service reveals some issues - FIXED :-) no further issue.

[Beedub]

It's not misfiring either..

That might give an indication that the valve is closing correctly..

that valve is NOT stuck open, feuling is perfect and the car runs as good as it EVER has.... if that valve was stuck open on this car i would spot it a mile off in the way the car runs, this was why i was so surprised about the shim, the car runs perfectly, not even a tick!

Well if your car runs perfectly I wouldn't do anything about it.
Apparently the whole valve clearance adjustment and valvestems contracting and expanding with temperature do not apply for that particular valve.

I'd say let it be and just drive on!

can you exit this thread please. your just irritating the s**t out of me tbh....

 

[Beedub]

I had shim issues on my old Lotus Esprit that resulted in a cam follower (Bucket tappet) exploding and wrecking the top end of the engine. During my self rebuild I learnt a fair bit about the mechanics not least that shims are manufactured in their millions and some miss the hardening process so remain soft and will wear quickly. Also shims on my Esprit were stamped with their size but were invariably out ie smaller or larger than marked. When measuring up for the shim size it is not acceptable to just reach for the shim in that size and rebuild engine as you are likely to be out before car is started. Not sure if this could explain why you are at the current situation but when rebuilding I found it took many hours to get spot on the manufactures tolerence with the shims and I doubt any garage would spend much time on this.
Anyway sorry I strayed into this discussion, I just have the E85.

interesting stuff!!

looking forward to getting it out and learning some more about the shim process in detail. once it out and a smaller one i, ill leave it sightly on the looser side, really be careful with the measuring of it and re-check late next summer. I'm going to order the complete shim set so i can do my own yearly shim checks in the future, it think my hard use of the car requires this extra level of attention.

I'm actually looking forward to it now...

 

[srhutch]

I had shim issues on my old Lotus Esprit that resulted in a cam follower (Bucket tappet) exploding and wrecking the top end of the engine. During my self rebuild I learnt a fair bit about the mechanics not least that shims are manufactured in their millions and some miss the hardening process so remain soft and will wear quickly. Also shims on my Esprit were stamped with their size but were invariably out ie smaller or larger than marked. When measuring up for the shim size it is not acceptable to just reach for the shim in that size and rebuild engine as you are likely to be out before car is started. Not sure if this could explain why you are at the current situation but when rebuilding I found it took many hours to get spot on the manufactures tolerence with the shims and I doubt any garage would spend much time on this.
Anyway sorry I strayed into this discussion, I just have the E85.

Measuring the shims before installing should negate this issue. I would also expect shim manufacture to be easier these days as well making the accuracy much better.

 

[Redish]

How many "people" do you know that have had tight valve clearances in S54's then and had to do this?

I mean, Seriously ...

I dont know but Redish couldnt solve this on the spot without consulting beedub.
If it was that easy they would have solved it in the jiffy you believe it is.

Their first thought to solve this was taking the cam out.
But if you do that by the book you need a £900 camshaft press. I bet beedub doesnt have that lying around in his garage.
Jared Wiesner over at e46fanatics wrote a great tutorial to get cams out without that press but that is specific for the m54. Does that work for the s54 with its huge camlobes?

redish didn't consult me until the end!! they buttoned the car back up and told me what was going on to the that time i watched the video of the shim as i drove up to collect the car, this could have been ALOT of easier had they called me at that point and gave some options, even though i was on my way to the car i could have easily just got a hotel for the evening. In no way am i blaming or shooting down redish they have been nothing but excellent, but in hindsight i have no idea why i wasn't contacted at that point and given some options? simple... do you want to us to depress the spring? do you want us to remove the cam, shall we just put it back together and decide??

i was worried and taken aback by the hole shim event so wasn't thinking rationally at that point, but if i was redish or any garage and came across that id have stopped , called the customer and run some options, this was just costs more money.

