Valves

[B84Cam]

ok a while back I was putting my engine back together and tightened the shit out of my rockers and tried to crank it. I bent a few push rods but got it taken care of. Now I still don't have it started but I have compression and think the timing might be off. The thing is my friends dad swears up and down that my valves are bent and that's my problem. What do you guys think? I figure now that its not turning over fast and it sounds right they're not bent. Whos right?

[Disturbed Berlinetta]

Well it is very possible that your valves are indeed bent,you should NEVER just tighten down rocker arms all of the way, they get way out of adjustment if you do that,when you put rocker arms back on you need to set the lash.

[B84Cam]

Yea, i know i fucked up, and sure learned from it. But, is there an easy way to tell if i have any bent valves or not? Like a fucked or not thing?? Or could it just be minor and i have to pull the heads off??

[Corey]

If your getting normal compression on a guage then it's a pretty safe bet i think that that you didn't bend the valves, if the valves were bent it wouldn't hold any compression.

The only way to really know is to run the car, if it doesn't die a horrible death within the first day the're probably alright. You probably would have pushed the springs all the way down first which I don't think would allow the valve to go far enough to hit the piston.

When i took out my lifters awhile back it didn't occur to me that I would have to completely reset my timing. Somehow my oil pump shaft magically turned while the distributor was out (sounds funny, but no bullshit)so when I put the distributor back in, even though I had marked it, the timing was so far off it wouldn't start. You might give this a try.

Here's how you get the timing close enough to start the car. Rotate the engine to #1 top dead center. Mark the distributor where the number one cylinder tower is on the cap (meaning mark the metal part of the distributor). Now, with the distributor out of the car, rotate the dist. rotor until it points to that mark. Notice that the dist. tends to stick in places when you turn it. That's the magnetic pickup. Put the dist. back in the car. Now turn the distributor to fine tune it so that the rotor points to the mark you made and also "clicks" into one of those little magnetic marks. That will basically put you timing at 0 degrees, which will allow you to start the car. Tighten the dist. clamp. Once you get the car started, you can (and should) adjust it with a timing light.

Also remember in all this twisting and turning, when it's all done, you spark plug wires still have to reach their respective spots.

Hope this helps, and hope it makes sense, and hope it's really the problem. Later.



------------------
Corey
'88 T/A 305 TPI

[B84Cam]

UPDATE: it started and ran for like 20 sec. I know some of the vacume lines aren't hooked up and the carb is prolly fucked and the rockers aren't exactly right. Is there a chance the valves are bent even though it did run for a little bit?

[Corey]

Did you turn the car off or did it die on its own?

There is a slight chance that you bent the valves but here are a couple of things to consider:

1. The first time you tried to start the car, did you hear a loud clinking noise? If not, then I would think that you got lucky.


2. Valves require a good contact surface with the head to transfer heat properly. If this does not happen then the problem will multiply itself and should be obvious I would think within a few days of driving, or maybe even sooner.

All just thoughts from a local crackhead, but basically, at this point I don't think you have anything to lose by trying to run it, and if there is a problem, it will be obvious soon enough. Personally, I think you will be alright. Worry about that other easy stuff first.



[This message has been edited by Corey (edited 02-24-2001).]