Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Valve Clearances

So I thought I would check and adjust the shims on my Zetec Black Top after 65k miles. I wish I hadn’t bothered. Turns out there is a special Ford tool #303-563 to help with shim removal but this tool appears unavailable anywhere so the only way to adjust is by removing the cam shafts. Even then, it appears the shims aren’t available as a kit only singly but you only know what to buy when the existing shims are measured or read when removed. Not much help when you want to tool up in advance. I found four valves out of spec so that’s where they will stay for now as the car runs fine as is.
Here were the results anyway
No 3 Inlet & Exhaust too big
No 4 Exhaust too small
No 2 Inlet too big.
Guess I will wait for Inspiration.

You have my sympathies, it's a right pain going through all the rigmarole of measuring clearances and then figuring out shim by shim which thicknesses you need to order. I don't blame you at all for leaving them, the only one really to be concerned about is the No 4 exhaust, but that depends entirely on how much it's tight by. Probably be absolutely fine for another 20k miles.

These modern engines with hard valve seats are a hell of a change from the old days, when it seemed like I had to do the tappets on the Mini, the MGB, and the Bonneville every month or so.

The only one worth worrying about and then that’s dependent on how much too small is No4 exhaust. If the IS due to wear of the valve seat rather than always been like that and IF it wears enough could end up holding slightly open which it won’t like.

My 2011 2litre Duratec has always been a bit tapetty from new, but only when cold.
So concerned, I took it up to the factory during its first year and they brought a Ford guy in and declared it “normal”. I have never been totally convinced and sometime later, asked a well known dealer to check as well and got the same story. But, I know that when cold, (and only when cold) it is worse than some other plus 4 s I have listened to. Havent been able to pinpoint by listening with a screwdriver to the ear. I have sometimes wondered whether it could even be a rattly flap on the intake manifold especially as it doesn't quieten down until I have done a mile or so…i.e. it’s warmed up slightly.
Anyway, it’s now done over 54k miles and the sounds are no worse than when new, so I live with it, as it does not seem to affect performance.

My 2011 2litre Duratec has always been a bit tapetty from new, but only when cold.
So concerned, I took it up to the factory during its first year and they brought a Ford guy in and declared it “normal”. I have never been totally convinced and sometime later, asked a well known dealer to check as well and got the same story. But, I know that when cold, (and only when cold) it is worse than some other plus 4 s I have listened to. Havent been able to pinpoint by listening with a screwdriver to the ear. I have sometimes wondered whether it could even be a rattly flap on the intake manifold especially as it doesn't quieten down until I have done a mile or so…i.e. it’s warmed up slightly.
Anyway, it’s now done over 54k miles and the sounds are no worse than when new, so I live with it, as it does not seem to affect performance.

When I did this job on a BMW K100 bike I was able to borrow the tool to compress valve spring and remove bucket. Only one shim needed changing and even this was a swap from their Kawasaki set which happened to use same size. A local friendly Ford garage may help therefore.

Deejay, Bet your'e using 5w30 engine oil, Move up to 5w40 fully synthetic and that tends to quieten the tappets down. These engine's were made along side the diesel variant and tolerances became generic compromises. Ford would tell you they should be run using 5W30 but again this is a cost narrowing issue and that oil best suits a turbo optioned engine. Also try millars nanotec + version its the oil the race boys use as the price is extremely good, comparable in fact to any premium oil!

Keith, don't worry about special tools, Pull the plugs and rotate the engine by hand. Measure the clearances for all the followers and write them down. Under that write what the clearances should be. then remove the cam shaft in question and read from the follower what the size is. You can now add or subtract the difference from what the gap should be to what it is actually measuring (to or from) on the current follower. To remove the followers use a magnet, The size is marked on the follower. Inspect the removed followers and ascertain where the wear is, ie. cam lobe or follower, it's usually the bucket tappet as they are designed to wear first. You will need to mic the bucket tappet in order to see how much wear has taken place.

Here's an example of how you work out which new size bucket tappet you will need on a particular valve.

A) desired tappet clearance =0.30mm manufacturers stated figure
B) measured clearance =0.36mm what you measured when checking the clearance
C) tappet thickness found =2.19mm thickness of internal to external tapped size

D) new thickness required =C+B-A =2.25mm This measuring method takes into account all wear issues with that particular valve bucket tappet.

Oh, one last thing, you'll get advice saying you can swap bucket tappets around to suit a different position if the size is suitable, Don't do this as the wear pattern on each tappet will be different and it will promote premature wear and you'll be doing it again very soon!

I have always used 5w40 FS oil, so don’t think oil is the issue.
And, think the original quest for a special tool was to actually avoid removing the cam shaft.

Ah! I wish it were that easy, You can't remove the bucket tappets without first removing the the cam shaft/s