Here’s a dumb question.

My 76 car, 39k miles, does not look like it’s ever had the valve gaps adjusted. I’ve been through the 16 services records, and it looks like only oil services were completed, with no records of valve adjustment. The service paperwork is very comprehensive.

The rockets covers don’t look like they have ever been off. I can see the Zeibart wax spray in place as evidence - applied before delivery to the one previous owner.

I can’t hear any of the valves making any significant tapping noises at all. It’s so quiet and smooth - just a normal balanced set of very quiet (normal engine) ticking.

I’ve read the importance of regular valve gap adjustment. It should be routine. But am I better off letting sleeping dogs lie? If those gaps are correct now, and it runs sweetly, what is there to be gained by doing the check? I risk losing the perfect seal that I have right now with no oil leaks.

As I said, dumb question, but wanted to get a sounding of views...

Many thanks. Gary

Yes.

My concern would be that some valves might be tight. I understand the oil leak possibility, but as long as you replace the valve cover gaskets and make sure the surfaces are clean and dry when replacing the valve covers you should be OK.

Most definately. With the low miles you should have no problem with a new set of gaskets.

ABSOLUTELY ADJUST THE VALVES !!!!

The gaps are quite large, .006" for intake and .008" for exhaust. There is a good reason for this since the engine "grows" (expands) considerably when it gets up to operating temperature. The fact that you don't hear any tapping with a cold start, or several minutes after a cold start is a bad thing. It could mean that they are tight. My '76 starts out quiet then starts tapping then is quite at full operating temperature. You do NOT have to remove the heater boxes if you have a long set of feeler guages, Mine are almost a foot long. They are available on line. I'm sure YouTube has a video to help you through it.

Also bleed the brakes to ge fresh fluid in there, otherwise your calipers will rust internally and stick.

Good luck,
David

Yes, as this is required maintenance every oil change and good advice to bleed the brakes.

bad question
adjust your valves

I'm do mine every 3,000 miles at this point

Probably more a dumb question...

Please do,very important with air-cooled engines.

Totally agree on doing or getting the valves adjusted, as well as bleeding out the old brake fluid with new.

The factory recommended interval for valve adjustments is/was 3k miles, which if you drive a lot seems excessive on a broken in engine. A new engine I'd check them at 500 miles, 1000, and then at 3k. You call, but I doubt if very many here adjust valves every 3k miles. I did mine at 6, but it's a lot more work on a 6 cyl 914.

The factory recommended interval for brake fluid is 24 months, but I'll bet it's one of the more overlooked maintenance items. The main reason is that brake fluid is hygroscopic, which means it attracts moisture, which degrades it's performance and causes corrosion in the system components.

I’ve double checked through all the service records (and there are a lot of them), and nobody ever did the gaps. One garage recommended it done - but at 40,000 miles. The bus only had 37,000 miles up to 2007.

I’m going to take it to a good mechanic to do this - as well as do the timing.

If anyone knows of a good garage in Toronto I’m all ears...

The brake lines have all been flushed. New flexible hoses are now fitted.

This Newbie is on a steep learning curve!

Update.

Valve covers are off. The tip about using a rag and pull down was excellent. Very effective.

Clearly covers never been off. Gasket compressed and hard. I’m now doing the TDC stuff and adjusting gaps. Will report back what the gaps were after 44 years.

Job complete. 6 of the valves had a gap slightly too big. 2 were ok

All adjusted now.

Side point. I replaced the rotor arm. Fitted a standard rotor, replacing the rev limited one. Didn’t think anything of it.

But on start up, the revs were idling at 1500, and didn’t run too well. Suspected it was too far advanced. Knocked back the distributor and good result. Ran at 1000 rpm, and smooth. The new rotor arm must connect with the plus cables earlier - hence the advance.

Finally, my first proper drive. Took it to a paintless dent removal chap 30 mins away.

The temp gauge on the dash does not have any numbers. It ran with the needle pointing upwards in the middle of the gauge mid point. Is this normal?