[Shotimes] 60k/Valve adj.

[Kerry Kinion]

Hi All,

Well, my local Ford dealer actually did come through for me.  The
service manager loaned me their tappet compressor and tappet holder.
They didn't have the pick tool, so I used a dental pick (my wife is a
dental assistant) that worked OK.  I am going to replace all 24 shims
with new ones and am going to order these individually after checking
clearances and pulling all the old shims to check the numbers.  I know
this is the long way to go but that's OK because I have the time, as the
car is going nowhere until I have replaced a whole bunch of parts.  Josh
at ShoNut offered to loan me his personal tools and Josh, if you're
reading I want to thank you again but my local Ford shop guy actually
did come through with the tools so I won't need to rent these from you.
He also quoted me a price of 3.00 per shim (20% above his cost) so I'll
go with this as well unless I run into obsolete/availability issues.  So
Josh, I may still be contacting you for shims and especially other
parts.  I don't know yet, if I can get the same generous deal on other
parts or not.

Questions:

1.	After I checked the clearances of all shims (and some are way
out of spec.) I removed, one by one each shim to check the number to
arrive at needed shim.  After returning all original shims to the same
position, I did a second check of clearances for peace of mind.  Most of
my second check #'s were within about a thousandth or two, but on cyl #4
(intake) my first clearance check showed .008.  When I did my second
check I got .016.  Has anyone run into this before?  It makes me a
little nervous about feeling confident about what shim size I need to
replace it with.
2.	When the clearances are out of tolerance, what does this do in
terms of performance of the engine?  (again, I am not much of a car guy
but am trying to learn - and having a good time in the process).
3.	Are all the shims (primary/secondary, or left/right) the same
diameter?  I didn't check this when they were out, so I thought I'd ask.

Happy Holidays and Thanks!

Kerry Kinion
'93 Green MTX, 110k, Bone stock and sitting in the driveway for way too
long!