Number 4 exhaust valve adjustment

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spidernut
Posts: 1906
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:20 am
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider Automatic
Location: Lincoln, CA

Number 4 exhaust valve adjustment

Post by spidernut »

Any tips on how to collapse the valve spring on the number 4 exhaust valve? The valve adjusting tool will not fit do to the casting for the distributor on the cam box. I've done valve adjustment several times and always run into the same problem with this one valve and know there must be an efficient work around...I just don't want to buy another tool.
John G.
1979 Spider (Owned since 2000)
1971 124 Sport Spider (Owned since 2017)
1977 Spider (Sold 2017)
1979 Spider (Disposed of in 2017)
1979 Spider (Sold 2015)
1980 Spider (Sold in 2013)
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2017 Spider (Owned since 2019)
vandor
Posts: 3996
Joined: Sat May 23, 2009 1:23 pm
Your car is a: 1971 124 Spider
Location: Texas, USA

Re: Number 4 exhaust valve adjustment

Post by vandor »

If you grind some of the corners of the tool it will fit. Someone here posted pics, I think, plus I have them on my work computer. Email me if you can't find them and I will send them to you tomorrow.
Last edited by vandor on Thu Aug 28, 2014 9:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Csaba
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RRoller123
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Your car is a: 1980 FI SPIDER 2000
Location: SAGAMORE BEACH, MA USA

Re: Number 4 exhaust valve adjustment

Post by RRoller123 »

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spidernut
Posts: 1906
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:20 am
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider Automatic
Location: Lincoln, CA

Re: Number 4 exhaust valve adjustment

Post by spidernut »

I'll try it.
John G.
1979 Spider (Owned since 2000)
1971 124 Sport Spider (Owned since 2017)
1977 Spider (Sold 2017)
1979 Spider (Disposed of in 2017)
1979 Spider (Sold 2015)
1980 Spider (Sold in 2013)
1981 Spider (Sold in 1985)
2017 Spider (Owned since 2019)
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V12StealthHunter
Posts: 141
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:31 am
Your car is a: 1971 Fiat 124 Spider
Location: San Jose, CA

Re: Number 4 exhaust valve adjustment

Post by V12StealthHunter »

For what its worth, the supposedly official fiat tool I got from Autoricambi also had to be mildly modified.
1971 Fiat 124 Sport Spider
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bradartigue
Posts: 2183
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:35 pm
Your car is a: 1970 Sport Spider
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Number 4 exhaust valve adjustment

Post by bradartigue »

V12StealthHunter wrote:For what its worth, the supposedly official fiat tool I got from Autoricambi also had to be mildly modified.
There were several variations of the value tools, the earliest had a sliding indicator to tell you when you stop turning the camshaft, which was real neat, but it interfered with #4 on the 2000 engines...later types are boring, single casting of steel, and most interfere except for the very last types which had the nose grinded down so it would fit. So if you have an "official" tool it may very well be official and not fit...because even the grinded down was a poor fit.
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