Hi guys,

Just going over a few questions here so they don't get left unanswered;
(I hope none of my answers read as rude or sarcastic. They are merely answering the questions in as honest a way as I can via text rather than talking on the phone etc).
We like to learn from customer feedback, and this all helps us to provide a better service.

redish didn't consult me until the end!!

The Valve Clearance Process was the final part of the Inspection 2 Service, and left until the morning of collection (as agreed) so the engine would be cold.

they buttoned the car back up and told me what was going on to the that time i watched the video of the shim as i drove up to collect the car, this could have been ALOT of easier had they called me at that point and gave some options,

Comments taken on board, and we will consider this if we come across this in the future.

In no way am i blaming or shooting down redish they have been nothing but excellent,

Thank you for the kind words.

but in hindsight i have no idea why i wasn't contacted at that point and given some options? simple... do you want to us to depress the spring? do you want us to remove the cam, shall we just put it back together and decide??

We found the issue around 09:30, and recorded a video of our findings, stopped what we were doing and all 4x technicians viewed the situation and discussed it from possible cause, to solution, to options for yourself and us, processed the video, uploaded it to YouTube (over 1 hour in HD720p for some reason), and emailed you just before 11:15.
Those are just the times which were involved in this unique situation.
I would consider it to be acceptable at that point, after the above was dealt with and we got our head around the findings.

As for options, out of those 3 above we had to make the safest decision for you and your Z4M.
Depressing the spring has never been an option for us. I'm sure it's possible, and it may not even need much pressure at all, but it's simply not the procedure we follow. We deem it to be a risk (however large or small), and we simply do not take risks - especially with a customer's engine - especially with a customer due to collect less than 2 hours away.
If it had gone wrong, or slipped, we'd be in a totally different discussion, and I'm pleased to say we are discussing a running, driving engine which can be repaired in your own time & cost.

Removing the camshaft was also not an option with us then and there I'm afraid.

So we took the fairly logical approach and kept it a working, running car for you to drive home as planned.
Then discuss, and approach the situation at your leisure rather than rushing into answering one of the above options within minutes of being asked on a phone call.

Please don't read that wrong. It sounds harsh but it's not meant to be in anyway shape or form.
The 'slight' problem with reading text whether it be email, sms, forum, is there is no tone or emotion like voice call. So a harmless sentence to one person could be received as something else by another.
If in any doubt, this message has a nice friendly tone, with the owner's best interests at heart.
Perhaps I'm worrying too much? Hey, that's just how we like to do things as we're a nice bunch of guys

i was worried and taken aback by the hole shim event so wasn't thinking rationally at that point, but if i was redish or any garage and came across that id have stopped , called the customer and run some options, this was just costs more money.

Yes I agree this way might cost more money, but I would like to think that most owners would rather have the time to think about the situation rather than jump into an option via a phone call.
To us it just seemed more sensible to keep the car mobile and make a plan when all the information could be discussed.
We did stop, and discuss internally, and then contact the customer via email, and provide a detailed video (2x videos) which best shows the problem - far better than a description over the phone.
The reason I chose the video is because you can watch it as many times as you want versus a phone call(shock) of remembering what was said.
Also, the video is set in stone and shows the evidence of our findings, much like our pictures do of our valve clearance reports for each and every customer.
By putting the car back together and telling you via phone (rather than video option), we consider it to be like providing an Inspection Service without giving a picture or report of the clearances - it's easy to talk on the phone, but (in our opinion) more professional to also offer pictures and video).
Lastly, in the 3+ minutes of the video, it describes almost everything we needed to know about our findings compared to a much more sloppy phone call where all the info may not have come across as clearly due to the need for other questions and discussions.
We feel the pictures and video option that we offer free of charge to customers is a benefit over phone calls, but again take the comments on board and will certainly consider a phone call method moving forward.


Please don't take anything in my reply the wrong way.
I really appreciate your comments, and feedback like this helps us better our customer service and improve on our customer expectations.
I appreciate you taking the time to ask the questions.
Feel free to let me know if there are any other questions I can help with.

