YES…I understand…THAT IS EXACTLY what I wanted you to say… It looks like a watch battery UNDER the bucket… PERFECT… Just wanted you to confirm the bucket type…was that different also? They were pics of the buckets…
OK Im back sort of…havent heard from you. Do you understand what I am saying about having NO SHIM…or a paper thin shim…then measuring the clearance? Because with no shim…you measure your clearance…factor in the desired clearance and then you can figure out what thickness you need…
Other than that Just ring me…
OK I’m back…whats the status Mystic? You grinding your life away over there? lol… This process isn’t actually that hard…and I think you understand what I am trying to tell you.
But Man O Shevits…It would be SO much better to have some other shims and suss it out that way… I’d rather you go that route…
I think I’m just going to get a shim kit and play around with it until I get it right. I haven’t found one online yet but I’m still looking…
Sounds good…they MUST be available… You really do need that kit… It is possible to do it the way you were trying, but its extremely difficult if you are trying to do this with your one and only shim… Because if you are off a few thousands…it could blow the whole effort…
Did you try to use no shim and measure? That would work you know…if you can put the bucket on with no issues…without a shim… IF that is possible…you will have the dimensions you need and you can pull it off.
I will call my warehouse for you… see what they say.
You can always go to a u pull it yard and grab a bunch of shims… I am finding quite a few sets on the inet…
I have been searching for you and I’m told Napa has them…I called but they didnt… Many also have said that the shims are not really vehicle specific…They seem to just need to be a certain diameter… and then different thickness… People are saying Miata shims work… They also say to call machine shops to see if they have spares… I will call my bud he works at a speed shop…
Machine shop buddy said that they are generic…you just need the correct diameter and then select for thickness… He orders his from a Machine shop supply place called Goodsons? also a place called SBi… Go on the net and look
Here you go… real tricky… www.Goodson.com AND
these might not be the exact diameter shims you need but you get the idea… They call them Valve Clearance DISCS…which may be why I had a hard time with “shims” on the net…
That was it… SEARCH “Valve Clearance Discs” and you will be bombed with results… we cant use “shims” in our search…they got fancy pantsy on us with “discs” This is plenty of info to get you out of your jam…
Sorry for taking over your post…here…lol Did I post enough? Just trying to assist
Blackbird
I’d say the 3.244 is the shim thickness and that the auto parts store did not measure it correctly. When you’re dealing with such small increments in shim thickness it takes a precise, and pricy, micrometer to measure the thickness. A hand held caliper may not be so precise and which is what I assume they used.
It sounds like this engine uses the small shims (under bucket) much like the older SAABs used.
Seeing as how that 3 something is in millimeters you might do the math and figure out which shim you need to increase valve lash.
One millimeter is roughly .043 inches so figure from there.
As to my reference to valve grinding, I mean grind a tad off the end of the stem. This could be carefully done with a Dremel and small wheel and will hurt nothing. Grinding the ends of valve stems is standard operating procedure when performing a full valve job on a cylinder head and the Dremel would essentially be doing the same thing as a valve grinding machine.
I have no probs doing it on the stem…but the OP isnt me, so I didnt want him to go there. Any screw ups there and he’d be bummed…you know? But Yeah I hear ya OK44…no prob for me or you… I just wanted him grinding on an easily replaceable part…I bet he feels better about that too… I’ve seen guys grind away on the top of the stem before, sure… Its actually a bit common LOL
Until about 10 years ago I used to grind my own valves and seats. The process is slow and not really economically viable due to the time involved so I sold my valve grinding equipment to a guy from Canada who was a long haul trucker and fools around with hobby cars in his spare time. He even dropped by my house one evening in his rig to pick the stuff up while on his way back to Alberta.
The right side of a valve facing machine will chuck up a valve and grind the valve face; the left side is made for chucking up a valve and grinding the end of the stem.
My preference would be for the proper shim but if these people at the dealer have no clue about shims and aren’t much help in obtaining one then I’d carefully Dremel the end of the stem and not worry about it one minute.
‘‘Sorry for taking over your post…here…lol Did I post enough? Just trying to assist’’
Absolutely! Thank you. Your help is much appreciated along with everyone else’s who contributed to this thread.
I don’t think I could get better quality help anywhere on the internet - even if I paid for it.
Ya no problem…It was the search terms that had us hemmed up… “Valve Clearance Discs” Dems the magic words…
The discs arrived today but they look like they are made of a different type of metal than the originals. The originals are shiny chrome and these are black. After I placed the order for the discs I came across an article that states that valve train components need to be of compatible metals - for what reason I don’t remember. Probably something to do with the components wearing too quickly.
Should I send them back and order some of the shiny chrome ones or just slap em in and not worry about it?
And if it helps any, the company I got the discs from said that the discs were made by Metelli SPA in Italy and that they are made of hardened steel. And the package says they’re for Nissan.
Don’t worry about the color of the discs. Some are hard chromed, some are Nitrided, etc. There are different methods of metal hardening and color is due to the differences in the hardening techniques that are used.
Agreed…No, don’t worry about the color at all…probably Nitrided like OK said…May even polish up after use and look just like the other ones. Don’t worry at all…they are designed to do THAT exact job, so they are made out of the correct material… You have nothing to worry about. Did you order a set or many different sizes perhaps? Did you make sure to measure or did you have to guess at what size you needed? I think you were in the position of having to make an educated guess…and that’s OK…I just hope you have many different thicknesses, that’s all. Choose one and put it in…How’d it go? Keep us posted
Blackbird
“Did you order a set or many different sizes perhaps? Did you make sure to measure or did you have to guess at what size you needed?”
I only bought 2 different sizes for the 2 valves that are severely out of spec. I’m pretty sure I got the measurements right but won’t know until I put them in and check the clearance. I’ll keep you posted.
Well, the valve that I was hoping was at zero was actually at negative .003’’ or so. I put the new shim in and it brought the clearance to .007’’ - not bad, a heck of a lot closer to spec than where I was. So now I gotta decide if I should just go ahead and run with it as is or order a thinner disc that will bring it into spec. I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to bring the clearance up gradually since it’s been tight for so long; run it as is for now @.007’’ and then in a couple of months bring it all the way into spec. @ .010’’-.012’’ ?
If you know what you need then get it…if it is too tight for a shim…you can do the old school trick of carefully taking some “off the top” of the valve stem itself…Nothing but perfection will do here really…take it slow and try to get yourself a damn kit of discs…that way you can make adjustments on the fly without snail mail getting in the way…Maybe even sell the set on Ebay when you are done…obviously not an easy thing to come across and widely needed from time to time…so.
If the valves really seated themselves you may not be able to find a shim thin enough…all depends on how Mazda set things up engineering wise. YOu may wind up using a thin shim…and STILL not have the valve fully shut…at that point it is either no shim…or a thin shim with the valve stem trimmed so that you can use a more common shim thickness…
Running it at .007 won’t hurt anything. If you want, you could go back in a month and recheck it but odds are it will remain at .007 or so close that it won’t matter.
This is especially true with intake valves.