Hi, I was working on the engine head and my valve caps fell off without having a chance to mark them. I don't know if they are in the correct order, how I know where they belong. Thanks help greatly appreciated

this is a double post man...you allso need to clarify...are you talking the caps that hold the cams in place...or the bucket with the shim that sits on top of the valves?..be absolutly specific please.

bump for question. i have the same problem

you guys gotta specify which caps your talking about like liquid_cool saidif its the shims on sit on top of the valves you'll probly have to clearance measurements and shim it all over again. as far as the caps on the camshafts im stumped as well lol

cam caps are labeled, I for intake and E for exhaust then a number from 1-...6? they go in numerical order from front to back. Also you should have them positioned so that they are readable(right side up) from the drivers side.

I would assume he means the buckets though, since he said valves not cams.

yes, I ment the ones sitting on top of the valves, they work as lifters?

no they work as pushers bro..thats called direct contact shim over bucket desighn....lifters work with rocker style and push rods..with these the cam lobe directly pushes the valve in and lets the valve seat again after its duration..where as the lifter style uses the cam to push a rod ot the rocker arm to push down the valve..hope this brings a better understanding....now for the kicker!...you need to take each shim off of the top of the bucket..to do this , use a small flat screw driver..you need to meshure each one and write it on top of each shim and put it back on the bucket it came off of..donot remove them all and get em mixed up...after you do that...put all the buckest back over the valves and them install the cams..you will need to check the gap with the lobe pointing up in the air..write each meshurement down next to that bucket on the side of the head...after this is all done..if some are good..but some to wide or tight..do some math and find what shims would fit where better...thats the way its done..good luck..post again if ya have any more questions.

liquid_cool wrote:no they work as pushers bro..thats called direct contact shim over bucket desighn....lifters work with rocker style and push rods..with these the cam lobe directly pushes the valve in and lets the valve seat again after its duration..where as the lifter style uses the cam to push a rod ot the rocker arm to push down the valve..hope this brings a better understanding....now for the kicker!...you need to take each shim off of the top of the bucket..to do this , use a small flat screw driver..you need to meshure each one and write it on top of each shim and put it back on the bucket it came off of..donot remove them all and get em mixed up...after you do that...put all the buckest back over the valves and them install the cams..you will need to check the gap with the lobe pointing up in the air..write each meshurement down next to that bucket on the side of the head...after this is all done..if some are good..but some to wide or tight..do some math and find what shims would fit where better...thats the way its done..good luck..post again if ya have any more questions.

that's exactly what i had to do. it took me 3 f%*king hours, but i got all the clearances right, after putting the cams on and off over and over again along with lots of math because you only have so many shims to work with.

woah well thanks guys i'll work on them this weekend and let you know

I realize this is old but does anyone know what to do if the actual cam caps are mixed up? My valve shims are mixed up too but that's a different story. I know which cam is which.

If the engine has been run already like that then not much to be done there. They are generally marked like pointed out higher up but one must be smart enough to look for that. Cam caps of course being the half circle parts that hold the cams in place, NOT the tappets or followers or buckets as commonly called that the shims fit in.