Any way, I really don't want to detract from the main reason of the thread, and trying to find a result for your valve clearance issue we found.
All of us here are interested in the next steps and what will be found, like shim size, and any other unknowns which might explain why it's like it is.

Good on you for tackling it yourself. When I spoke with your dad on the phone he sounded extremely knowledgeable so I'm sure between you both you will be fine - especially if you have the tools and shims to hand like you mention above.

Best regards,
James

 

[Beedub]

I dont know but Redish couldnt solve this on the spot without consulting beedub.
If it was that easy they would have solved it in the jiffy you believe it is.

Their first thought to solve this was taking the cam out.
But if you do that by the book you need a £900 camshaft press. I bet beedub doesnt have that lying around in his garage.
Jared Wiesner over at e46fanatics wrote a great tutorial to get cams out without that press but that is specific for the m54. Does that work for the s54 with its huge camlobes?

redish didn't consult me until the end!! they buttoned the car back up and told me what was going on to the that time i watched the video of the shim as i drove up to collect the car, this could have been ALOT of easier had they called me at that point and gave some options, even though i was on my way to the car i could have easily just got a hotel for the evening. In no way am i blaming or shooting down redish they have been nothing but excellent, but in hindsight i have no idea why i wasn't contacted at that point and given some options? simple... do you want to us to depress the spring? do you want us to remove the cam, shall we just put it back together and decide??

i was worried and taken aback by the hole shim event so wasn't thinking rationally at that point, but if i was redish or any garage and came across that id have stopped , called the customer and run some options, this was just costs more money.

Hi guys,

Just going over a few questions here so they don't get left unanswered;
(I hope none of my answers read as rude or sarcastic. They are merely answering the questions in as honest a way as I can via text rather than talking on the phone etc).
We like to learn from customer feedback, and this all helps us to provide a better service.

redish didn't consult me until the end!!

The Valve Clearance Process was the final part of the Inspection 2 Service, and left until the morning of collection (as agreed) so the engine would be cold.

they buttoned the car back up and told me what was going on to the that time i watched the video of the shim as i drove up to collect the car, this could have been ALOT of easier had they called me at that point and gave some options,

Comments taken on board, and we will consider this if we come across this in the future.

In no way am i blaming or shooting down redish they have been nothing but excellent,

Thank you for the kind words.

but in hindsight i have no idea why i wasn't contacted at that point and given some options? simple... do you want to us to depress the spring? do you want us to remove the cam, shall we just put it back together and decide??

We found the issue around 09:30, and recorded a video of our findings, stopped what we were doing and all 4x technicians viewed the situation and discussed it from possible cause, to solution, to options for yourself and us, processed the video, uploaded it to YouTube (over 1 hour in HD720p for some reason), and emailed you just before 11:15.
Those are just the times which were involved in this unique situation.
I would consider it to be acceptable at that point, after the above was dealt with and we got our head around the findings.

As for options, out of those 3 above we had to make the safest decision for you and your Z4M.
Depressing the spring has never been an option for us. I'm sure it's possible, and it may not even need much pressure at all, but it's simply not the procedure we follow. We deem it to be a risk (however large or small), and we simply do not take risks - especially with a customer's engine - especially with a customer due to collect less than 2 hours away.
If it had gone wrong, or slipped, we'd be in a totally different discussion, and I'm pleased to say we are discussing a running, driving engine which can be repaired in your own time & cost.

Removing the camshaft was also not an option with us then and there I'm afraid.

So we took the fairly logical approach and kept it a working, running car for you to drive home as planned.
Then discuss, and approach the situation at your leisure rather than rushing into answering one of the above options within minutes of being asked on a phone call.

Please don't read that wrong. It sounds harsh but it's not meant to be in anyway shape or form.
The 'slight' problem with reading text whether it be email, sms, forum, is there is no tone or emotion like voice call. So a harmless sentence to one person could be received as something else by another.
If in any doubt, this message has a nice friendly tone, with the owner's best interests at heart.
Perhaps I'm worrying too much? Hey, that's just how we like to do things as we're a nice bunch of guys

i was worried and taken aback by the hole shim event so wasn't thinking rationally at that point, but if i was redish or any garage and came across that id have stopped , called the customer and run some options, this was just costs more money.

