Re:Turning a Spider Engine

[Les Singh <Les.Singh@xxxxxxxxx>]

Aw shucks - just thumb and a finger on the big front nut should do it..

If that fails - on a flat driveway roll the car FORWARDS in 5th gear (-
this you CAN do with thumb and finger on the wheel arch! ) and check the
clearances once the came lobe is pointing opposite to the cam bucket where
you need to check. 

For adjusting - Again roll the car forward carefully till the engine is on
TDC, (#1 on compression stroke and cam lobes pointing out on #1), unlock
the chain tensioner -only just, push down on chain between cams, lock up
tensioner. Cams can now be removed  and new shims put in as required.

Another way is to not remove cams completely, but just roll them out of the
way towards the centre of the engine to rest on the head while you're doing
the adjustments. You need to do one cam at a time. It has the advantage
that  the timing you had  previously, is preserved - you're less likely to
mess it up.

After setting clearances rotate that engine a few revolutions and recheck.
If no bits of carbon were lodged under the valve faces and you've added
figures where you were supposed to instead of subtracting (hey, it happens!
cringe...) then everything should be Jake.

Regards. Ciao. 
Les - Wellington, New Zealand 

>I'm at a loss for figuring out what should be quite simple.  How does one
>go about turning a Spider engine by hand?  I'm checking the valve
>clearances and want to be precise about the position of the cams.  Also, it
>looks like I'll have to change the shims, so I want to put the engine at
>TDC before I unbolt the cams.  Obviously, bumping the engine with the
>starter is not an option.  Do I put it in 4th and roll it?  It still
>doesn't sound like it would be precise enough.  My first thought was to put
>a 38 mm socket on the crankshaft nut, but there's no room in there.  Or is
>there?  Does anyone have a different way of doing this?
>
>
>Octavian Popa - Issaquah, WA
>

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