Just a few questions...

[Tomguy]

1) The intake valve clearance (cold) is 0.10mm. The exhaust is 0.20mm. Correct? I have 0.004" (0.102mm) and 0.008" (0.203mm) and assume that these will suffice. I also assume that intake valves are lined up with intake ports/injectors and exhaust valves with exhaust ports.
2) (You're not gonna believe this one guys... remember, I never worked on this car before! I'd only ridden in it as a child) - I assume the hex-hole plug on the oil pan is the drain plug... what socket do I need to remove this bad boy? Is it just stuck or really hard to remove... or is this the wrong thing? I only got a quick look at it.
3) Do I ABSOLUTELY need the crows foot? I have metric wrenches and it appears I can do the valve job with them. Please don't tell me I need a special tool .
4) Some of my rocker arms were badly chewed up (from the right side) but 2 weren't too bad. I sanded them, then removed scratches with super-fine steel wool. They look visibly good. Would I be wrong in putting these on the left side if I find bad rocker arms on it, since I dont want to tear up my "new" cams?

[psfred]

Bad news:

You MUST have the special crowfoot, it's ground flat on the bottom. If you use a standard crowfoot, or standard wrench, it will slip and round off the adjuster. This is a BIG PITA, get the special tool.

DO NOT reuse those rockers, the hardened surface has worn off and they will rapidly eat the cam, as there will be hard "edges" to the contact surface with a soft spot in the center. Never put used rockers any place except the cam lobe they were on -- the two wear in together, and changing them around usually leads to excessive (read instant) wear on the cam.

0.004" and 0.008" is fine. Do the adjustment stone cold. The valves line up with the ports (but they are not the same side to side!)

Peter

[Tomguy]

Thanks for clearing up the rocker arm issue. I guess I'll be getting 8 more rocker arms at some point and keep the old cam on the left side for now.
But remember - for example, cyls 3 and 4 - the intakes arent always on one side (they're towards the front of the engine, IIRC, on 1-3, but the one for cly 4 is after the exhaust!). And you say stone cold, so should I do it at 8AM when it's about 30F outside? kidding, of course.

[joshhol]

About the only alternative to buying the crows foot tool is to remove the retaining spring with some plyers, inserting a 5 mm allen wrench into the whole on the rocker, prying it off the adjuster and then using a socket to turn the adjuster. Then you have to pry the rocker back on the adjuster, which of course isn't as easy as taking it off, then you can check to see the clearance with the feeler. Repeat this process until the tolerance is correct.
That should take you a little while.
The crows foot will be worth it, but you might have to perform that procedure if the adjuster wont budge or it is rounded off.

[Tomguy]

What about the oil drain plug (from the pan)? I havent gotten out to look and see if it's a stupid question since it's been raining but if it is that big allen (inverted hex) bolt/nut/whatnot how do I remove it?

[joshhol]

You need a special tool to get that drain plug open, it would be a
14mm allen wrench if it is the same as my 115.

It's good to be cautious.

[psfred]

I changed the oil in my 280 SE last fall, seem to remember a 13 mm bolt in there -- driver's side rear of pan, not a hex socket.

Peter

[Catrinus]

The oil drain plug on the 110-engine 114 (280C) uses a 12mm hex key. I was able to find one at the local auto parts store. You should look for a really, really long one if yours is stuck. The longer the arm, the greater the leverage. Instead of a hex key, they also had a hex/socket that was kind of neat... it was a socket on one side so it fit on a socket wrench, but it was a 12mm hex key on the other. The reason this is good is it's a lot easier to get a long bar onto a socket wrench to provide the extra leverage that you need. The socket cost $17.00 and I didn't need it so I didn't buy it but the idea was sound. You can use any pipe that will fit over your socket wrench handle.

The other thing to use is some lubricating penetrant (Liquid Wrench) on the bolt as well, although since the bolt is upside down it probably won't work in this particular application (gravity won't pull it down onto the threads which is where you need it).

Last thing: you can buy new drain plugs very cheaply and I recommend it. Use some anti-sieze compound on the threads and you shouldn't have this problem in the future. I bought a new drain plug and instead of having a 12mm hex pattern it has a 14mm pattern so I'm not sure there is anything "standard" about these!