Valve lash 1 thousandth out of spec - continue or take back to shop?

Hey yall, a couple months ago I had an intake valve crack on my 5vzfe, with 180k miles on it.
I've been following Timmy the toolman's video (god bless you timmy) and ive come to the part of having the heads reseated and torqued onto the block, camshafts installed and I'm checking valve lash.

I've encountered 5 valves that were all 1 thousandth of an inch off spec.
intake spec .006 - .009"
exhaust spec .011 - .014"

PASSENGER
Cylinder 1 front exhaust valve - I could BARELY jam the .011 feeler under the lobe, technically in spec but still concerning
Cylinder 3 rear intake valve - measured at .010 clearance, .001 too wide of spec
Cylinder 5 rear intake valve - same as cyl 3

DRIVER
Cylinder 2 rear intake valve - measured at .005, .001 too narrow of spec
Cylinder 6 rear exhaust valve - measured .015, .001 too wide of spec
Cylinder 6 front exhaust valve - i was able to jam the .011 under the lobe but barely, concerning.

I have called the shop who re-did my heads and they assured me that 1 thousands of an inch was not an issue and it would be okay to run. He said the ones that were too wide wasn't not an issue because its better to be wide than too narrow and the narrow ones it would be such a small difference it wouldn't matter.
He advised that i continue with the project as normal and everything should run fine.
I want to believe him, its a very professional shop with a lot of knowledgeable guys there.
But the book has a spec for a reason.
Can anyone give me a second opinion or some more insights onto the tolerances of being a hair out of spec?
I could tear it all down and take the heads back to them but I really need to have this truck fixed soon to move to a new job.
At the same time, I dont want this to happen again when I'm half way across the country.
All thoughts and advice is appreciated

 

It's better to be a little loose than a little tight as you don't want to hang a valve but the tighter you run the more lift you'll get and the more power. I would remove the exhaust valves shims that are tight and use some super fine sandpaper to remove .001". I've done this before so you don't have to deal with measuring and ordering shims. You don't need to remove the heads just the cams and I don't think you technically have to even do that. The exhaust is what concerns me as they will get hot and expand so if you hang an exhaust valve open you'll burn it and have to pull the head. Leaving the exhaust loose will be fine just maybe a tiny bit less power.

 

Tough spot to be in. I agree with the above. Nothing will go wrong with the loose spec and a little sand paper on the stem would fix the intake valves.

 

I wouldn't do the valves themselves but the shims. This way if you botch it you can get a new shim. I used like 250 then finished with 800 wet sand so it kept that smooth finish.

 

I’m not a machinist but I’ve heard of people standing the tip of the valve.

Your idea works for sure.

im spoiled I’ve always had shims at the two shops Ive worked at.

 

I wonder if OP lives near any pick and pull yards. Many 90s Toyotas used the shim over bucket valve design, and they were mostly the same shims across models.

Go snag up a half dozen or so shims and then start swapping shims until the numbers meet your desired specs.

And yeah you can definitely get shims out without removing cams (as Timmy demonstrates in his video).

 

I agree with your mechanic.....its narrow exhaust end one's that can hurt you....burn the valve.

And I think that 10 is alright....just want to watch it and sure it doesnt go down more...

The valve should settle and lose clearance over time.......but toyota stainless shimms, that can be a hell of a long time..


As far as the .005 intakes.....I'd live with it.....but watch it every 40K....

So the valves wear and settle almost purely on a jap car from wear at the valve edge/seat, and the not the plunger/bucket end...

Only reason you'd ever sand down a valve end.....is if your already down to the toyota no.1 shim.....smallest....and still needed a little more....
....by then the head would be so old ....who would care.....

 

Thanks for the input yall, I like the idea of sanding down the shims, didnt think of that.
But i did see an old 4 runner at a pick and pull yesterday with the valve covers off so pulling some shims wouldnt be too hard.
I have everything together so far and have started the truck up for a couple minutes. runs fine, but i have a bad seal with the exhaust flange pipe so im not running it too much. I'll probably head out to the pick n pull tomorrow morning and snag some shims. I'll update when i get them into spec.
Feels pretty annoying to go and tear it halfway down again after i just got it all back together but a burnt valve is what got me into this situation in the first place, better to do the small preventative job now than another head replacement later.

 

If you are going to sand the shim, make sure it's on a flat surface and reinstall with the sanded face towards the bucket and not the lobe.

 

Found an old 4runner with the valve covers already pulled off so getting a full bag of 24 new shims was pretty easy.
Corrected all of the out of spec valves save for cyl 3 and 5. I figure those will be fine. I got the exhaust valves in spec though, cylinder 6 was huge pain. There is hardly any room to fit the special pliers and hook tool toyota makes, so i just pulled the camshaft out and did it that way.
thanks for the suggestion to sand one down. my cylinder 2 intake needed a shim of .111" and out of ALL 24 i pulled not a single one was .111. So applied a little sandpaper and elbow grease to a .113 and got it down to a .112. Not perfect but got me within spec.
hopefully i can have this thing up and running tomorrow morning.

If anyone needs extra valve shims, I'm more than willing to part ways with a lot of these, I know they're pretty hard to come by individually. Just PM me and we'll work it out.