Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

Can I use clay to check my valve clearance? Anyone recommend this?
Open to opinions
s/t

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

Engine builders been doing it a long time.

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

yes just measure the depth of the clay where it is compressed.

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

i always used silley putty

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

unless you,ve got a hi-compression engine with a hi-lift cam you dont need to worry about it.

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

Yes- good suggestion it won't leave any residue.
s/t

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

Is a 10:1 w/ .489 lift anything I need to worry about?
s/t

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

yes be better be safe then sorry

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

IMHO it's worth doing all of the clearance checks just to learn how to do them...and good insurance besides.

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

you,ll have alot of clearence with 10-1 and that small of amount of lift cam. now if your going to 550 lift and more with thin head gaskets and cutting your heads down to 58cc,s or lower then thats another issue. and that cam is hydraulic lifter cam too right ? that opens up another can of worms. and i,am sure your not going to run it so hard you,ll float the valve train. your thinkin hard core racin measurements. also your not running dome pistons are you ?
bob

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

A light valve spring and dial indicator is a much better way to do the checking. You can keep checking the clearance at the rocker arm every 10 degrees as you rotate the engine, with all of the valve train angles and if you have close clearances, you will know exactly where it is tight...in/ex///opening or closing.

Re: Putting clay on piston to check valve clearance.
 

I would check it. Longer duration has a lot to do with it too, not just lift. The piston chases the exhaust valve. If the valve is hanging open for a while, the piston will catch it. Not good. I use the checking valve springs like PICKMUP suggested. I just push down on the rocker while rotating the crank over (by hand) until the piston contacts the valve. I continue until the piston pushes the rocker up to max lift. Then I use a dial indicator to verify clearance. Once the dial indicator is set up, I rotate the crank back and then forward to find the minimum clearance.