8ba engine needs valves adjusted,how?

[dgkipp]

Bought a 8ba engine that has been rebuilt and then sat in a crate for years.
Just about to fire it up on a stand. Upon checking the valve clearance found the readings all over from 8thou. To 30 thou. It has Jonson lifters and we found the crazy johnson wrenches but are not sure how to use them. We found the turning the lifter the curve in the side of the lifter was very shallow and you could not put a tool in the hole to keep it from turning.I hate tring to fix something when I am not sure who's the manufacturer is. Can anyone steer me the right way?

[Andy]

Are there small holes near the bottom of the lifter bosses? If so, put a drift in the holes to keep the lifter from turning and use a normal 7/16 wrench on the lifter.throw ihe Johnson wrenches away. I remove the front cover and remove the timing gear tao make it easy to turn the cam. I turn the cam untill I can get a home made spanner in the holes and then adjust. Turn the cam back and check. You can turn the whole engie also.

[Binx]

Be careful. That 30 thou measurement could be a valve stuck open. If you have it on the stand, spin it over (with oil in it) and do a compression test first.

Edit AGAIN. Put a direct reading pressure gauge on the oil sender port.

Lonnie

[tubman]

I don't know if it was on here or on the H.A.M.B., but there was a thread where a guy made a threaded fixture that he inserted between the block and the Johnson wrench to keep it positioned properly in the depressions on top of the lifter. It seemed like it worked pretty well for him. Of course, if the holes are already drilled in the lfter bosses, that's the way to go. If they're not drilled, adding them will require complete disassembly of the engine, which is a real pain.

If the holes are not present, get back to me, and I'll try to find the thread showing the fixture.

[Kurt in NJ]

Since it has been sitting there could be dirt or rust on the valve seats, even dried up assembly lube ---if you make adjustments now you may need to do it again after it runs ---

if one of the valves is set to .008, another to .030 other aspects of the "rebuild" may be questionable ----

[Ol' Ron]

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If the lifter is to low for the Tool to engage the lifter, it may have a reground cam with a smaller base circle. Might want to remover the timing cover and have alook see.

[Terry,OH]

There have been some very bad "Johnson" style lifters made over the years. I just found one with a 0.130" lash, because the adjustment screw moved. Some of the early lifters do not hold their setting OR you will brake the wrench trying to hold them and adjust. Someone on the barn made a fixture tool from 1/8" round piano wire about 10" long, V shaped and bent down on the ends to engage the holes in the top of the lifters. The adjusting 7/16 open end wrench has to be thin, so you may have to grind down the end of the wrench you use. You can do the adjustment in three partial turns of the crank, see instructions below.

[Ross F-1]

I used that kind of chart on mine with poor results. For one thing, "when valves 4Ex and 1In are open" covers a pretty wide range of orientations. I had much more accurate results rotating until a particular valve was wide open, then rotating the crank a full turn. That puts that lifter right on the heel of the lobe. On a stand, it takes very little extra time to do it that way.

There are two styles of valves used on 8BA's, with different clearances used for each. From about mid-49 on, "Rotator" type valves were used.