Yes I agree this way might cost more money, but I would like to think that most owners would rather have the time to think about the situation rather than jump into an option via a phone call.
To us it just seemed more sensible to keep the car mobile and make a plan when all the information could be discussed.
We did stop, and discuss internally, and then contact the customer via email, and provide a detailed video (2x videos) which best shows the problem - far better than a description over the phone.
The reason I chose the video is because you can watch it as many times as you want versus a phone call(shock) of remembering what was said.
Also, the video is set in stone and shows the evidence of our findings, much like our pictures do of our valve clearance reports for each and every customer.
By putting the car back together and telling you via phone (rather than video option), we consider it to be like providing an Inspection Service without giving a picture or report of the clearances - it's easy to talk on the phone, but (in our opinion) more professional to also offer pictures and video).
Lastly, in the 3+ minutes of the video, it describes almost everything we needed to know about our findings compared to a much more sloppy phone call where all the info may not have come across as clearly due to the need for other questions and discussions.
We feel the pictures and video option that we offer free of charge to customers is a benefit over phone calls, but again take the comments on board and will certainly consider a phone call method moving forward.


Please don't take anything in my reply the wrong way.
I really appreciate your comments, and feedback like this helps us better our customer service and improve on our customer expectations.
I appreciate you taking the time to ask the questions.
Feel free to let me know if there are any other questions I can help with.

Any way, I really don't want to detract from the main reason of the thread, and trying to find a result for your valve clearance issue we found.
All of us here are interested in the next steps and what will be found, like shim size, and any other unknowns which might explain why it's like it is.

Good on you for tackling it yourself. When I spoke with your dad on the phone he sounded extremely knowledgeable so I'm sure between you both you will be fine - especially if you have the tools and shims to hand like you mention above.

Best regards,
James

hi james, im glad you commented i did try to call you to have a chat the day after but the line just rang out, i didnt receive the follow up call as per our conversation either.

i agree, please don't take any offence or feel I'm attacking you also, their is no harm done by anything that you've done, you've given excellent service from the off and my car has been taken care of in a way even my preferred tuner would ever do imo....

i do stand by my comments however, i personally think it could have been potentially handled with the the car already in pieces as we are already in their at LEAST stop and call me and talk about some potential things we could try.... seemed silly to put it all back together and not discuss options with me at THAT point or at least run through some potential options with me and ultimately let me the customer decide. It seems to me you ave zero le-way unless everything runs perfectly to plan which isn't quite how things run all the time.

No-one ASKED at any point for you or your team to depress the spring, had you had called me at the moment you discovered the shim and said shall we remove the cam as thats the only way you feel comfortable doing so, id have said do it, id have simply turned up looked over things myself to gain some understanding and gone on about my business but that was never an option as the car was put back together, .... you simply don't have the le-way with your booking system which is fair enough but doesn't help me at that moment. The video and the detailing of everything was spot on and above and Beyond my expectations and never in question so not sure why this is relevant or even being compared to a phone-call this is not the type of phone call I'm talking about.... , I'm simply stating their was zero phone call to discuss potential options , fixes while the car was opened up at THAT time, which to me makes sense and what i would have reasonably expected.

all in all redish have been excellent for me and i will always use you guys, but my feedback is valid . i hope this doesn't affect our future working relationship.

lessons learned on both sides and I'm about to learn how to do this myself so in future i can deal with shim issues in a more informed way.

 

[Redish]

redish didn't consult me until the end!! they buttoned the car back up and told me what was going on to the that time i watched the video of the shim as i drove up to collect the car, this could have been ALOT of easier had they called me at that point and gave some options, even though i was on my way to the car i could have easily just got a hotel for the evening. In no way am i blaming or shooting down redish they have been nothing but excellent, but in hindsight i have no idea why i wasn't contacted at that point and given some options? simple... do you want to us to depress the spring? do you want us to remove the cam, shall we just put it back together and decide??

i was worried and taken aback by the hole shim event so wasn't thinking rationally at that point, but if i was redish or any garage and came across that id have stopped , called the customer and run some options, this was just costs more money.

