I have seen hydraulic lifters take as much as 10 minutes to self adjust on
the engine stand. This was on the assembly stand  when checking compression
with a with 10/30 oil at room temp.
Dennis also mentioned spring tension and this reminded me that I have found
when I set up the new AMC heads.
As apart of my standard procedure for new heads dissasseble I touch up the
seats and ports, clean, inspect and then reassemble. I also measure the
installed spring pressure values as apart of the ssembly. What I see is that
the new AMC springs have less pressure 64 pds installed height and  the used
OEM springs average 74 pds again its a used spring average 15 plus years
old. My cure is to install shims or reuse OEM springs but I would not
recomend doing this without checking the pressures. This new springs lower
presure could be part of the hydrualic lifter problem some folks are having

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Haynes" <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: Compression, Valve Adjusting

> As important as it is for the lifters to pump up to lift the vlaves
> quietly,
> they also have to bleed down to be self adjusting. They also need to pass
> oil to the rocker which is done through the push rod.
>
> Lifter test!
> Set the cylinder to top dead center, valves closed. Use screw driver to
> lever vlave slighty open. Lifter should expand and take up slack, hold
> valve
> open slightly. Watch valve. In a minute or two it should let valve close.
> If
> it doesn't something is wrong. If valve never closes, than the slack valve
> adjustement will cover for the faulty lifter or weak valve springs.
>
> Dennis
>
>
>>From: Jake Beaulieu <jbeaulie@ND.EDU>
>>Reply-To: Jake Beaulieu <jbeaulie@ND.EDU>
>>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>Subject: Re: Compression, Valve Adjusting
>>Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:46:39 -0400
>>
>>On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:18:00 -0400, Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@GMAIL.COM>
>>wrote:
>>
>>A recent discussion on the list encouraged me to
>> >change the adjustment to 0 turns in with the engine at operating temp.
>>
>>Hey John,
>>
>>I have also been screwing around with the valve adjustment on my 1982 air
>>cooled westy.  I have found that setting the adjustment to 0 turns when
>>warm results in good compression, but poor performance (barely keeps
>>running at cold idle, very low gas mileage, low manifold vacuum 11-12in
>>Hg).  If I set the valves to 1-2 turns in (per the Bentley) it runs like
>>absolute dog crap.  Only by setting the valves to 0.006 in of clearence
>>does it run well and generate decent manifold vacuum (17 in Hg).
>>
>>Frankly, I don't understand why the factory reccomended settings don't
>>work on this motor.  Wish I had a better idea of what was happening here.
>>
>>jake