[BrianTSmith99]

Hey all,

I have this week off, and snow melt has turned the place into mud city so I figure this is a good time to give it some TLC.

Newbie valve adjust question... I know the engine should be stone cold, not run for at least 24 hours before adjusting the values. But does air temp cause any problems? When I adjusted them previously, it was "room temperature" (70'ish degrees). But this week it is going to be ranging 20 to 50. Is adjusting valves in the cold a bad thing? Do I need a heated garage? (Well, yeah. I need one, but that is not happening )

Thanks!
Brian

 

[kawpaul]

Why would it matter? The steel is not going to shrink or grow in the slight variance of temps.

 

[zoro]

Hey all,

I have this week off, and snow melt has turned the place into mud city so I figure this is a good time to give it some TLC.

Newbie valve adjust question... I know the engine should be stone cold, not run for at least 24 hours before adjusting the values. But does air temp cause any problems? When I adjusted them previously, it was "room temperature" (70'ish degrees). But this week it is going to be ranging 20 to 50. Is adjusting valves in the cold a bad thing? Do I need a heated garage? (Well, yeah. I need one, but that is not happening )

Thanks!
Brian

Ambient temps aren't going to matter to the bike, only to you:wink:I ran my clearances last winter, but the bike was in the dinning room/speed shop:lol: Gramma wont let me get that off this year:toetap:I installed a vintage oil heater in the garage.Adjusting valve clearances in the cold wont hurt a thing.:wink:

 

[BrianTSmith99]

That's the answers I was hoping for Just me being paranoid Thanks guys!

I was thinking about a heater for the shed. But at least I'm not out in the rain on a gravel drive like I am with the car. Gravel is a black hole for screws and nuts.

Brian

 

[zoro]

That's the answers I was hoping for Just me being paranoid Thanks guys!

I was thinking about a heater for the shed. But at least I'm not out in the rain on a gravel drive like I am with the car. Gravel is a black hole for screws and nuts.

Brian

Good morning Brian, nothing wrong with being careful:wink:The forums been rather dead lately, questions are welcome to those of us suffering from cabin fever.

 

[Jmatchford]

Hey Brian,

I adjusted mine about 6 months ago without a heated gauge, and have not had any problems. Sounds just fine and runs smooth, but maybe I was just lucky, it was also not as cold when I did this. Please post to let us know what you do.

Jay

Motorcycle Injury Attorney

 

[BrianTSmith99]

I trust KawPaul and Zoro are correct. They know much more then me. I'm coming up on my whopping 2nd valve adjust My Farrier buddy adjusted his on a previous bike and "messed something up" and burned his valves. So he is brave enough to disassemble his carbs but admires my bravery with valves I am too chicken so far to clean the carbs. I run Seafoam on a regular basis to delay the inevitable

I'll start the valves this afternoon if I get home in time. Maybe I'll be a little quicker this time around. Not hard the first time, so I imagine (knock on wood) no problems this.

Brian

 

[kawpaul]

I worked out of my shed for a few years without a heater and always meant to get one. I did have a couple of those halogen work lights and they put out a bit of heat so I just never got around to getting a real heater. So if you have one of those it will help until you get something better.

 

[elr658]

If you had enough brains to make that N*iero, you should be able to adjust the valves no sweat.

 

[BrianTSmith99]

No chance to get to the valves yet :/ Wife promises me a day off from visiting father-in-law in the hospital one day this week. We will see. Many family issues

I done adjusted 'em once, I'll git 'er done again

I like the idea of the halogens. Two birds with one stone My old eyes will appreciate the extra light

And that is NOT an N* . 4.9 was the last engine prior to N*. A much better fit in a Fiero. Lighter and smaller. The ultimate engine for a daily driver Fiero. And I have done a couple of things to it, but I did not do the conversion myself. There is a place in AL, The Fiero Factory. All they do is Fiero work. Been there many times. Awesome place!

Brian

 

[elr658]

I worked for a Cadillac dealer for about 15 minutes in the nineties. OOPS.

You'd be popular on the Grassroots Motorsports website. Tell them you're a friend of 4g63t.

 

[BrianTSmith99]

If I mentioned *anything* to my ex-ICU nurse of a wife ("In the unit we have a name for bikers... 'organ donors') about "motorsports".. that would be the end of my riding days I am still not sure how I ended up with the bike. Something to do with the kids now out of school and lots of life insurance on me

Brian

 

[wdhewson]

A good rule of thumb for setting valves is go ahead and do it if your hands won't freeze in the cold or burn on the engine.

The linear coefficient of thermal expansion for aluminum is 22.2E-06 m/mC and for steel 13E-06m/mC. So aluminum expands about twice as much as steel for a given temperature change. To understand these coefficients, a 1 meter aluminum rod will lengthen 22.2 microns (millionth of a meter) for an increase of one Celcius degree. There is probably less than 10 cm (0.1 meter) of aluminum around your valves that will affect clearance, so 1 C means 2 microns. And there are 25 microns per thou of an inch. So to be within a thou of an inch the temperature can vary about 13 Celcius. Most valve specs give a range of a few thou, so your engine could be 30 to 40 Celcius either direction from room temerature, and you would still be on spec.

Hopefully somebody will double check my math and logic.

 

[zoro]

Hopefully somebody will double check my math and logic.

Don, Its comforting to know somebody that can crunch numbers and formulas!:wink:

 

[WhiteFox]

One comment agou your gravel floor. Go toh lumberyard ad get a 4X8 piece ofexterior plywood or OSB put it onthe ground and park teh bike in it. f you want t ad 4 really big nails ounded hrough the corners and into the gravel for stability.

My shed has a dir/gravel floor, and the plywoo has ben wondefu!

 

[BrianTSmith99]

Great analysis! Even if it did make my head explode But makes me even more confident it'll come out OK. I've still not gotten the "day off" from hospital visits to actually do it. I had filled the tank and added stabil (and Seafoam just for good measure) in anticipation of a 10 day break from the early snow, so it is all tucked away in the ex-hay shed. The shed did come complete with plywood floor. It is when I am working on the Fiero that I am slumming it on gravel I do have some lengths of plywood I slide under to lay on. But nuts etc always evade the plywood. They are clever that way

Brian

 

[StarGate]

A good rule of thumb for setting valves is go ahead and do it if your hands won't freeze in the cold or burn on the engine.

The linear coefficient of thermal expansion for aluminum is 22.2E-06 m/mC and for steel 13E-06m/mC. So aluminum expands about twice as much as steel for a given temperature change. To understand these coefficients, a 1 meter aluminum rod will lengthen 22.2 microns (millionth of a meter) for an increase of one Celcius degree. There is probably less than 10 cm (0.1 meter) of aluminum around your valves that will affect clearance, so 1 C means 2 microns. And there are 25 microns per thou of an inch. So to be within a thou of an inch the temperature can vary about 13 Celcius. Most valve specs give a range of a few thou, so your engine could be 30 to 40 Celcius either direction from room temerature, and you would still be on spec.

Hopefully somebody will double check my math and logic.

Can you say that in english? :tongue:

 

[zoro]

Can you say that in english? :tongue:

:lol: He said,"Its ok to adjust valves in any temp" :grin:

 

[wdhewson]

The beauty of math is that it is a language and spoken globally. It is also the most precise language out there. But fluency is not easy for anyone, including me, which is why I asked for a double check.

 

[V2K_CCTX]

Why would it matter? The steel is not going to shrink or grow in the slight variance of temps.

it actually does, but my not be of significance for valve adj....