my new valve shims arrived mid week.
2 of my inlet clearances were tight 0.09mm and 0.11mm (min is 0.15mm)
i had to install shims measuring 2.45mm and 2.5mm to bring back into spec.
i purchased these shims from
https://www.tills.dethey supply 29mm diameter shims down to a thickness of 2mm, so plenty of adjustment left for now
i had previously purchased the valve adjustment tools from Ken Lively, polepenhollow@yahoo.com
even so ,it took me an hour and a half to extract the first old shim,
i had a set of fine picks that i was using to try and coax the old shim out with but even so it turned into a battle of patience and persistence on my behalf versus that silent mechanical German goading that i am becoming accustomed to.
eventually it did pop out to my relief. an hour and a half!!!!! yawl
next time i will pre purchase a telescopic adjustable magnet.
i have seen a video where you can blow them out with compressed air , which seemed to work brilliantly.
in contrast , extracting and replacing the 2nd shim took 5 mins.
I also installed new spark plugs.
I let the smear of gasket sealant set overnight on the half moon rubbers and the front corners near the timing chain.
took it out for a ride today and it is running noticeably better (i actually thought it was running great before i had done anything)
so whether thats due to the new plugs or the valve adjustment or a combination of both I will never know.
next on my list is a throttle body balance