Hi guys,

Just going over a few questions here so they don't get left unanswered;
(I hope none of my answers read as rude or sarcastic. They are merely answering the questions in as honest a way as I can via text rather than talking on the phone etc).
We like to learn from customer feedback, and this all helps us to provide a better service.

redish didn't consult me until the end!!

The Valve Clearance Process was the final part of the Inspection 2 Service, and left until the morning of collection (as agreed) so the engine would be cold.

they buttoned the car back up and told me what was going on to the that time i watched the video of the shim as i drove up to collect the car, this could have been ALOT of easier had they called me at that point and gave some options,

Comments taken on board, and we will consider this if we come across this in the future.

In no way am i blaming or shooting down redish they have been nothing but excellent,

Thank you for the kind words.

but in hindsight i have no idea why i wasn't contacted at that point and given some options? simple... do you want to us to depress the spring? do you want us to remove the cam, shall we just put it back together and decide??

We found the issue around 09:30, and recorded a video of our findings, stopped what we were doing and all 4x technicians viewed the situation and discussed it from possible cause, to solution, to options for yourself and us, processed the video, uploaded it to YouTube (over 1 hour in HD720p for some reason), and emailed you just before 11:15.
Those are just the times which were involved in this unique situation.
I would consider it to be acceptable at that point, after the above was dealt with and we got our head around the findings.

As for options, out of those 3 above we had to make the safest decision for you and your Z4M.
Depressing the spring has never been an option for us. I'm sure it's possible, and it may not even need much pressure at all, but it's simply not the procedure we follow. We deem it to be a risk (however large or small), and we simply do not take risks - especially with a customer's engine - especially with a customer due to collect less than 2 hours away.
If it had gone wrong, or slipped, we'd be in a totally different discussion, and I'm pleased to say we are discussing a running, driving engine which can be repaired in your own time & cost.

Removing the camshaft was also not an option with us then and there I'm afraid.

So we took the fairly logical approach and kept it a working, running car for you to drive home as planned.
Then discuss, and approach the situation at your leisure rather than rushing into answering one of the above options within minutes of being asked on a phone call.

Please don't read that wrong. It sounds harsh but it's not meant to be in anyway shape or form.
The 'slight' problem with reading text whether it be email, sms, forum, is there is no tone or emotion like voice call. So a harmless sentence to one person could be received as something else by another.
If in any doubt, this message has a nice friendly tone, with the owner's best interests at heart.
Perhaps I'm worrying too much? Hey, that's just how we like to do things as we're a nice bunch of guys

i was worried and taken aback by the hole shim event so wasn't thinking rationally at that point, but if i was redish or any garage and came across that id have stopped , called the customer and run some options, this was just costs more money.

Yes I agree this way might cost more money, but I would like to think that most owners would rather have the time to think about the situation rather than jump into an option via a phone call.
To us it just seemed more sensible to keep the car mobile and make a plan when all the information could be discussed.
We did stop, and discuss internally, and then contact the customer via email, and provide a detailed video (2x videos) which best shows the problem - far better than a description over the phone.
The reason I chose the video is because you can watch it as many times as you want versus a phone call(shock) of remembering what was said.
Also, the video is set in stone and shows the evidence of our findings, much like our pictures do of our valve clearance reports for each and every customer.
By putting the car back together and telling you via phone (rather than video option), we consider it to be like providing an Inspection Service without giving a picture or report of the clearances - it's easy to talk on the phone, but (in our opinion) more professional to also offer pictures and video).
Lastly, in the 3+ minutes of the video, it describes almost everything we needed to know about our findings compared to a much more sloppy phone call where all the info may not have come across as clearly due to the need for other questions and discussions.
We feel the pictures and video option that we offer free of charge to customers is a benefit over phone calls, but again take the comments on board and will certainly consider a phone call method moving forward.


