what is a good sign to look for, or sound,to indicate I need a valve adjustment ?

how about some love people

Open up the valve covers, take a feel gauge and check the gapping on the rockers for each valve. I forgot what the measurement was, but someone will mention it. Too much and too less gap the engine isn't running efficiently. Makes a big difference when your valves are adjusted correctly.

I would offer the idea of the "sound" of the valve train but that may take a trained ear and I don't know about the sound if the valves are too tight. This is a question I have also as I would like to know if I should adjust the valves on a car I am going to take to the track in a couple of weeks. The car has about 1k miles on the last adjust but has not been used in a year. 3k is the interval on valve adjustment.

Usually if the valves are tight you will have LESS valve train noise while idling and if they are really tight (as in no clearance left), it becomes difficult to re-start the engine especially when it warms up. This is due to the valves *just* hanging open causing a loss of compression at slow engine speeds. At this point, you will also notice a rough idle.

The valve clearance should be .006" and checked every 3K miles.

You're better off just getting in there and doing it. That way you know when it was done and that it was done properly. Then go in after 3000 miles and do it again. Only after that will you know the condition of your valve train and it's adjustment and whether it's wearing abnormally.

You don't use your ears, you use your eyes. The odometer will tell you when you need to check the valve clearances.

I believe the stock spec is every 6000 miles. If yours change significantly in that interval, you should move that up to every 3K miles. For cars that don't get driven much, once per year is a good interval to use.

--DD