My last flight in KR2 N891JF was back home from the KR Gathering
at KMVN. When I got back, I dumped the hot oil for an oil change,
and the next day I adjusted the valves. I try to do both every 25
hours. The valve adjustment frequency seems a bit extreme, but
what GPASC recommends, and with most VW heads I've had, two or
three valves always needed adjustment. I'm a bit picky about
valve adjustments, because if you let an exhaust valve go too long
without adjustment, it will eventually tighten up to the point
that it never closes. Once it reaches that point, it gets very
hot very quickly, because it doesn't have the opportunity to
dissipate its heat to the valve seat, and will stretch and break
in short order. Been there, done that, and it's no fun at all!
Having said that, I've been running Revmaster heads since John
Bouyea and others have sworn by them, and guess what.....the
valves really hold their adjustment pretty close. I may find one
that needs a tiny fraction of a turn on the adjuster, but often
they are all still perfectly adjusted! Joe Horvath at Revmaster
says it's all about the metallurgy of the head and valve seat
material, and that works for me. Superior cooling may be another
factor.
So, while I was adjusting the valves a few days after I returned
from the Gathering, I noticed a weird and ominous noise coming
from the engine, like something large and steel was broken or
loose. Has anybody else every heard one that sounds like this
when simply rotating the engine? I'm just looking for a data
point. I don't recall the engine ever making this noise
previously, and can only believe that if I'd heard it before, I'd
have definitely noticed. Listen to the short movie at
http://www.n56ml.com/n891jf/vw/wierd_volkswagen_noise.mov
(you may have to cut and post this into your browser)
Sorry about the camera moving around a lot
during the prop rotation. One arm is connected to the other,
and when rotating the prop with the right arm, the left arm
moves around too! Note that the distributor and drive gear are
removed, just so I could get a better look at the brass
distributor drive helical gear on the crank, which appeared
secured and in one piece, and because it eliminated those two
parts as a source of the problem.
--
Mark Langford
m...@n56ml.com
http://www.n56ml.com
Huntsville, AL
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