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I'm in the midst of refreshing a 245 that will go into my '40 110. A thought came to me when doing cleanup on the partially disassembled, apparently low-mile engine that was minus two valves/springs/keepers when I got it with my '37 115c.

Instead of completing the regular 'cold' adjustment and then fighting for access to adjust the engine properly when 'warm' through the wheel well after installation, what would happen if I adjusted the valves on the stand, but heated up the valves, lifters and springs with a heat gun, and then set them to the the 'warm' clearances?

I'll let you know how it works out. Probably be late spring when I get the engine switched over...

Do them cold, add a couple of thousands and be done with it.

Most of us just do cold adjustments that way and save the 3rd burns for BBQ mishaps.

Third degree, no thanks! Second was bad enough. ('65 Ford Falcon with a freshly-transplanted Mustang Hi-Po 289 carb blew up on me back in high school and lit me up like a F'ing candle. Not advisable. Really, really not advisable)

But it might be a fun little science experiment. The '40 is kind of a rough and ready little project anyway that will not be totally stock at the end of the day.

I figure that barn-aging the old thing 30 years was enough. Time to get it out in the sunshine and make people wonder about cars that were built better way back when...

I agree, adjust them cold, it's not worth the aggitation or the burns and losing your faith in God to do it while the car's running or the manifold is hot.

You will probably not be able to get them as hot as they are when running, especially the exhaust valve, so if you do try this, it would be safest to put on the very loose end of the hot clearances

[Q]I agree, adjust them cold, it's not worth the aggitation or the burns and losing your faith in God to do it while the car's running or the manifold is hot.[/Q]

Oh I've been tested before. There's precious little ahead of me that would cause me to lose faith in Him.

Please note, I do not own any Japanese or European motor vehicles however.

When the engine of my '41 120 was rebuilt I set the valve clearances cold! Forget what they were set to, it was back in 2010. But whatever it was, I think it was 0.002 and 0.003 over the hot setting for intake and exhausts respectively. Went over those valves again and again and again. Must have done something right(for a change) because there was no tappet noise at all. About 10 years and 20,000 miles later sold the car, which still hadn't had any further adjustments and still without noisy tappets! Either lucky or good? I think it's the former.

I set them cold, then heated up a couple of them to see if it made one whit of difference.

Not.One.Bit.

One question though for the hive mind, as I'm puzzled by what I'm looking at on three engines I have.

The two engines for the 1940 110 refresh that I'm using date from September and October of 1946, if I'm reading the date codes correctly, but they are 'different' with respect to the number and type of bolt hold downs for the manifolds. The engine in the 1940 110 I believe is original, but I've not yet dug into that as it's covered up and outside for the winter.

The '40 engine and the October 1946 engine have a combination of short- and longer studs to hold the manifolds in place. The September 1946 date code engine has all short studs, which includes two short studs on the far ends of the exhaust manifold which penetrate into the water jacket apparently, which I think matches the layout on the 237CI engine in the '37 115c.

Any idea why these 1946 engines are so different?

I can't say specifically why the difference as I've never owned anything other than 1940 110 but I can say that for 1946 and based on my 1946-1956 Motors Manual, there were a number of differences, such as larger diameter rod bolts.

Rod bolts are definitely larger for the '37 vs. '46 engine. Just seems weird that two engines, built a month or two apart are so different.

I will either need to repair the cracked/broken '46 exhaust manifold, or use the creatively crafted 'dual exhaust' currently on the '40 for the project going forward.

We shall see...