Price to Get KA Tappets done??

To me it sounds like something's not right. Valve clearances are something that you'd have to be pretty cack to c*ck up, so I suspect the Ford dealer will say there's something wrong... IME the easiest way to find out a price is to ring the Ford dealer and ask them.

The problem with this engine is the wear on the tappet fingers...... a feeler blade wont compensate for the wear on those.... however from experience it is better to leave them slightly loose than to leave them too tight.... Ford dealer will charge you 0.6 hrs @ approx £50.00 per hour + new rocker cover gasket +vat. And they still be probably be as noisy as they were when they were fitted to a 1960's Anglia.

JK

Have booked the Ka in for friday morning, at the main dealer, around £40 was quoted

Tony

I used to have 1967 Anglia and I know what you mean. I used to adjust the tappet clearances almost monthly, even trying it with the engine on tickover but never did succeed in getting them quiet.

I remember there used to be a device for adjusting tappets with worn rocker arms, which had a calibrated dial to set the clearance and avoided the use of feeler gauges. I don't know what Ford were thinking about when they fitted this antiquated engine to the Ka - probably profits. However, the engine was really easy to work on - I could change an exhaust valve in less than 2 hours. It's also possible to remove rocker arm pad wear by careful grinding, provided the hardened surface isn't removed.

My daughter bought a new Ka a couple of years ago, so I reckon might old Anglia experience might come in useful again soon.

Terry D.

Whilst I'm sure costs come into it, a 2 valve per cylinder engine can make sense for what is meant to be a town car - more torque at low revs. And OHC engines only really come into their own at high revs. They also tend to have cambelts - something else to break.

It would be a poor mechanic who couldn't make a decent fist of adjusting tappets on this engine - it's one of the simplest of jobs to do. More likely is they or the rocker shaft is worn, so it's not possible to set them accurately. Has the car been properly serviced? Neglected oil changes will speed up this process. However, it's not an expensive job to renew them - but there's no real need unless the noise really annoys. It will run happily for a long time with slightly noisy tappets.

How does the position of the cam alter the engine low rev torque, all other things being equal?

I've often heard it said that 16v engines have less low down torque than their 8v equivilants but generally found that they in fact have similar if not better low down torque but much greater high end torque / power which makes the bottom end torque feel less than it is (I'm sure there are numerous examples where this is not the case).

-- James

Didn't say it did - just giving another reason why there perhaps was no need for one on this engine application.

IMHO, everything being equal, a larger valve area will reduce torque at low revs. Hence the need for variable valve timing on most decent 4 valve designs to get some of it back.

some va va voom?