I was just wondering if anyone out there had any lash caps(for shim under bucket conversion) or knew of a source like a racing team etc. Mazdaspeed in the US is out of stock of several thicknesses and has no ETA on new ones from Japan. Eddie from adrenaline racng has called Japan as well and thus far they have not been helpful. Supertech will make them but it would take 6-8 weeks.
I had read that the units for the toyota 4AGE would work but have to be machined and am looking into this.
Thanks for any help you can give

 

does anyone sell a shim over bucket conversion? if so how much?

 

No one sells them because all stock miatas are already shim over bucket

 

Shim under bucket.

http://www.miataroadster.com/mazdasp.../i-407708.aspx

http://www.miataroadster.com/superte.../i-412161.aspx

You can also buy them through Mazda Motorsports. A few autocross results and you can open a racer account.

Bob

 

you can also measure your lifter nipples and find another application that fits.

neogenesis2004 took some oversize ones and sanded them down to the size he needed.

rumors out there suggest you can also grind the valve stems.

 

The last head I rebuilt I had 3 heads worth of shims to play with. Still couldn’t make it exactly like I wanted. After doing careful measurement and calculating I took a few of the valves to a local machine shop that rebuilds heads and they perfectly took the right amount of material off the tip that I had calculated. It was easy.

Supertech valves come with slightly extra long tips. They are designed to be ground down to set the lash. The machine shop had a grinder with a micrometer built in for precision grinding for this purpose.

Bob

 

I'm trying to find out what and where to buy my sub's. Can I just get the largest size of lash caps and then just get my head builder to machine them down to size? As I'm in the uk and shipping time can sometimes be lengthy. And I'd like to take everything to my head specialist to do all in one go.

 

SUBs can be Supertech, Mazda Motorsport, Ford Zetec, and there might be others 30mm that can be used.

If you place the lash caps on the valve stem (not on the SUB tip) you can use whatever source you want for 6mm caps. There are plenty in the UK.

The material and dimensions matter, not the badge of the cars it was meant to be used in.

I use Mazda Motorsport SUBs (bought through Miataroadster) with generic lash caps, but there are many other combinations that work.

 

I did mazda lifters and ST lash caps from miataroadster. No matter what some grinding will need to be done if you want the lash correct on all 16. The only negative to buying a full set of overly thick ones, is you'll have to pay the labor for all of them to be adjusted.

 

Thanks for that,i think a phone call to my head builder is in order,see if he can get hold of some 6mm ones.

 

Most newer motorcycle engines are this design. If you know the outer diameter and roughly the thickness range you are looking for, you could buy a Hotcams kit. Comes with all sorts of shims, like this:
Dirt Bike HOTCAMS Valve Shim Kit | MotoSport

I don't know for a fact they make them in the correct sizes but it's worth looking into.

Edit: Nevermind, these will not work.

 

Good luck getting the sizes you want from ST. They only keep "whatever" on hand. Im having my machinist grind mine for a bajillion hours of labor.

 

Are you sure those are "caps" and not simple pills/shims (with no provision for staying on the valve stem)?
Some of them look really thin and you need a decent "skirt" for them to stay in place. And they focus on the OD being right, makes me think it's supposed to fit in some bowl or similar.

Some stolen images to make things very clear.

Supertech Lash caps (5.5mm, but 6mm have the same design):

Usage


Some machining required but one of several sources in the UK http://www.burtonpower.com/shim-160-...c-e-fz215.html

 

Ordered probably 10 different thicknesses within the last two weeks and they had all of them ready to ship the next day.

 

What I posted were only shims. I didn't relize the caps needed here actually hugged the top of the valve.

 

So what's the typical cost to have SUB's installed on a 99+ engine head? A ball park number would be nice.

 

I'm looking at a set off miataroadster for $210 ish plus p and p. then it's a case of getting the right shims which I'm sure your head builder will be able to sort out.

 

Figure $200 or so for lifters, another $150 In shims, plus labor. Another $200-$300 for springs if you want to upgrade them.

 

Shims are less than $100.