[Vwdiesel] valve shims

[Nate Wall]

Olympic Auto Parts USED to have them for 75 cents each. They no longer cary
them. I recently checked my clearances, removed the "off" ones, but like a
dummy, did not record what I needed. What I do is measure clearances w/ warm
engine, remove the shims where the clearances are off, read the shim thickness
(back side) and subtract the clearance spec from the shim value to get the
difference. If clearance is too tight, I get a shim that is thinner by the
difference, if the spec is too loose, I get a thicker shim by the difference.
I've noticed that the tendency is for the clearance to get tighter over the
years, and the spec range covers about two shim thicknesses, so for one that's
out of the range, I try to get a shim that will give me a clearance right in the
middle of the range, or towards the looser end of the range. Never towards the
tighter end of the range.

--Nate

dennis pantazis wrote:

> nate asked about valve shims. i too am looking for a source. i havn;t called
> around yet, but i am surprised that they are soo expensive.
>
> question: how does one know which valve shims to get? would we have to
> measure clearance, remove shim, measure and then do the math?
>
> exist shim thickness + exist clearance - desired clearance = new shim
> thickness.
>
> then a trip to dealer/phone parts place....
>
> am i ner-do-well-er where?
>
> dennis
>
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