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One (or two) of my tappets are a bit loud despite repeated adjustment. They quiet down when warm but I'm assuming wear is preventing accurate adjustment. As the engine was rebuilt last year, I'm thinking of renewing the rocker gear just to complete the job. Any advice on fitting original or modified gear appreciated. I recall seeing an alternative rocker assembly at Malvern last year?

Edited by badshead
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Are the rocker tips where they bear onthe valve stems worn?

If you can feel the wear with a finger its too much!

The pit will be bridged by a feeler gauge, leaving the gap too big.

An alternative tool is the 'Clickadjust'

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How do you 'rebuild' an engine and not include the valve gear?

The rocker shaft is prone to wear, take a look at this before you start looking at expensive and unneccesary (for a road car) roller rocker options.

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Bill

If you can get a Tuftrided rocker shaft they are well worth the extra, also proper OE rocker bushes are far superior to the sintered ones some supply, but might need reamed to size.

Ron

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Good point from jerry - WAS it rebuilt??

And also that roller rockers are wildly overpriced for a road car, that hasn't got hilift cams and no need for the highest revs.

 

The Clickadjust suits some people, not all. It works by closing up the gap completely then opening it again by a ratchet mechanism that allows you you move the screw by so many clicks. You translate the 'book' gap to clicks, the number per thou depending on the thread of the screw, but it comes with a crib sheet that used to mention Triumphs.

It also incorporates both the spanner to hold the locknut and the screwdriver to adjust the screw in one tool. Still a two handed job, but no need to use the feeler gauge.

Problem is, it's seems like black magic, and many prefer to adjust with a feeler gauge, to give them the confidence that the gap is 'right'. And, the minimum that it can adjust to is one click. Can't remember what that translates to for a Triumph.

 

The time when this tool can set gaps more accurately than feeler gauges is when the tip of the rocker is worn. Typically, the end of the valve stem wears a pit in the head of the rocker. When you set the gap, the feeler bridges the pit, so that the gap set is the feeler thickness PLUS the depth of the pit. Because the Clickadjust closes the gap right up, then opens it by a prescribed amount, it can adjust the gap accurately despite the pit.

BUT, using this tool when the wear has occurred is a bodge! Open up the gap completely and feel the underside of the tip with a fingertip. If you can feel any wear, it is too much - your finger tip is a feeler gauge that can detect one thou! - and that means the tip hardening has gone, wear will accelerate, and if it has occured to that extent, there must be wear elsewhere, if only of the rocker shaft, that needs replacing as ron suggests. And a new shaft with worn rockers? False economy to my mind.

 

Advice? IF, and only if the rocker tips are worn - new rocker assembly, complete.

If not, seek the noise elsewhere.

 

Hope that helps,

John

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How do you 'rebuild' an engine and not include the valve gear?

 

My car supposedly had a rebuilt engine when I bought it but who ever carried out the work did not bother with the rocker gear.

During a recent service I was having difficulty setting the gap, using feeler gauges, some felt like they had more movement on the rockers than others. After stripping down the rockers I could see why. The amount of wear was incredible, the rockers had eaten into the shaft, the rockers were badly scored and the tip of the rockers had deep pits in them.

My advice would be to take them apart and have a look, you might be surprised how much wear there is.

 

Philip

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