Engine rattle and vacuum connection. 1965 Dodge Dart, 225 engine.
You do you, but…why not?
Well, do not be offended now, but you have to consider that I am originally from Norway, and Norwegian is my first language. I am 57, and my wife stole me out of my living room in Norway and brought me to California when I was over 51. So, sometimes my English is not entirely there. I have "holes" in it, here and there.
I probably adjusted my first valves when I was somewhere between 12 and 16, and over in Norway the majority of Engines up to very recently when it comes to cars had solid flat tappet lifters. I am a mechanic by trade, + electrician, the kind that install electricity in homes, but my specialty is industrial automation, but on the way I have worked for years repairing fishing boats, engines, whatever and had cars and Ferguson farm tractors as a hobby. And, in all this time, I have never even once heard about anyone ever adjusting valves with the engine running. I once in my youth, was stupid enough to put a feeler gauge between the tip of the valve and the rocker with the engine running, and the feeler gauge was chewed up so I had to go and get a new one.
I have read your procedure, and this has nothing to do with you, it is entirely me, but I am still completely dumb and clueless about how it is possible to adjust engine valves with the engine running. And I have searched on google, I have watched movies on youtube now, and I am still dumb as a box of rocks how it is possible.
But, stop the engine, give me a feeler gauge, a screwdriver and a ring wrench, and I am good to go. When it comes to the slant six they have done it a little different so I only need the ring wrench. But that is the exception. Normally I am used to engines with a loose adjusting screw, and a lock nut, and those engines are impossible to adjust with an engine running.
So, I am going to adjust the slant six the way I am used to from childhood, and if the Dodge Brothers and Walter P. Chrysler turns in their graves because I am not doing it the way they were used to, I am truly sorry for that. But, I am sure I will get it right, as to this day I have never ever missed one valve with the way I am adjusting it. I take a lot of pride in my mechanical skills, and I like things to be very accurate.
I respect and I am greatful for your efforts and your help. But as I said above, I am still dumb as a box of rocks how to adjust the valves with the engine running.
Bill
