Extra Thick Valve Shims

[CarlosA]

Someone ground a valve a little too short on the head i`m running. The valve lapped in fine, etc and is in good shape. I really don`t want to pull the head again to swap it out.

Does anyone know if a valve shim thicker than 4.30?

Alternatively, does anyone know what grade of metal is used for the shims? I can make one or several in odd sizes for this purpose, but don`t want to use too hard or soft of steel and cause excess wear of the shim or the cam.

[Diesel Dean]

Could you use shim stock and put it under the thick disk?? Just an idea..

[CarlosA]

Could you use shim stock and put it under the thick disk?? Just an idea..

Good idea I bet it would work. Maybe turn down and lap two of the thinnest shims I have.

[steevz]

I'd be careful. You don't want the upper one sitting too high and to hop out of the seat and jam your cam.. breaking it.

[bbob203]

glad i have a hyrdro head all this valve shimming business seems like a PITA.

[82vdub]

The valve shimming isn't much of a big deal, unless you get to a point where things are worn past typical. I purchased a reman head years back that had all 8 valves improperly shimmed, and 3 of them flat out would close. Of course, I discovered this after the head was on and the car wouldn't run. I had to bring some shims to a machine shop and have them machine them to the thickness I needed to get the valves back within spec.

As far as a resolution to this situation, it's possible that by calling a machine shop, they may have something that would work for you, without having to go to extremes to get a shim. They may have a rack of shims of all different sizes, or shims from other manufacturer heads that will work and we're all trying to give you answers based upon what VW may have had, or any other idea we could come up with.

[surfcam]

The biggest one I could get my hands on in Canada is 4.25. I ordered a 3.50 and he said it was the last one in Canada at the time. It's kind of worry some. I'm hoping it was just a bad timing.

[Fatmobile]

glad i have a hyrdro head all this valve shimming business seems like a PITA.

Last time I price-checked hydro valves they were 3 times the price of mechanical valves.
That was just comparing on one site.

Jack's site doesn't mention a price difference that I saw.

[CarlosA]

I got lucky when I first bought my car and got a kit with 4 or 5 of every size. 4.25 is the largest, and 4.3 is something a local vw repair place had. If anyone needs any let me know.

Good idea at checking with shops for pre-sized shims. I`ll do that before I start machining something down, if I could figure out the metal grade without sending it to be tested I can get setup to make a bunch just to have around.