Valve Adjustment Question

[Odoyle]

Checking the valve clearances in the 83 spider because I though I was hearing some valve chatter. Car has 80k miles, looks like I'm the first to remove the valve covers. After checking, clearances were all within spec, intake was great, exhaust was is at the larger end of the acceptable gap (0.53mm). Thoughts? Replace or leave as is.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I think the clearances are fine, and I'd leave them as is. Note that valve clearances should be measured with the engine totally cold.

-Bryan

[AndyVAS]

You might try different oil. I'm a big fan of the Valvoline 20w50 Race. Should you happen to be running something like Walmart house brand... that might be the issue. Some oils just make more noise as the cam slaps the shims.

[Ragno124]

I agree with Andy. My valve chatter went away by using 20W50 oil. It should be noted I don't drive my car in the winter as I live where they salt the roads to excess in Chicago area.

[wetminkey]

Hmm,...
I thought shims were pretty cheap for my '79. Easy to calculate replacements,...but mine's a fairly new, rebuilt short-block.
So while I was there, I set intakes to about 0.016 and exhausts to about 0.018.
I use 10W-30 Castrol with no valve noise.

[Odoyle]

I ended up having the shims on hand to adjust all the exhaust valves to 0.018, and the tapping seems to have gone away. Also running 20/50 castrol. Thanks for the feedback guys.

[wetminkey]

Yeah, I'll bet that in LA, the 20/50 Castrol is no problem, all year 'round,...
Glad you were able to properly shim the valve lash.
I was lucky, and only needed four new shims to re-adjust all of my intake and exhaust valves to proper clearances.
Happy Motoring! Todd.