Please don't take anything in my reply the wrong way.
I really appreciate your comments, and feedback like this helps us better our customer service and improve on our customer expectations.
I appreciate you taking the time to ask the questions.
Feel free to let me know if there are any other questions I can help with.

Any way, I really don't want to detract from the main reason of the thread, and trying to find a result for your valve clearance issue we found.
All of us here are interested in the next steps and what will be found, like shim size, and any other unknowns which might explain why it's like it is.

Good on you for tackling it yourself. When I spoke with your dad on the phone he sounded extremely knowledgeable so I'm sure between you both you will be fine - especially if you have the tools and shims to hand like you mention above.

Best regards,
James

hi james, im glad you commented

yeah please don't take any offence or feel I'm attacking you, their is no harm done by anything that you've done, you've given excellent service from the off and my car has been taken care of in a way even my preferred tuner would ever do imo....

i do stand by my comments however, i personally think it could have been potentially handled with the the car already in pieces as we are already in their at LEAST stop and call me and talk about some potential things we could try.... seemed silly to put it all back together and not discuss options with me at that point or at least run through some potential options with me and ultimately let me the customer decide. It seems to me you ave zero le-way unless everything runs perfectly to plan which isn't quite how things run all the time.

No-one ASKED at any point for you or your team to depress the spring, had you had called me at the moment you discovered the shim and said shall we remove the cam, id have said do it, id have simply turned up looked over things myself and gone on about my business, ..... but you don't have the le-way with your booking system which is fair enough but doesn't help me at that moment.

lessons learned on both sides and I'm about to learn how to do this myself so in future i can deal with shim issues in a more informed way.

life is wonderful in hindsight i say..... Me and my old man will sort it, whatever way we need to.

Comments taken on board.
We will look at how to improve this by things like quick action phone calls when we find a problem like this (and leave the pictures and video until later on), some backup time per day for myself to offer solutions to unplanned work which arises, and aiming to keep some time available for one of the 4 vehicle lifts to be used in case of unplanned works where a vehicle requires additional workshop time.

Appreciate the feedback.

Best regards,
James

 

[Beedub]

Hi guys,

Just going over a few questions here so they don't get left unanswered;
(I hope none of my answers read as rude or sarcastic. They are merely answering the questions in as honest a way as I can via text rather than talking on the phone etc).
We like to learn from customer feedback, and this all helps us to provide a better service.


The Valve Clearance Process was the final part of the Inspection 2 Service, and left until the morning of collection (as agreed) so the engine would be cold.


Comments taken on board, and we will consider this if we come across this in the future.


Thank you for the kind words.


We found the issue around 09:30, and recorded a video of our findings, stopped what we were doing and all 4x technicians viewed the situation and discussed it from possible cause, to solution, to options for yourself and us, processed the video, uploaded it to YouTube (over 1 hour in HD720p for some reason), and emailed you just before 11:15.
Those are just the times which were involved in this unique situation.
I would consider it to be acceptable at that point, after the above was dealt with and we got our head around the findings.

As for options, out of those 3 above we had to make the safest decision for you and your Z4M.
Depressing the spring has never been an option for us. I'm sure it's possible, and it may not even need much pressure at all, but it's simply not the procedure we follow. We deem it to be a risk (however large or small), and we simply do not take risks - especially with a customer's engine - especially with a customer due to collect less than 2 hours away.
If it had gone wrong, or slipped, we'd be in a totally different discussion, and I'm pleased to say we are discussing a running, driving engine which can be repaired in your own time & cost.

Removing the camshaft was also not an option with us then and there I'm afraid.

So we took the fairly logical approach and kept it a working, running car for you to drive home as planned.
Then discuss, and approach the situation at your leisure rather than rushing into answering one of the above options within minutes of being asked on a phone call.

