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Technical the glorious act of shimming.

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Technical the glorious act of shimming.

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trissy

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so then, i have had the head off, reground my valves and had a little clean. My housemate somehow knocked the shims on the floor and its anyones guess to their original order. Bugger!

how this work then? When buying them can u buy differnt sizes or is there one size which u then grind down to the required thickness?

tris
 
you would have needed to check them any way as you have ground valves in so the gap at the top would have got smaller. easiest was if you have no micrometre,
fit all the shims and cams.
get 1 envelope for each shim, number them.
measure gaps and write it on the envelope for that valve. an also put what the gap should be.
remove cam,
put each shim in its envelope, take too engineers and say this is gap i have, this is gap i want, please grind the shims to be right please
 
:cry: Remember shimming up my X1/9, a nightmare, if you put all shims in and cam in then measure all clearances, you should find you will only need two or three new shims to get them all within tolerance, think it will be cheaper and easier to put new shims in instead of grinding them down which I was advised against, there a plenty of X1/9 specialists still around for spares.
I found that every time cam carrier was taken off and torqued down again after switching shims about all clearances changed anyway, there is a special tool for taking them out idividually without taking cam out, it wedges each tappet bucket down so you can 'flip out shim' think ive still got it some where, Good luck....remember my patience being tested!!!!!!!!
 
dave said:
new shims are about £3 each, engineering shop usally says give us a drink
Click to expand...

You obviously know some far more generous engineering shops than we have round here (N, Yorks) by time one i asked finished moaning think he could have done job!!!!!
 
dave said:
did he have a propper shim grinder, or did he have to mill them all or something?
Click to expand...

Yes, had proper surface grinder, metal held down my magnetism and machine bed went back and forth automatically!!!!! Just didn't want to to job it would seem, from what I remember getting shims was easy bit, it was rest that was patience testing
 
In theory you should be able to use most of the shims you already have. As stated prevously measure each one with a micrometer (they will have worn at least a little) and label them up as such.

Shimming them would be a matter of trial and error initially. Insert a shim (middle of the size range) and then measure the gap (or use a thinner one if no gap and then measure). It is then just a matter of best fit - it will take longer but getting the shims right does make a lovely difference to the engine noise (and performance).

Just having a chat with the guys at the workshop and if you need other shims just let me know and I can get them with 48 hours notice and add them to the manifold package ;)
 
Last edited:
I take Unos apart and save all the shims, which I collect with someone else I know. I measure them with a micrometer and write the thickness with permanent marker. Then I lay them out in a little S-shaped trail about thirty shims long, on the floor in order of size, and pick out the closest choice that I have. If I don't have the right size (or enough of the right size), I exchange a few at the FIAT specialist (NZ$8/shim). Grinding sounds awfully difficult!

I think the main point is to collect shims between your friends, in the way you might have collected those cards that came in cereal boxes. Then you have a decent sized collection (and the proper tool) ready for the very-occasional use. I'm the only one I know that bothers to set valve clearances! :)

-Alex
 
alexGS said:
I take Unos apart and save all the shims, which I collect with someone else I know. I measure them with a micrometer and write the thickness with permanent marker. Then I lay them out in a little S-shaped trail about thirty shims long, on the floor in order of size, and pick out the closest choice that I have. If I don't have the right size (or enough of the right size), I exchange a few at the FIAT specialist (NZ$8/shim). Grinding sounds awfully difficult!

I think the main point is to collect shims between your friends, in the way you might have collected those cards that came in cereal boxes. Then you have a decent sized collection (and the proper tool) ready for the very-occasional use. I'm the only one I know that bothers to set valve clearances! :)

-Alex
Click to expand...

We do exactly the same at the workshop. It is a point of pride that every head built has the clearances set as close to perfect as humanly possible. The same applies to the valve seats and the combustion chamber cc's.
 
i think ill sit down with a cup of tea and set myself a couple of hours by, with some saturday morning tv on in the background. ooops hang on i need a micrometer.
 
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