The valve adjustment won't affect the time it takes for bad lifters to quiet
down. Running them lose does add the ability of the piston to bang against
the circlip or snap ring holding it in and then at some point the lifter can
come apart and you have pieces in the engine. BTDT twice in the past year.
Also adjusting them wrong does effect the geometry of the rocker to valve
stem travel and the screws are wear items. They do get a wear pattern and
should be replaced when adjustment is needed after prolonged use or changing
of valve parts.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Craig Cowan
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 10:44 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: She runs!!!!! Finally

So I just put an engine in my new 87 2wd. It's out of a manual with 260,000
miles but was supposed to be running good when pulled. I pulled the heads
and replaced them with a better used set, changed the main seal, and
freshened up every nut, bolt, and part that's attached to it.
Today I got it running!
It's run for about a minute. Loud, sounds rough, but does not have a
distinct rod hammering. Heck, it's pretty smooth. May have a miss but I'll
work that out.

Anyway, I set the valves to be just touching, as I don't know or expect the
lifters to work properly. Anyway, the lifters are seemingly firm, the push
rods are in place (I double checked after running it), and it does fire
right up. What's next?
Should I properly set the valves to two turns past touching, or keep running
it this way until the lifters can better pump up?

I plan to do a compression check tomorrow to see that I've got 4 good
cylinders, but expect it to be pretty healthy.

I'll pull plugs to determine if its running on 3, but I believe I've
probably got all 4 and its just a bunch of valve noise I'm hearing.

-craig