jyeung528

what's wrong with asking for an explanation???

Avionics86

Here is what I use for valve adjustment, around $12 from amazon.com

jyeung528

and then you use a torque wrench after you hand tighten it?

RED MX5

My Theory: I don't believe that design changes are made to solve individual issues. The idea for a change often starts out that way, but as soon as a change is suggested everyone starts evaluating the way the change will affect other parts of the package, and other benefits and downsides are usually uncovered during the process. All these become reasons are used to support arguments for making the change when everyone gets together to decide which of all the proposed changes will actually be used. If Honda doesn't do things more or less that way, then their approach to engineering isn't what I think it is.

In summary, I don't think there is a problem with the F20C retainers as long as they are not abused. Abuse certainly includes, but is not limited to, money shifts. Nothing Billman or XViper or anyone else has ever suggested has given me any reason to believe that this is not the case, so I'm going to run my retainers until they fail (or until we have to tear into the head for some other reason). I'll look at them every now and then, but there is no good reason at this point for me to be expecting them to fail unless I do something stupid (lol, and that is ALWAYS a possibility ). I think XViper would agree, becasue the kind of shifting he's talking about constitutes abuse.

As for the beeper, it just looks to me like the thing sometimes picks up a burst of noise from somewhere. It doesn't affect the operation of the beeper itself, and the RPM memory function is still useful.
The first time I read over 100k RPM from the memory my heart stopped for a second before I realized that the reading had to be bogus.

Avionics86

You bet I torque them nuts-14 foot pounds. It all started when I drove to another city to have the valves adjusted by a "super tuner". No torque wrench was used and when asked to check for cracked retainers he gave me a deer in the headlights look. So I bought the factory service manual (ebay) and the adustment tool and did it myself. The super tuner had most of the gaps to tight. This is not had hard to do. What takes me so long is I check and recheck and check it again. So I spent $110 for this but knowledge is not cheap. I did learn a cool trick for proping the hood up more so you had more room to work. Torque wrench is Sears clicky with .5 lbs increments.

Billman250

I do it like so:

Adjust clearance, snug locknut to about 15 n-m with special tool while holding screw.

Torque nut to 20 n-m with torque wrench.

Hand tighten to re-check, as I have a feel for how tight the nut should be. It will always move slightly.

ACCORDING to Honda, 20 n-m is correct. By my feel, it is about 21. I would imagine 20 is fine, as many have done it that way. A good torque wrench is key. S-K makes a real nice 3/8 drive.

Last step, check clearance.

jyeung528

i see what you're saying now...

essentially you do use a torque wrench.

your hand feel is the final check.

is there anything to do to help minimize the adjusting screw's movement when you tighten the bolt?

mxt_77

Yeah, when you're snugging it up w/ the special too, get as close to 20n-m as possible. That way the nut won't move much to get to 20n-m, which means you won't risk the set screw moving much. But, you have to acquire the "feel" first.

I haven't done this nearly as many times as Billman, but I've done it enough that 3 out of 4 valves will be within 1-2 n-m of proper torque before I even pick up the torque wrench.

Billman250

exactly

RED MX5

LOL, I haven't adjusted the valves on the MX5 even once in the 17 years we've owned the car, and it's nice to know I'll ever have to deal with it.

Of course the MX5 has non adjustable hydrolic lifters.

One of the things I like about buckets and hardened shims (AKA Fiat/Ferrari) or shims under hardened buckets (AKA Jaguar) is that all you usually have to do is verify the clearance. It rarely ever changes. Also, if you calculate the needed shim thickness correctly you get the calculated clearance and don't have to worry about it changing when you lock things down. It's too bad that VTEC is tied to rocker arms and screw adjusters.