Yep, you either 'have it' or 'you don't'. Ain't no middle ground. Thank God my common sense over-rides my education.
I had a couple of 59, 283-290hp vetts. Always adjusted the valves warm and running. We did all over head valve cars that way.
Warm, running, before the clips became available, we used cardboard jambed in the head to keep the splatters off the exhaust. If the motor is not worn out, for a street motor once a year is enough.
the 097 cam in my 57 fuely 283 HP car is driven quite a bit--set the valves cold at 10 and 16---don't need adjustment often--when I do I usually only find a couple out of adjustment--have adjusted once since initial start up this time and it has 2500 miles to date. The cam I am running is an Elgin copy of the 097 and runs well with the FI unit--going to put one in a 327 soon with dual fours for a 40 coupe
That parallels my experience with my 270hp. I did first adjustment at 3600 miles and it didn't take much. I did same way you did (10 & 16 cold).
Back in the day, we used to adjust solids while running. Some how .008 and .018 sticks in my mind. BobF has it right the long bent feeler gauge was what we used. I'm now using a thumper hydraulic cam and love the sound.
Thanks for your 6 cents, guys. Next time (which I'm sure will be soon--hopefully after Symco), Ill take Hot Rod Joe's advise and do .010/.016". I called my engine guy and he said .012/.018" cold so that is what we did. All the exhausts were found to be pretty loose so the engine did quiet up quite a bit. Now it just makes a mean exhaust rumble and that great solid lifter clatter. A far cry from the 170 hp Powerglide 265 that we just removed (which dynoed at a weezy 161 at the flywheel with 3 dueces).
The 283HP came in the 1957 Corvette Fuel Injection. (first year for FI and first time HP equaled CI from the factory) The 290HP came in the 1958 Corvette Fuel Injection. The 270HP came in the dual quads as stated earlier along with the 245HP............. LG, Mike
If you have the Knack You can feel when its right. The feeler guage will just slide around easy between the valve stem and rocker arm. Too tight and the feeler guage wont move. Its all about having Know How. Its importiant to check that the rocker arms arent worn where they contact the valve stem. Ive had the oil squirt clear over the fenders adjusting small block valves. I adjust both solid and Hyd lifters hot & running. I have a engine thats running the 30-30 cam. I adjust the clearance at .028 for both intake & exhaust. never had any problems and it last longer between adjustment peroids. Old Wolf
I've done it both ways. Just depends on how much time you have. If you adjust them with the mill running and hot, let it cool down, then measure the lash cold, you should be in the ball park next time you want to do it cold. 101 ways to skin this cat.
If you want to run a hudraulic lifter cam, a 327 L79 cam (part number ends in "151") is hard to beat.
The 097 cam has 228 deg. at .050 lashed at .012. that was the cam in the 270 hp 2 four barrel motor and the 283 hp fuelie.
There were 2 dual quad versions from '57 thru '61; a 245 hp hydraulic cam and a 270 hp solid lift cam. Either will make a nice street engine. I have had both and it just depends on whether you want the noise of the solid lift version or not (I personally love it). Oh, and despite what people say, the dual carbs are not that difficult to "tune" for reliable operation. I downloaded a factory GM service manual and followed it when I restored my '61 and it ran trouble free. Good luck!