Please don't read that wrong. It sounds harsh but it's not meant to be in anyway shape or form.
The 'slight' problem with reading text whether it be email, sms, forum, is there is no tone or emotion like voice call. So a harmless sentence to one person could be received as something else by another.
If in any doubt, this message has a nice friendly tone, with the owner's best interests at heart.
Perhaps I'm worrying too much? Hey, that's just how we like to do things as we're a nice bunch of guys


Yes I agree this way might cost more money, but I would like to think that most owners would rather have the time to think about the situation rather than jump into an option via a phone call.
To us it just seemed more sensible to keep the car mobile and make a plan when all the information could be discussed.
We did stop, and discuss internally, and then contact the customer via email, and provide a detailed video (2x videos) which best shows the problem - far better than a description over the phone.
The reason I chose the video is because you can watch it as many times as you want versus a phone call(shock) of remembering what was said.
Also, the video is set in stone and shows the evidence of our findings, much like our pictures do of our valve clearance reports for each and every customer.
By putting the car back together and telling you via phone (rather than video option), we consider it to be like providing an Inspection Service without giving a picture or report of the clearances - it's easy to talk on the phone, but (in our opinion) more professional to also offer pictures and video).
Lastly, in the 3+ minutes of the video, it describes almost everything we needed to know about our findings compared to a much more sloppy phone call where all the info may not have come across as clearly due to the need for other questions and discussions.
We feel the pictures and video option that we offer free of charge to customers is a benefit over phone calls, but again take the comments on board and will certainly consider a phone call method moving forward.


Please don't take anything in my reply the wrong way.
I really appreciate your comments, and feedback like this helps us better our customer service and improve on our customer expectations.
I appreciate you taking the time to ask the questions.
Feel free to let me know if there are any other questions I can help with.

Any way, I really don't want to detract from the main reason of the thread, and trying to find a result for your valve clearance issue we found.
All of us here are interested in the next steps and what will be found, like shim size, and any other unknowns which might explain why it's like it is.

Good on you for tackling it yourself. When I spoke with your dad on the phone he sounded extremely knowledgeable so I'm sure between you both you will be fine - especially if you have the tools and shims to hand like you mention above.

Best regards,
James

hi james, im glad you commented

yeah please don't take any offence or feel I'm attacking you, their is no harm done by anything that you've done, you've given excellent service from the off and my car has been taken care of in a way even my preferred tuner would ever do imo....

i do stand by my comments however, i personally think it could have been potentially handled with the the car already in pieces as we are already in their at LEAST stop and call me and talk about some potential things we could try.... seemed silly to put it all back together and not discuss options with me at that point or at least run through some potential options with me and ultimately let me the customer decide. It seems to me you ave zero le-way unless everything runs perfectly to plan which isn't quite how things run all the time.

No-one ASKED at any point for you or your team to depress the spring, had you had called me at the moment you discovered the shim and said shall we remove the cam, id have said do it, id have simply turned up looked over things myself and gone on about my business, ..... but you don't have the le-way with your booking system which is fair enough but doesn't help me at that moment.

lessons learned on both sides and I'm about to learn how to do this myself so in future i can deal with shim issues in a more informed way.

life is wonderful in hindsight i say..... Me and my old man will sort it, whatever way we need to.

Comments taken on board.
We will look at how to improve this by things like quick action phone calls when we find a problem like this (and leave the pictures and video until later on), some backup time per day for myself to offer solutions to unplanned work which arises, and aiming to keep some time available for one of the 4 vehicle lifts to be used in case of unplanned works where a vehicle requires additional workshop time.

Appreciate the feedback.

Best regards,
James

thanks james

ill update on how it gets sorted in the end as I'm sure your interested in the end result.

 

[Redish]

thanks james

ill update on how it gets sorted in the end as I'm sure your interested in the end result.

Most definitely
I feel for your situation so my smiling emoji above seems a bit out of place, but you're taking the whole 'engine' situation in your stride it seems, which is very commendable.

