jyeung528

billman,

when you do the VA, do you just hand-tighten it?

or do you actually measure to 8.7 lb/ft

SpitfireS

IMO all the pictures of broken retainers and cars that drive up to Billman for service are reassuring.
IOW, even when the structural integrity of the retainer is compromised they still do not fail instantly.
A healty retainer is doing its job with one hand on the wheel, top down while sipping coffee
A broken retainer is still holding on - both hands on the wheel this time
Pretty tough guy's

Billman250

20 n-m to be exact. My hand sets them to about 21 n-m. I would not try this at home

Yeah it's amazing how they hold on. But they do let go, I've got 4 engines under my belt from those left unchecked. This car was down to days.....

RED MX5....always willing to help bro.

paul__chen

billman, would u suggest for an ap1 owner whose paranoid of these types of things to take preventative measures and swap out the ap1 retainers for ap2 retainers?!

thanks in advanced

driverunknown

if it aint broke don't fix it. I would have the money put away, and in the event of an overrev, then I would replace. I opened my valve cover last week to change out the spark plug seals and was pleasantly surprised to find no damage on my 2000. I checked the exhaust ones and compared to my intakes and they looked I've never over revved and I guess the previous owner didn't either. My car has 83k miles on the clock so I was very happy.

jyeung528

i'm confused.

so you're using your hand to estimate 21 n-m for the valve adjustment, or does your tool actually have a gauge?

i used my hand to tighten it when I did my valve adjustment, no gauge or anything...and i'm guessing i may have tightened them to 12 or 15 ft/lb...

is it a big deal if they are overtightened a bit?

GRUNTS2K

Bill's hand is so accurate and he's done it so many times it might as well be a torque wrench

elusiv

This is starting to get me a bit paranoid about my car.

I'd like to switch to the AP2 keepers and retainers ASAP. Is this something that my dealership can do easily? Are there any other parts I should consider replacing while I'm at it? Lastly, what are the part numbers for the AP2 keepers/retainers and the approximate costs?

Any feedback would be appreciated!

jyeung528

about $300-400 bucks...

parts is about $100+ or so, the rest is labor and valve adjustment.

Krenath

...And on the flip side, what's the average cost of letting it go until the retainers break?

New retainers, new keepers, possible new camshaft(s). At the extreme end, a dropped valve resulting in the need for new valves, pistons, and maybe even the cylinder head itself depending on what hit what how hard.

Preventative maintenance is always cheaper.