I have a '86 Firebird with the LG$ 305 V8 in it. Carbed. Me and my dad pretty much just got done doing a complete top end rebuild. However, how are we supposed to set valve lash? Our little chiltons manual says to turn 1 turn after there is no play. We did this, went back and there is alot of play again. These lifters have sat for a few months waiting for us to finish. Is there any way short of starting the engine and letting it run for a few minutes, then setting valve lash? And if we do that, how should we set the valve lash?

 

Long as they are not to tight you can run the motor to refill the lifters with oil. Some people even do the final adjustment with the motor running. But it tends to make an oily mess unless you have valve covers with the centers cut out.

 

Thanks for the help.

Yeah, my dad used to do this a few years ago in a garage. They did it with it running and had valve covers cut out like you said. However, we don't have those, so we'll make a big oily mess. :-) I guess I should buy a few more rags, huh?

Again, thanks for your help. I was hoping for an easier solution, but nothing worth doing is easy, as they say. :-) Hopefully my 'Bird 'll be back up and running strong tommorrow or Thursday.