Hi everyone! I have an 03 MCS that I'm doing an engine rebuild on after loosing compression on cylinder 2 at 185k miles. I have noticed that a number of the plastic clips that hold the hydraulic lash adjusters in place are chipped or broken, and one of them simply crumbled apart.

So now I'm looking for a source for these clips, preferably the revised metal ones. I know that the lash adjuster with plastic clip is sold as a unit with the rocker/tappet arm for about $30 apiece but I'm on a pretty meagre budget. I'm hoping that other engines similar to the Tritec might share clips with this one and I'm wondering if someone could suggest a good place to start at the junkyard.

Right now I'm probably looking to pull valve covers on a 2.0L Neon to start or possibly a PT Cruiser. If anyone has even a figment of a shadow of a hunch on lash adjusters that might be similar, let me know because it can't hurt! Right now I'm basically relying on this statement. "According to one of the engineers, the Mini engine was "100% Chrysler designed," and was similar to the export PT and Neon engines — a Neon 2.0 single-cam with reduced bore size and centers." This from http://www.allpar.com/mopar/rover.html. I understand that US units are different, but a lash adjuster is a lash adjuster so I'm hoping Mopar didn't go reinventing the wheel on this one.

Fully aware I'm grasping at straws here; thanks in advance for your help.

 

Don't know. Would love to find a source for the metal clips, too.

Best I could do was AJUSA brand from FCPEuro. The full set of rockers and lifters was around $200. Quality seemed to match OEM.

Look on UK eBay. Seems to be more engine internal parts showing up there.

 

The steel clips are no longer available, they were short lived and soon after replaced by the cheaper to produce plastic design.

We do have a box full of the plastic clips, if you were looking for them I'm sure we could get you a handful for a fair price.

Nick
Detroit Tuned

 

I was under the impression that the steel clips were the later revision. This is exactly the type of thing I was hoping to learn! I may yet take you up on that box of clips but I'm going to have a look at some 94 and up 2.0 sohc Mopars first. I have some evidence these engines share the entire rocker arm assembly with the Mini based on part number cross checking. Different lengths of lash adjusters are used to account for different valve stem heights between Mopars. Hopefully something out there shares adjusters, and thus, clips that are metal!

 

This is what the rocker looks like from MINI.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2003-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Engine/Mechanical/2



Good luck on the rebuild.

 

Any update on this thread? The mechanic says I have a crack in the plastic clip of one of the intake rocker arms — is this bit replaceable or do you need to do the entire rocker arm? Replacing them all was getting pricey but the car is apart now.

 

If you don't have any luck with the clips we have rock arms here.

 

MINI does not sell them separately , they are linked above.

 

For others that are just looking to find clips I have found that the clips from the chrysler/dodge 3.5/4.0L V6 are a perfect fit. The entire rocker is extraordinarily similar!

 

That's awesome. Do you have a specific part number or model year to look up?

 

Woah, that's a huge find if they fit and work perfectly. Mr. Detroit Tuned is lucky to have a box full of them. We have long since run out. Please tell me more about it. Have you installed them and verified that they are a perfect fit?

 

Still can't find the Chrysler part number for the retaining clip, but have found aftermarket performance roller rocker arms that omit the hydraulics and have mechanical lash adjusters. This might be very interesting....

 

Found the rocker part from Chrysler , don't see the lash part separate. Find it post up.

 

We are quickly approaching a zero count on them, there's been quite a run on them lately.

 

I'm about 95% sure that the hydraulic lash adjusters are common with the 2.0L Neon engine and can be purchased very inexpensively. We might have changed them due to the smaller valve stem diameter on the 1.6L but I don't think that we did. I'll have to check:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/more...nid=514&jpid=0

I'm also about 95% sure that the plastic clip is just an assembly aid (so that the "elephant's foot" doesn't fall out) and isn't needed in the running engine. You could just go with heavy grease to hold it in place during re-assembly (and double and triple check that the contact is correct before torqueing down the rocker shafts.

I'll see if I can track down the Chrysler Valvetrain engineer in the next few weeks to confirm.

 

Nice info.

 

^Thanks^

I just ordered a few to see if they are the same as the 1.6. I'll report back.

 

Think this is the sheezit. Tried one of the plastic clips off the $5.42 Enginetech L0096-4 lash adjuster and it seems like an exact fit to me. Silly to buy the whole lash adjuster to get the little plastic clip, but beats buying a new rocker arm.

Here are the pics. Got them from Rock Auto.

I measured the outside diameter of these lash adjusters to be 0.472 inches, which converts to 11.99 mm.

(deleted comment about size of MINI adjuster. the MINI part does seem to be 12 mm also).

The tip (the part that touches the valve) is 0.25 inches on both.

 

Did you have a caliper measuring tool with both ends. Easy to measure. If you did , looks like it works. Nice find.

 

The Mini is also 12mm diameter. I did send an email via LinkedIn to my former colleague who released valve train parts but he's never on there and hasn't responded. Your photos raise my confidence to about 99% that the parts are common. I think they are even common with the 3.5L Chrysler V-6 of the 1990's, used in the LH body (intrepid/Concorde)

 

Also in the V10 viper gen 1 well maybe not. lol

Thats good info. Thanks for digging this up UL .

 

I have a caliper, but its such a flimsy plastic piece, I am not very confident about providing absolute measurements. The ID, OD and height of the yellow plastic part seem identical to me, using similar measuring approach, but the most critical feature is the small lip that catches the end of the lash adjuster and I can't measure that very well.

As you can see from the pictures, it snaps in place nicely and takes a similar amount of pressure on the blade of a knife to get it to pop off.

 

Any suggestions on how to get the old lash adjuster out of the rocker arm to measure it properly? I tried grabbing it with a jacobs chuck, but couldn't pull it out. I removed this set of rockers because they were noisy, so the lash adjuster could be jammed in there...

 

Bet its pressed in, Unbreakable might be able to let you know how they take them out on the Chrysler side.

 

We compared the Neon Lash adjusters from Rock as well. They are a match. We got the MINI ones out of a used rocker with a little bit of shop creativity (you can't use a punch and push it out from the oil journal at the top of the rocker). The creativity involved a pair of dykes and a tiny hammer: definitely not the way we would do it on a customer's car. Long story short, if you need a lash adjuster, get the rocker, if all you need is the cap, go with the Neon adjusters.