This is real old-school mechanic stuff, and I have to admit that I haven't done it in years. Most of the engines I've worked on over the last 20 years or so either have hydraulic lifters, or are adjusted with buckets & shims, so I was looking forward to this.
It started with a surprise -- the hex nuts holding down the valve cover were --- 7/16"? What? Not metric? Then, I tried the lock nuts on the stem adjusters -- they're 7/16" too! What the hell, I thought France invented the Metric System -- sacre blu!
Anyway, it went fine and I had no problems. The Lehman manual specifies a range of (cold) clearances, .006 to .008 for intake, and .010 to .012 for exhaust. My Haynes engine manual, however, says just .006 intake and .010 exhaust. A few of mine were a little loose, and I set them all to a slight "drag" fit at the lower number. As was my old practice, I rolled it over four times, re-checking and adjusting till I was satisfied they were all in spec.
I have no idea when that job was done last on my 1800hr engine, so it was good to do, even though it was running fine. One less thing to worry about. It is a mystery to me though why this engine rolled off the line in Lille with those SAE fasteners on it. I wonder how many other surprises this thing holds?
Tom