Valve cover end cap removal?

[Guest]

How do I remove these valve cover end caps?

Do i have to remove the two screws up under these caps. If so this is a ridiculous design, because of the fins on the cylinder head you can't get a conventional phillips head under there. If you do have to remove them i'm replacing them with allen head screws, much easier. Thanks for looking.

[Macguyver]

Cap removal

The easiest way is to remove the valve cover and unbolt them then. In order to do this, you first need to remove the breather cover, and disconnect the breather tube. Make sure to remove all of the bolts that hold on the valve cover, then give it a "gentle" sideways whack with a rubber mallet to break the seal holding it on the rest of the engine.

Draw the rough shape of the covers you remove on a chunk of cardboard, and punch holes in it in the rough locations of the bolts so that you will be able to keep track of where the bolts go. Some are different length than the others, so when you remove the bolt, put it in the hole for that location in the cardboard.

While you have the valve cover off, you may as well go ahead and do a valve timing check, and replace the old gaskets with new, either store bought, or home-cut.

-or-

You could use a 90 degree ratcheting screwdriver with the proper Japanese "phillips" bit to remove them. Don't even try this unless you have the right bit, or you will strip the heads on them.

Best of luck, and keep the pictures coming!

[Charlie G]

If your trying to remove the valve cover, it's not nessisary to remove the caps. It's a tight fit, but it will come off with caps on.

cg

[thevillaindylan]

Thanks for the help fellas. I got the valve cover removed. I believe it was the factory gasket. It took a little persuasion with a rubber mallet. Unfortunately, I can't find a feeler gauge small enough. The valve clearances are supposed 0.03mm-0.08mm. The smallest gauge I can find in my area is .0389mm. The .0389mm will not fit under two outta four of my valves.

So, what would you guys do? Try to find a smaller feeler gauge? Would it be worth getting a .03mm? Or should I just go ahead and order some new shims and the bucket compression tool and get a shim that will work within the .0389mm-0.08mm? Thanks for looking.

[1948man]

I would think it would be nice to be able to measure the gap now so you can accurately figure out what shim size you need but once you get a new shim in there you probably wouldn't want it any tighter than .0389. Clearances often tend to tighten over time so a little looser is better. I might add I've yet to adjust my valves so take what I say with a grain of salt.