Bruce, Here's the scoop on valves. Slightly loose is better than slightly tight. To loose gives you a little more noise. The valves stay longer on the seats and transfer heat fine. To tight can keep the valves from spending enough time on the seat. Leading to carbon building in the seat area and or burning a valve. If the old guy wants to train the young guys on your car. Get him to allow you to watch. Seems only fair trade to me. Don't forget to keep an eye on strut bushings as they can cause a brake pull when they wear out or split and fall out. Glad everything is good on the brakes. Sometimes getting the dust out and a fine tune on the adjustment is all it takes. :) Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular -----Original Message----- From: Bruce Griffis <bruce.griffis@xxxxxxxxx> Sender: amc-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx: Sat, 6 Nov 2010 12:18:17 To: AMC, Rambler, Nash, Jeep and family<Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Reply-To: "AMC, Rambler, Nash, Jeep and family" <amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [AMC-list] Hey - the brakes were good! After driving my car in heavy traffic, I thought I had brake problems. Car wanted to pull left. Brought it in to a local garage. The replaced drums were perfect. The resurfaced drums were perfect. Hoses fine, with no leaks. Wheel cylinders good with no leaks. Master cylinder was right. Brake adjusters were in right. Just needed to be properly adjusted. I know it sounds goofy - but I was happy to have a second set of eyes check over the brakes and verify they were right. Cost less than pizza for the family, lol. Trying to decide if I want them to double check the valve adjustment or not. And they're trying to decide if they want to teach checking valve clearance to their mechanic. The official "old guy" double-checked the brakes, teaching their younger mechanic along the way. I'm guessing the official "old guy" would be the one showing the mechanic how to check valve adjustment as well. I'm seriously considering having a second set of eyes double-check my work, while I'm learning - just to make sure I'm not screwing stuff up. Or just sucking it up, doing it, and letting the engine's sounds tell me if it's right or not. _______________________________________________ AMC-list mailing list AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com _______________________________________________ AMC-list mailing list AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com