We're all really intrigued as to what the cause has been, and your findings.
I'm sure we'll speak again some time.

Best regards,
James

 

[Beedub]

main thing as you guys witnessed the car is in fine fettle and this was found as part of routine servicing, not because something had failed!! could have been alot worse, i love this things but end of the day its a car, so many more important things in life, it'd actually just not a big deal, i look forward to cracking on. ill order the shim kit within a week.

 

[Beedub]

ok well..... i sorted this today

started at 9.45 just finished at 2.20pm.... all went military smooth as well i was nervous going into this as I've never attempted to look at the shims myself or even took the time to REALLy understand them, HOWEVER i just stress we need to attempt these things more often this was a breeze , long winded but a breeze with meticulous labelling of every nut and bolt. Anyway onto the shim itself, i didn't even need to "depress" the valve, literally take the tension off the follower, further indication to the lack off effort needed was i used a plastic snap-on trim removal trim tool to remove the tension from the valve spring. i was then able to flick the follower out and begin the process My heart lit up when i discovered a 2.25 Shim in place nice and thick like id hoped.... I swapped for numerous different shims and ended up with 2.04 from my new wiesco kit, this gave me my much needed clearance of 0.20 exactly the same as what redish achieved on the right side of inlet 5
To remove the cam for this would have ben nothing short of a crime and would have been literally as good as throwing the money down the drain so I'm ecstatic that I've trusted myself, and went for it, its cost me just over 200 quid in tools ( INCLUDING the shim kit)

Ontop of that we did a compression test and got UNIFORM results across the board , the VALVE was NOT being held open ,... the cam lobe was measured zero wear so.... i got away with this one, from now on.... ill be doing this interim, MYSELF, and yearly!!

Now as a way of offering back to the community if anyone needs investigative work or a mid season check, I'd be more than happy for a small donation ( to help me replace shims etc) to do this for literally nothing.

Lastly the engine in side was nothing short of sensational, like a mirror, so the above schedule oil changes , high temps ( potentially ) , have worked wonders for the condition of the internals, however, the low miles and use also may be a larger factor.

thanks for all the advice and well wishes, I'm genuinely happy right now. With my cars use, i will now be doing this yearly, if anyone needs my help, for the forum, i won't take the piss and charge you, ill do it for the love of the cars. Just make sure your tuner is checking these CORRECTLY, I'm certain my first one with Simpson wasn't done properly, or even at all. But thats another argument all together.

 

[Beedub]

heres some of the pics i took towards the end


Old shim

HOW clean??? wow

 

[Beedub]

lastly it has taken me friggin all day but...... tbh.... thats to be expected , right now I'm a happy man, can't wait for a quick drive out. paperwork has been updated and I'm can breathhheee.

The car started and sounded.... perfect... but tbh it did before too over and OUTTTTT!

 

[hopz121]

Good Stuff Beedub,

Glad you have it all sorted it, the engine looks like new so it goes to show how regular oil chages is worth doing.

 

[Beedub]

while it was off, i cleared up the cam cover too!! looks lovely now!!

ignore the pics order guys, was just snapping away as and when tbh, more anxious about getting it buttoned back up and started! They are all mixed up from the order in which things were done.

 

[Beedub]

this was lovely.... until i dropped it!!! FFS... used 6 times and dead!!

 

[maxman]

Great result,did you check the clearance on the other valves.
You must now be feeling very satisfied knowing the clearance is correct and you have saved spending a load of money.

 

[PerryGunn]

Excellent result

Always a nice feeling when you can tackle something that's perceived as a 'garage only' job...

 

[Beedub]

Great result,did you check the clearance on the other valves.
You must now be feeling very satisfied knowing the clearance is correct and you have saved spending a load of money.

yeah checked the hole lot.... all we are per Redish's sheet check.

 

[Grumpyowl]

Excellent result

Always a nice feeling when you can tackle something that's perceived as a 'garage only' job...

Agree well done

 

[fixit man]

good work there