January 19, 200620 yr i have 97 legacy outback. my timing belt sprocket idler pulley blew into pieces. so my valves got ruined. 2.5 dohc anyways i bought rebuilt cylinder heads. when i bought them they told me they would be adjusted and pretty much ready to be put on. before i slapped them on i put the lifters in and the cams on to check the valve clearence. some were right and some were tight and some were loose. i was told by the company that their they are hydraulic lifters and they would adjust while running. for some reason i don't believe this. i spent all of my money on towing my broken car from nebarska to califronia (apparently no one in central nebarska will work on a subaru without raping you) i don't know if i can switch the looser looser lifters with the ones that are closer to cams or not. any suggestions would be great. i have replaced all other vital parts while my engine has been out. i don't want to skimp and do the wrong thing but i have no more money. help please jake
January 19, 200620 yr help please jake Jake, You are correct to be concerned about the valve lash adjustment. Unlike most Subaru's the '97 2.5L DOHC has solid lifters. So they do need to be adjusted. Unfortunatly this is not a simple lock-nut, turn, measure, lock affair. The adjustment is made using shims. I have read the procedure in my haynes repair manual. It suggests taking shims from over-tight valves and loose valves after measuring the loose ones so you can trade up. Shuffle them around. Likely you will have to buy or beg additional shims to finish the task. Make sure you're measuring with the cam in the correct orientation... An evil puzzle, but a solvable one. You need to have feeler gauge and micromerter or calipers. Spring for the book, under $20. More info may be available from others here. I am concerned that the source of the new heads assume that they are hydrolic. This is not a state secret... Good Luck, Mark
January 19, 200620 yr i have 97 legacy outback.my timing belt sprocket idler pulley blew into pieces. so my valves got ruined. Jake, how many miles on the engine? **** ******!
January 20, 200620 yr Author Jake, how many miles on the engine? **** ******! 180000 but new cylinder heads and valves but old cams and lifters they are all completely different gaps between the cam lobes and lifters when i put the lifters and cams on. some are .004 some are ..025 in. it doesn't make sense to me how they could be that far apart. maybe they sent bad cylinder heads?
January 20, 200620 yr Nope, Jake, nothing so crazy as that. Some valves are longer or shorter than others by a few thousandths. Some valve seats are set deeper or shallower than others. Take precise gap measurements, then pull all of the SHIMS and measure them. Then, by pretty simple arithmetic you can figure out what you need vs. what you've got. You'll find that you need a shim of size X.XXX and then you find that clearly marked shim in the pile you've got. It's straightforward but like others have said, getting a book is essential.
January 20, 200620 yr Replied to your PM. You have solid lifters, and they will need to be adjusted. Also, please only post once, no need to post multiple threads.
January 20, 200620 yr i have 97 legacy outback.my timing belt sprocket idler pulley blew into pieces. so my valves got ruined. 2.5 dohc anyways i bought rebuilt cylinder heads. when i bought them they told me they would be adjusted and pretty much ready to be put on. before i slapped them on i put the lifters in and the cams on to check the valve clearence. some were right and some were tight and some were loose. i was told by the company that their they are hydraulic lifters and they would adjust while running. for some reason i don't believe this. i spent all of my money on towing my broken car from nebarska to califronia (apparently no one in central nebarska will work on a subaru without raping you) i don't know if i can switch the looser looser lifters with the ones that are closer to cams or not. any suggestions would be great. i have replaced all other vital parts while my engine has been out. i don't want to skimp and do the wrong thing but i have no more money. help please jake Jake, I just sent you a PM. I'm in CA, and I can help you. I have done this and have a few shims left over even. My phone # is in the PM, give me a call. (Oh, PM is Private message, look in the top right of the page)
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