Moss Motors, Ltd

I have just one quick question for now. I have alot of valve train noise coming from my engine. I would assume the problem is wear, as the car has 135,000 miles on it. With that said, is this a solid lifter engine ,and if so where can I find shims to adjust the clearance, and what are the proper clearances? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

cbb,

I could quote you the clearances, my friend, but what you need is a workshop manual. Don't attempt this procedure without one or you'll need a lot more than just an adjustment. This is an overhead camshaft engine with inverted "bucket" type adjusters. Each time you make an adjustment you must remove and replace the camshaft without dropping the camwheel or losing the timing. There is a bunch of thickness measuring and math to figure out the correct dimension for each "puck" you need to exchange. Occaissionaly, you have to go through this process two or three times to get the right clearances. Shims, or "pucks" range between 2 1/2 and 4 1/4 bucks apiece, unless you can find somebody with some good used ones of the size you need. Obviously I can't tell what your experience level is from here, and I don't mean to insult your ability. It's just that sometimes people are told some things are simpler than they are.

TR7s are not noted for a lot of valve train noise unless the chain and/or tensioner are worn out. This is something you MUST check for. I have owned and driven TR7s a lot. My daily driver right now is a 1980 with 100,000 on the clock. No valve noise is evident.

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Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

I'll echo motorbill66's thoughts. Once the valve clearances are set, they tend to stay right for a very long time. If you have a clattering that shows up when you start the car and goes away in a short time, you most likely have a timing chain that's stretched to the point where you should replace it. What happens is, as the oil pressure builds, the hydraulic tensioner takes up the slack.

If the clattering is there all the time, you are in grave danger of jumping a tooth or having the chain break. If this happens, it isn't pretty as the valves will hit the pistons. Park the car and don't drive it again until you've replaced the chain, sprockets, guides and tensioner.

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"Be vewee quiet, I'm hunting the wiwee Twiumph Stag, ha ha ha ha ha..."