[Vwdiesel] valve adjustment tools

Val Christian val at mongo.mongobird.com
Thu Apr 5 14:44:25 PDT 2012


I never had the right sized shims, and they were expensive.  I'd have four
1.5 engines, and I'd need 10 of the same sized shim, which I didn't have spares
of.  Eventually I collected a couple of dozen shims, but still never
had the right ones.

I almost always had to reshim after a head rebuild.  Seems the seats would
always pound in a little.  Now I owned lots of 1.5 cars, and only one 1.6
car, so my frustration is limited to the sample size of one on the 1.6.
I'm willing to defer to the collective wisdom.  

Adding to the experience was the old cork gaskets for the valve cover, the 
battle of the leaks, etc.  Reusable gaskets, out of pseudo-rubber helped
that, but I didn't discover any until the early 1990's.

Sometimes it's nice to just be a dummy.  (grin)


> 	Who wants to get rid of the solids with shims? They are a lot better
> than the hydraulics. The VW solids with shims are pretty much set them and
> forget them. I think the only reason the factory went to hydraulics is cost
> savings in assembly. Any dummy can pop 8 hydraulics in the holes but with
> the solids and shims one at least has to know how to use a feeler gauge plus
> be able to add and subtract. I think the 1.6 diesels went to hydraulics in
> 1986. Every 1.6 I have running now ( 2 N/A, one turbo)and every one I have
> ever had were equipped with solids
> Brian Decker
> 1981 Rabbit pickup FF 5 speed, 1.6 N/A diesel
> 1981 Dasher wagon  9Q Quantum 5 speed, 1.6 N/A diesel
> 1990 VW Fox 2 door wagon 9Q Quantum 5 speed, 1.6 turbo diesel
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
> Behalf Of LBaird119 at aol.com
> Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2012 12:17 PM
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] valve adjustment tools
> 
>  
> In a message dated 4/5/2012 9:09:04 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> val at mongo.mongobird.com writes:
> 
> It's a  pain, and it just barely works.  I was happy to get rid of the shims
> on the 1.5 when I transitioned to the 1.6  engines.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All my 1.6 engines still have the same shims as the 1.5 so it's 
> not THAT easy to get away from them!   :-D
>    Loren
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