H all,

I was out driving tonight, and I noticed a noise I hadn't heard before, and it reminded me of an old sierra i had years ago.

I sounded like the tappets?

I have a 1.3 xflow,

1.question is, how often do they need adjusting?
2.why would the noise come on all of a sudden?
3. How hard to adjust them and how?
4. what happens if i don't adjust them? (anything go pop?)


Many thanks

in order 1 probably every 6,000 miles 2 Worn cam,worn followers , worn rockers , worn rocker shaft, has it lost power, could be bent valve due to overrevving? or if your lucky the shaft retaining bolts may have come loose 3 Easy , set to TDC and use feelers to check clearance , adjust using the adjuster screw, What cam do you have as clearances alter?. 4 It may cause the engine to stop . Get a new rocker cover gasket as its bound to break if you don't

[Edited on 3/7/08 by rusty nuts]

Hi,

Sounds fair then, it's done about 5000 miles, no overrevving, and no loss in power

not sure waht the cam is though, suspect it's a GT as the engine was from a 750MC racer.

anyone know what clearance i shold be setting it too?

Autodata is a wonderful program!
Rescued attachment info.jpg

Tappets usually get noisey very gradually, for an xflo tappet to suddenly sound as bad as a Pinto with a knackered cam shaft is unlikely unless a follower had brocken.

Other suspects in order of severity

Alternator loose in its bracket bracket
Piston slap
Little end
*Big end.

You do NOT adjust tappets on TDC, you need to set up the engine position for each, (sometimes two) to be adjusted. Best bet buy a book, (Haynes), that covers that engine, with that it will be a doddle. Cheer Ray

Xflow engine is rule of NINE.

Valve 1 fully open - Adjust 8
Valve 2 fully open - Adjust 7
Valve 3 fully open - Adjust 6
Valve 4 fully open - Adjust 5
Valve 5 fully open - Adjust 4
Valve 6 fully open - Adjust 3
Valve 7 fully open - Adjust 2
Valve 8 fully open - Adjust 1

Hope this helps.

I'm driving it in to work today and I realised waht the noise is, it's the exaust manifold blowing.

DOH!

looks like a much easier fix now!

I was just about to say that!

Me too!

I have a 4-branch manifold and one of the mounting faces isn't quite in line with the rest - sometimes it'll leak a tiny amount, and the sound it makes is just like a rattling tappet. I fixed it with a new gasket and some exhaust paste.

Flattening the faces off is one of those 'round tuit' jobs that I'll attend to the next time I do any major engine work.