How bad is setting valve clearance on a DOHC?

[billday]

Wait wait wait - don't pay someone 2-3 hours to do the work, unless you're really all elbows with your tools. That's insane.
. . .

4. Get a big zip tie. Fold it in half. Turn the engine over, and watch as your cams push your valves down. When you have the valve you want to work on first all the way down, stick your zip tie into your spark plug hole, and rotate it in between the valve and the top of the engine head. It's harder to explain than to just do it - you know you have it right when you keep rotating the engine, and you can see the cam lift away from the plate. Now use a tiny metal shim or a screwdriver to flip the shim out. There will be a number on the bottom of it - that will correspond to the shop manual chart. Check the number, write it down, and then put it back. Really, put it back.

This is great (beats buying the tappet tool or taking off the camshafts), but it takes some fiddling. Here are some pictures that show how to fold your zip tie so it will get the job done. A key fact is that one thickness of ziptie will not give you enough room to coax the shim out of the bucket. So, you need the end folded so that two thicknesses of ziptie will get trapped between the valve and the seat.

The last image shows how, because of the way the ziptie is bent, it will spring up and to the right once the bent part clears the spark plug threads. Turn the motor and you will notice that (1) you can tug on the ziptie and it won't come out, and (2) the cam will lift away from the shim.

Note that if you don't have enough room (for instance if only one thickness of ziptie is trapped under the valve), there is no way on earth you will ever get that shim out.
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[spectra]

I just purchased the tool as it was only 10 bucks......plus I have an 1100 that uses the same tool. All valves in the 1100 were within spec so no need to use it yet on that motor.......now off to the 400 to see how it is.

 

[Jeff0133]

I have the tool also...I didn'the want to risk messing up my valves.

 

[dpgraham4401]

Hi new to the site!

Just used the zip tie method and love it, I found if you...
bend the zip tie to a 90 degree about an inch away from the head/locking gizmo then use the zip tie head to wedge between valve and head that give you enough clearance.