This has been discussed many, many times, but, here goes again..
I have tried all the different ways to adjust valves. For the past several years I have been doing one cylinder at a time and rotating the engine to put a valve at max lift( whether it be intake or exhaust), to adjust the other valve for that cylinder. Where am I going wrong????

Get a remote start or make one if ya don't have one first thing, then bump engine over til exhaust just starts to open, adjust intake valve on that cylinder. bump again til intake is almost closed, then adjust exhaust on that cylinder. Once done a couple times, you will run right thru them within 15-20 mins.

Ditto!

You can do it the way suggested on race cams, on milder cams you can bring each piston up to TDC on the firing stroke and adjust both valves then
Or do it the old school way of adjusting one valve at a time with the motor running, which is a real beast to do and nasty from all the oil spilling all over the motor and engine compartment

I went to the trouble of measuring lash at ten degree intervals just to see how much they changed from each position. On a roller cam with 340 on the seat for preasure, they varied .004 to .0045. So with a mild sft cam with only 150 or less on the seat and much less over the nose i would guess the flex would be .002 or less, not enough to worry about. IMHO the one thing that can be gained by very accurate positioning for setting each valve is to find any problems early on.

Ok, thanks for the replies. But just for kicks, why is the way I've been doing it not as good as suggested? Why is one way better than the other. Not trashing any suggestion, just curious why one way is better than the other? My cam, by the way is a smaller SFT. 259*/266* tight lash .014"/.018" .633/.627" with 1.6 rockers.

You have to make sure the lifter is on the base circle of the lobe. New lobe designs make it a little more difficult to find that point. I do the exhaust just opening, intake almost closed method and never have an issue. As stated above, once you do it a few times it becomes second nature.

Same here. When I checked my newest cam, the lobe closed -0.001 below the base circle, then returned to the base circle setting. If setting exhaust at max intake, it might be in that range?, but at base circle at intake closing.

I understand the base circle thing. Where I have a question is the replies. When adjusting the intake. Do it when the exhaust is just opening. I guess you have to monitor so there just begins to have "zero" gap. Same for doing the exhaust. Adjust when intake is just closing??? Seems to be not so precise or exact to me. Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Also, will .001" make that big a difference in performance? I'm not trying to be a pain in the butt, just trying to clarify things. in my semi-empty head.. Thanks for understanding.

The 0.001 really is not a big deal for me, depends on how tight you adjust the valve lash, because 0.001" at the cam is multiplied by rocker ratio, so in my case 1.6:1 rocker, 0.0016" difference in valve lash?

Don't worry about that, it's a good topic for discussion even if it's been covered before. I used to adjust at TDC compression and after someone posted in one of these threads that lobe ramps could have an effect at that point I went to the exhaust opening/intake almost closed method. The last time I remember this topic coming up more than one said to use the TDC method. It so happened that at that time I had a shortblock with a long-duration (~320º) solid/flat cam on the stand all set up for checking. I checked it out and there was absolutely no lobe ramp detectable near TDC compression so I might go back to that method. That puts both valves on the seat when checking and should produce consistent results.

Interesting, very interesting....

As stated, when done this way with the remote starter switch, it’s pretty quick.

I use the 180* method with a remote start trigger. Takes me about 3/4 of a beer. Once a year, and after 7 years with this motor I’m yet to find anything alarming.

Care to explain? The 180* method, that is, I got got the beer part!

Larry, It really pays to learn the EOIC method, exhaust open intake closes, as I think some have already mentioned.

I have a starter button on my firewall. I bump the starter button, as soon as the exhaust rocker starts to move(nose of rocker moves down) I check the intake rocker lash.

Bump starter until intake rocker arm nose goes all the way down and bump again til it starts to move upward, set exhaust rocker lash.

I've tested this method against the MP 180 degree method and the lash was the same. It may not work for every single cam but I don't know why it wouldn't. I do this on my purpleshaft solid cams and I did it this way on my 700 lift roller in my '69 Dart.

This is a very quick and easy method of checking lash.

I also like to set a small level on my valve cover and jack up the rear of the car until the valve cover is level. Now I can remove my valve covers without oil dripping out of the rear of the heads.

And if you have a decent set of feeler gauges, you can literally leave the feeler gauge under the rocker arm while bumping the motor over, it will give you a good feel for what the cam lobe is doing.

Thanks Bob, I do have a remote starter switch. I'm going to try the EOIC method and compare it to the way I have been doing it. Thanks everyone for the input. I appreciate it. ( that level idea is something I never thought of). I'll try that also....

The "180" method is called out in the Chrysler service manuals for the 426 hemi lash adjustment procedure.

Which Chevolet included this type method in the mid 1950 service manuals on the for the new 265 C.I. and 283 C.I. V8 solid lifter motors
Those where some old slow opening lobe designs, probably not good enough for todays race cams

EOIC is the best way. Even then, find where the rockers are gonna be loosest by rocking the crank back and forth with a breaker bar.

Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I’m going to say that your lash dimension should remain the same from a few degrees after the valve touches the seat until a few degrees before it lifts up. No reason the backside of that lobe shouldn’t be perfectly round.

Makes sense to me!

It is not the roundness of the heel of the cams that makes the lash change, it is usually the cam flexing

Hey, Cab, How much do you think a cam will flex with a seat pressure of, lets say 150# and open at, lets say 375#???

I have no idea
That could be measured though, if you want to find out
Years ago Dominic, Thumperdart, took the time to find out that by adjusting the exhaust valve when the intake valve just close versus adjusting it with intake valve opened past max lift and adjusting it when it started to close and before it closed all the way made a difference on the lash his motor had on the exhaust valves
Lots of choices out there, some are harder to make than others
When you look at the firing order and valve opening and closing #2 leads #1 by 90 degrees, correct. Both of those cylinders have all four lobes on the same two cam bearings, all four lobes side by side, correct
That would be the easiest one to check to see if the lash on #1 changes when the valves on #2 are opening and closing, correct
If you do check them let us now what you find please
Theory is one thing, real world is another, sometimes you have to deicide if the battle your considering is worth fighting over, correct

That’s good info and insight, Cab. I would believe it.. Begs the question, However: How does this effect how you take your readings and make your adjustments? It would seem that flex is a variable that can’t be mitigated by any specific adjustment method..... or can it?

Certainly it would be more of a factor the more spring pressure you run. For guys that run flat tappet cams, this would seem to be much less of an issue than the solid roller setups. (Stating the obvious).

OK, I was asked to get back with some test results. As I said before, I have been adjusting my valves with the other valve on that cylinder completely open. After reading and trying the suggestion posted here, I just got done checking my valves. Here is what I found. First, I checked clearance as I have been adjusting all along. Settings were all good. Then I tried the EOIC system. With my smaller cam, the adjustment did not change at all. I then checked with both valves on the seat on the compression stroke. Again, the settings remained the same. Sooo, with my cam, it really didn't matter what system is used. With a bigger, more radical cam, results may vary. Thanks for all the replies.

Good testing and feedback