Valve Clearance Adjust Tool Set

[jsbenami]

I'm going to be doing my valve clearances on my 7MGTE (a joy yes, but it's too expensive to have a shop do it) as soon as the weather gets warm, however Toyota lists the "Valve Clearance Adjust Tool Set" as SST 09248-55010. Is there any way to get one of these used or a comparable set of tools? Deos anyone have any experience on how much obtaining a set of these to re-shim without the pain of removing cams costs?

[TcmaBoy]

I turn the cam to depress the lifter then use a srcewdriver on the lip of the bucket to hold it open. Rotate the cam lobe clear and pry the shim out with a small screwdriver. One of these days I'll weld up a tool. Remember to measure first and buy shims later. A shim that is no good in one spot may be able to be reused in another spot.

[toyomoho]

Ebay often has these tools listed. Check the Snap-On catalog to see what they look like.

[jsbenami]

Well the first meathod seems possible, but what about getting the new ones in? Also, isn't there a retaining clip or something holding the shim in the bucket ? I'll definitely search EBAY, I just don't know what to look for.

[jsbenami]

Snap-on was a good suggestion........ http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

Let it be known for anyone else who has to do this for their 7M's too:

"Tool, Valve-Adjusting(Toyota, other OHC engines with spacer shims")

Description:
For Toyota and other overhead camshaft engines using spacer shims. Shim pliers push between the shim and camshaft, allowing the included YA8825-1 Wedge Tool to be placed between the valve lifter ledge and camshaft for easy shim replacement.

$42 bucks.....Better than paying the Toyota dealer 600$ + to do it!

[toyomoho]

The shim drops into the top of the valve lifter. There should be a slot on the lifer to insert something and pry the shim up. Plan on spending some time practicing using the shim tool, it takes some finesse. Make sure you have a something to measure the shim thickness with. Might mark each shim before removing it with one of those pins the junkyards, this way you can tell what want where.

[jsbenami]

Understood.....thanks for your help. I will be using a micrometer, and also measuring the cam lobes. There is a worrysome lifter tick that has been getting slightly worse since I bought the care 2 years ago with 55k. (Now 87K) and the shop foreman at Toyota deos not believe it is the valve clearance. I digress with him though because I measure 5 out of clearance, and 3 of them by more than 2 or 3 thousandths of an inch which is allot. Many Toyota mechanics (supposedly the best) have told me they 'never' should need an adjustment. It pisses me off when a company like Toyota knows so little about their own past cars. Let them go work on Corollas and Camrys.

[bgrieger]

At your mileage I'm also surprised any are out of spec. Not unheard of, but quite rare. Also what often is diagnosed as valve tick on a 7M is actually loud injectors. They are usually the first audible tick the supra gets. Not a sign of them going off or anything, but they are for whatever reason noisy.

[jsbenami]

Interesting.....any known way to tell them apart Bob? (less replacement)

It still has all the startup wear (cold starts) of 15yrs especially, and there is a very slight chance somone either repalced the speedo, dropped in a higher mileage engine after a BHG or just raced and ran it very hard in it's younger life. Having been a mechanic and heard all kinds of enignes I believe its the valves, but even smart informed people overlook stupid things all the time. Such as I did when I bought the car because of it's well preserved state, I did not find out until being under it much later it had been in a wrecked & fixed (well I might add) and repainted.

[bgrieger]

I use the old long handled screwdriver held to my ear...round side of course...and the pointy end touching the component I want to listen too...well, before I bought a stethoscope.

I was able to quite clearly hear (read deafeningly loud) the injectors ticking away when I touched each of them, and when held to the cam covers the shim sounds were present, but nothing out of the ordinary (one or tw were a little noisier than the others). I could actually still hear the injectors over the shims this way too...

[renmike]

I just bought a Toyota valve shim tool on ebay w/spacer spoon-thingy for $23.00 shipped. My local dealer quoted $400 to do a valve adjustment on a 5SFE, so I could only imagine what they'd want for anything bigger, lol.