Tool for checking valve clearance on Toyota engines with shims.
- Thread starter merikgvr4
- Start date
4afe, 5sfe engine. Early 90s corolla n camry thru 2k my.
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you talkin a set of feeler gauges?
cause to set clearance on there you'll need some feeler gauges to check the gap, and then youll need a micrometer to check the size of the shim, then if you need new ones go pick up some new from toyota, or go and pull a bunch of out old heads at the junk yards like i did.
those shims pop out of the buckets btw.
cause to set clearance on there you'll need some feeler gauges to check the gap, and then youll need a micrometer to check the size of the shim, then if you need new ones go pick up some new from toyota, or go and pull a bunch of out old heads at the junk yards like i did.
those shims pop out of the buckets btw.
I need the tool to compress the bucket so I can measure with the feeler gauges.
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Sorry, didn't show up when I check earlier. thanks also.
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devoncoolman
Well-known member
Schley products makes all the tools to do that. Its a pita in my opinion stupid.
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you shouldnt have to compress the bucket to ues the feeler gauges, thats the point of them.
you need to turn the cam until its on the low part of the lobe and check the clearance between the lobe and the shim,
you only need to use the tool if something is far enough out of spec that you need to get a new shim for the bucket, in that case i only ever used a long handle screwdriver with a bent tip to compress the buckets, but found it much easier to just remove the camshaft than having to constantly compress and remove shims because i was doing the whole head due to new cams.
compress with a bend head prying tool, then take the shim out with a magnet (good luck getting it to lift a little with all that oil keeping it in place.
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Thanks for the tips. Going to be my first time adjusting valve clearance this way.
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when i did it a few times when building a 7mgte for my old cressida. went to the junk yard and pulled apart a ton of heads for camrys and corollas that had the same shims, and ended up with a huge size range of shims that were perfect for setting my camshaft clearances to whatever i wanted, you could do that or order the specific sizes from toyota, but i think they are 7-9 bucks each per shim. and it gets expensive when you have 24 shims to check/replace. the tighter you can get that clearance, the better the engine will sound, but remember that tighter tolerances mean more fluid friction when you have an oil film on the shims filling in that .001 of space between the shim and the cam lobe.
they also make shimless buckets for that size, but those are mostly just for high performance use like in my 93 tt supra (slightly different size shim and bucket though), so you don't get a rattle from the extremely rapid movement of high rpm ranges.
Good tip on salvaging some Shims from the yard. Will also practice on compressing the buckets and removing the shim.
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