fine-tuning needs to be done with the engine hot. It's many years since I had to do this, so perhaps someone can confirm or correct me.

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Started the process today and found the guilty rocker arm very quickly...did ruin my feeler but I didn't use my nice old one! Now doing the adjustment but very nervous about over doing it and causing valve burn. It is the end rocker arm and is noisy due to play in the rocker shaft...does this mean I should not adjust it until the noise goes - do I need a new shaft?

Edited by randall977
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"Pilkie Process" :lol:

With the dolly,it was tappy when warm,amd easy to detect when cold,so I did adjustment when warm as thats normal op temp.

It was just detectable on cold start up,so finessed the adjustment another tad or 2 so it was quiet when cold.

After about a year,"I had all but forgotten about it",it started to come back,but by that time I had got good s/h bits to fix it.

 

Randall977

if the rocker shaft or the shaft hole in the rocker is worn then no amout of tappet adjustment will fix it,unless its so tight it compensates for the wear then it wont run right and be too tight!

Looks like you will either have to buy new or find a known good s/h set up.

Edited by PILKIE
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I guess I shouldn't have sold the spare set I had so quickly! New shaft it is then. I know from servicing this one that removing the pedestals is a horrible job - in fact I didn't do it because they were too well on.

 

 

 

Sounds like the whole lot is knackered :( if the shaft is the rest will also be

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Sounds like the whole lot is knackered :( if the shaft is the rest will also be

 

Best check your valve springs as well ;):lol:

Stuart.

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