Hey, guys, I'd like to know what you set your valves to, and how often. I really need to do valve cover gaskets, and while I'm there....

 

here you go I think it is every 25000 miles {edit} oops 24 000 miles
http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/valve_adj/12_valve.html

 

Thanks! That link should help it go pretty well; just have to find the time.

 

.... find some knee pads while you're at it, .... took me quite a while and my knees had to be parked on the rad brace for the whole time.

 

i stand on the frame rail next to the turbo

 

lol AW, .... I'd be lucky to get two broom handles down past my turbo, ... I'll have another look tho as rereading the "companion cylinder" method I think I left my gaps too big. Says the gage feeler is supposed to drag with a few inch-pounds on the screw. I brought mine in to just touching, extra cautious but still too rattly.

 

leave the feeler gauge under the rocker, tighten to 6 in lbs and lock the jam nut. should be fine. that's how i was taught in my diesel class. 6 in lbs was what the N14 cummins specs were when adjusting valves. just thought i'd throw that out there.

 

... thanks for that Jimbo, ... powerram should be all set to go and I can't wait to get back at mine and do it right, soon as I find my kneepads

 

I set mine at 8 and 18 and do it every time I do a headgasket which is pretty often

I actually thought about setting them again tomorow for giggles

 

If you are having troubles with the feeler gauges use the under and over method .... one size up of a feeler gauge and one size under , that way you get a better idea of the proper feel of the right thickness . Little more time consuming but you sure get it right

 

I just adjusted mine yesterday and I changed the gaskets and O-rings because i had oil leakin everywhere around the valve covers and all over my exhaust manifold. So i used a whole can of engine brite and a pressure washer and cleaned it all up and now it looks good. I also painted my valve covers Grabber Green while I was at it, they look pretty cool i think. My valves were surprisingly not too bad, most of the intake valves and some of the exhaust valves were a little bit off but only by like .001" or .002". But i adjusted them anyways and it seems to run a lot better, I don't leak any oil anymore cuz i changed the gaskets and O rings and my egts dropped about 150 to 200 degrees!!! I don't know if its because of the valve adjustment or cleanin all the oil and grease off the motor, or both, but it runs a lot cooler, when i used to go down the highway at 65mph, my egts were around 800 to 900 and now they are about 600 to 750 so it helped a lot. Its nice to have a clean engine!!! Here is some pics of my valve covers painted grabber green with the engine enamel paint, I can't wait to paint my manifold and exhaust housing with some VHT black paint and get my red painted hy35 turbo on and a set of coolertubz, then it will look a lot better! but for now, I feel like its an ARCTIC CAT cummins! ha ha

 

92smokin, that is an interesting color. really catches your eye. i like that ASA intake as well. i looked into that a while back and they wanted something like $200 for the kit. in my opinion that seemed quite pricey for what it is. does it come with the filter? that could explain why it's worth $200

 

Yeah it is interesting color isn't it, I had that color of paint layin around so i decided to do it. Yeah i think the ASA intake was $200 when i bought it last year. It does come with the AFE filter and i bought the cleaning kit too when i bought it. I think I am gonna be sellin it soon if you are interested, pm me and we will talk prices. I think I'm gonna build my own intake with an amsoil filter so I won't need this one.