Lawson's 818C

  • I had a brief visit back to Georgia and I took an hour or so to measure my existing valve shims so I can order replacements in the correct size. I wanted to do this so I can get the engine running as soon as possible and not wait on parts.
  • Valve Shim Measurements:
    • I used these 3D printed spacers (someone else’s design/idea) to hold the valve buckets down while I pulled out the shim. They worked well! And much cheaper than the official Subaru tool to do this.
    •  I measured each of the shims and determined what part number I needed for the replacement one using the factory service manual. Good news is none of my shims were on the small side of the range so I still have some additional room to get thinner shims if needed.
    • I may have to do all this one more time since the best I could do was assume that the tolerances that were too tight for my feeler gauge were zero. In reality they could have been negative or between zero and .002″. Hopefully all the new shims will at least be measurable tolerance to the camshaft. The desired tolerance is .008″ +/- .0008 for intake and .01″ +/- .0008.

  • 3D printed valve bucket spacer


  • Hard to see in the picture but the bottom left valve buckets have the spacer inserted