Slim Posted June 3, 2019 Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 On 01/06/2019 at 09:08, cuthound said: I once had a Vauxhall Chevette whose handbook suggested setting the tappets with the engine running. During the process the end of the feeler gauge snapped off and disappeared down a pushrod hole. I drained the (freshly changed) oil and thankfully the missing end of the feeler gauge came out with the oil. Not wishing to wreck the engine or more feeler gauges, I measured the gaps on the tappets that I had managed to set with the engine stopped and reset the others to that. Did it with the engine stopped every time after thst. Never had any issues in the 3 years I kept it. By the way, it was the worst car for reliabity I ever owned. Needed two re-con gearboxes, a distributor and oil pump In the time I owned it. I swapped it for an Alfa Romeo in 1981 - a much more reliable car. ? I had a Vauxhall Chevette and agree that it was total rubbish. I also had two new gearboxes. The first failed at 16k taking out the prop shaft and a few other thing. Just outside of warranty I replaced it with a genuine recon Vauxhall box. That one wouldn't stay in any gear except reverse. Took the car into main dealer l got the box from, they took one look at it, declared it was quote f****d and replaced it FOC.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuthound Posted June 3, 2019 Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 5 minutes ago, Slim said: I had a Vauxhall Chevette and agree that it was total rubbish. I also had two new gearboxes. The first failed at 16k taking out the prop shaft and a few other thing. Just outside of warranty I replaced it with a genuine recon Vauxhall box. That one wouldn't stay in any gear except reverse. Took the car into main dealer l got the box from, they took one look at it, declared it was quote f****d and replaced it FOC.. My first Chevette gearbox failure was a sudden loss of second gear, so I was able to drive around it until I could obtain and change the gearbox at the weekend. The second was a sudden failure of reverse gear at the old Epsom Downs railway station. Unable to reverse out of my parking space I had a flash of inspiration and drove forwards, up the kerb and into the spacious ticket hall, much to the confusion of the station staff, where I was able to turn around in one go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted June 3, 2019 Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 2 minutes ago, cuthound said: My first Chevette gearbox failure was a sudden loss of second gear, so I was able to drive around it until I could obtain and change the gearbox at the weekend. The second was a sudden failure of reverse gear at the old Epsom Downs railway station. Unable to reverse out of my parking space I had a flash of inspiration and drove forwards, up the kerb and into the spacious ticket hall, much to the confusion of the station staff, where I was able to turn around in one go! Did you buy a platform ticket? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWM Posted June 3, 2019 Report Share Posted June 3, 2019 On 31/05/2019 at 11:08, bizzard said: Adjusting tappets on OHV-OHC engines is a piece of cake compared to many old S/V engines like a Pontiac Silver Streak straight 8 S/V engines and the old Ford V8 S/V engines as used in the Ford Pilots and trucks. As well as the Ford V8 another of the worstest were the old 10 and 8 HP E93A ford engines which had no screw adjustments at all, one had to keep removing the valves and grinding the stems down bit by bit to get the clearance right, well once only really if you got your measurments right. This involved keep tapping out the split guides with a special half onion shaped tool to remove the valves because the valve stems were widened at the tappet contact end. All done by feel and a mirror. But they were good times. . One of the most awkward engines i've had for tappets was the ford 3l v6, the separate, wobbly rocker arms really tested your patience. Normally had to go through them at least twice for a perfect result. I once had a slight misfire on an ex sdi rover V8, when stripped down i found a push rod buried inside one of the hydraulic lifters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenevers Posted June 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 Back to Gardner?? My manual says inlet .007, exhaust .013. One valve cover says .005 and .012 The other says .006 and .011 Any comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stilllearning Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 (edited) 31 minutes ago, jenevers said: Back to Gardner?? My manual says inlet .007, exhaust .013. One valve cover says .005 and .012 The other says .006 and .011 Any comments? Take an average of the three? So 006 and 012? Edited June 4, 2019 by Stilllearning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree monkey Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 On 01/06/2019 at 10:11, catweasel said: Same here. I just bought this because it was sill cheap.then never used it. I have a collection of similar door stops My mate had a Chevette with similar experiences. He called it a Vauxhall Shove-it. Odd really because I think they were the same mechanicals as the Viva which in my experience were OK. ps that was lucky with the feller gauge! It would have been sump off time the way my luck goes! My first car was a Chevette van, absolutely no problems with it, apart from the effects of a minor crash which did require a new rear diff and eventually a new fuel tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRLMK38 Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 3 hours ago, jenevers said: Back to Gardner?? My manual says inlet .007, exhaust .013. One valve cover says .005 and .012 The other says .006 and .011 Any comments? This may help confuse things even more, see Page 53 http://britishbusclub.readyhosting.com/Gardner Engine Manual/Gardner Engine Service Manual.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 4 hours ago, jenevers said: Back to Gardner?? My manual says inlet .007, exhaust .013. One valve cover says .005 and .012 The other says .006 and .011 Any comments? Glad I work on Listers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 5 hours ago, jenevers said: Back to Gardner?? My manual says inlet .007, exhaust .013. One valve cover says .005 and .012 The other says .006 and .011 Any comments? Yes. The clearance is 0.006" inlet and 0.012" exhaust, +/- 0.001" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanD Posted June 5, 2019 Report Share Posted June 5, 2019 22 hours ago, tree monkey said: My first car was a Chevette van, absolutely no problems with it, apart from the effects of a minor crash which did require a new rear diff and eventually a new fuel tank My first car too. Big ends went on honeymoon in the Dales, got it back to London with the help of several cans of STP to thicken up the oil, stripped and rebuilt engine in MILs garage. Floor rusted through in passenger footwell, fixed it with plywood screws and underseal. Happy days... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john.k Posted June 6, 2019 Report Share Posted June 6, 2019 (edited) Your cars sound like the GM /Opel car was sold here as a Sunbird........the dealers used to put sawdust in the diffs of new cars,to cut the noise.GM brought out a German expert,he said.."In Chermany ,we are using a superior grade of walnut sawdust,and not so many failures"......I had nothing but V8 Fords,and have never had a problem with cars in 60 years,except rust in the 70s and 80s. Edited June 6, 2019 by john.k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuthound Posted June 6, 2019 Report Share Posted June 6, 2019 53 minutes ago, john.k said: Your cars sound like the GM /Opel car was sold here as a Sunbird........the dealers used to put sawdust in the diffs of new cars,to cut the noise.GM brought out a German expert,he said.."In Chermany ,we are using a superior grade of walnut sawdust,and not so many failures"......I had nothing but V8 Fords,and have never had a problem with cars in 60 years,except rust in the 70s and 80s. Vauxhall Chevette in the same shade of red as mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizzard Posted June 6, 2019 Report Share Posted June 6, 2019 The only re occuring troubles I used to have with Viva and Chevettes were clutch pressure plate diaphram springs cracking. Rear crankshaft oil seals and of course the AC distributor and contact breaker faults. I bought and sold 3, a Viva Brabham, a Chevan and a Chevette all of which I used for a bit with no trouble until the tax ran out before selling on. Pressed steel rockers with centre post adjustment which many motors had-have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEO Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 On going from this post, I purchased this from an on-line Auction site - it is a 'Snap On' tappet adjuster. Currently fitted with a 7/16 socket. this is interchangeable with others (sadly lost), but replaceable by drilling a hole in a suitable one. Using the unit, one handed adjustment is possible. The Snap On logo is interesting and seems an early one. Purchased in MK. following a garage clearance of a deceased car enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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