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I just adjusted the valves on my 1974 Van with a 1800 motor. I found three of the exhaust valves to be very tight with almost no lash. This has never happened when I've gone in there before, usually the lash is either right on or only off by only a thousandth or so. The heads are OEM with about 300,000 miles on them. There is no outward sign that the engine has ever been unduly hot, and the compression is still excellent.

Should I be worried that the lash changed so much, is this an indicator that the end is near, or should I just ignore it and keep on driving.

Lay a straight-edge across the tips of the valves to check if the seats are sinking......

Ify ou got 300K out of them, "You done Gud!"


Sounds like the seats are dropping to me!

Don

Check them in a few hundred miles...

If bad then, THEN worry.

BTW, the tips of the screws get chewed up, search on adjuster screw,
I true up and polish mine periodically, after you do it one or twice they either stay good, or you chuck the junk ones...

The engine is running hot.....

Over expansion and rapid contraction causes this..

If its original with about 300K....it has the original valve problems. If you reset the valves and they close up in a few hundred miles again....STOP...Yes, Jake is right...you are elongating thevalves...but the continued stretch is a warning sign. Its over...even stopping the overheating problem, will only buy you a little time. This sysndrome is a warning sign that the life of the valves is about to end abruptly. Thats the symptoms right before the stock valves drop a head. Ray

Yep, pop the heads off and atleast do a valve job...

Before you become a statistic. Dropped valves are "silent killers" meaning that all of a sudden the car is running great and you hear a "CLICK" followed by a "THUD" followed by smoke and sometimes fire and immediately followed by an opening of the wallet.

Preventive maintenance is worth a million bucks.

For better or worse I'm pointing my old van south tomorrow on what will probably be its last trip. With good luck it will arrive in Panama in a couple of months, but with bad luck it will be left on the side of the road and I will be riding southward on an overcrowded bus. I don't deem the thing to be worth putting any more money into, not enough metal left in the body, so the engine is just going to go as is.

I've had this van for over 16 years now, and its been my all time favorite ride. It was in a wrecking yard when I took title to it, on trade for a non running, rust bucket Thing. The day after I acquired it I took off across country with it, knocking on wood, and crossing my fingers. Amazingly it made that trip and with a little TLC it's made a lot more. I've never kept track, but I suspect its seen all the contiguous states except for Conneticut and Rhode Island. Sure wish I could just go out and buy a new one just like it.

Thanks to all who replied to my post, wish me luck!!!

Good luck both of you!

Perhaps if she lives, you can do a T4 conversion down there with the motor and stuff--- IIRC, the bodies are the same, but they have swingaxles and T1 motors...

HAving said that, a gasket kit and 4 ex valves are <$100...
(not that you are likely to get them installed by tomorrow of course)

Well the bus made the trip and now has 12,000 more miles on it than it did on the first post of this thread. I checked the valves at 500, 1000, 2000, and then 5000 miles. They loosened up during the first 1000 or so to about where they probably started and then held steady. Probably ran the engine harder on this trip than I ever have before. Lots of time running dead to the floor in all gears, even once in first gear for about 10 minutes straight up what must have been at least a 25% grade. Smoked one set of brake shoes and pads on a down grade just as steep and long.

Sounds like she has done you proud! Brings a lump to my throat..

300K mi., holy !

YAY!

Dude, that motor DESERVES a head rebuild, it's earned it.