I have recently changed the valves in my head, and am now shimming the cams/lifters.
The car is an MY99 UK 2000 AWD.

The thickness of the original shims are;

i 1 - 121th
i 2 - 120th
i 3 - 118th
i 4 - 119th
e 5 - 121th
e 6 - 120th
e 7 - 119th
e 8 - 121th

The measured clearance, without shim is;

i 1 - 40th
i 2 - 45th
i 3 - 39th
i 4 - 41th
e 5 - 45th
e 6 - 43th
e 7 - 43th
e 8 - 45th

Shims i need, with an 8th inlet clearance , and 10th exhaust clearance, and 1th tolorance;

i 1 - 32th .812mm
i 2 - 37th .939mm
i 3 - 31th .787mm
i 4 - 33th .838mm
e 5 - 35th .889mm
e 6 - 33th .838mm
e 7 - 33th .838mm
e 8 - 35th .889mm

Question is, can i get shims thats small, as i though there were 60shims, each .01mm increments.

Next question, can you run no shims? i.e. Is it hardened under the shim?

 

IIRC - Outer Shims go up in increments of 0.02mm to approx. 2.40mm and then available in 0.01mm increments up to 2.70mm.
You can not run without shims - it would end in disaster.

Mick

 

Guess the smallest shim size from Subaru is........
.....
....
...
...
78th - 2.00mm

It's official, I'm getting annoyed with my Subaru!!

 

LOL it does my head right in looking at all that non metric stuff, but if I get you right, your clearance targets are asking for less that a mm thick for each shim.

I had this exact problem, because I had my seats and valves recut, recessing the valves too far into the heads. Option 1 was to machine down the valve stem tips by what I needed to to use the shims I had. Option 2 was to get a set of top hat shims and machine those to the required thickness, they can go pretty thin because of their all-round construction which keeps them in place.

Anyway, if your shims are between cam lobe and tappet (mine are underneath between stem tip and tappet, STi3/4) then I guess all you can do is try and get your shims machined down to what you need? Or machine down your stem tips? Or throw the heads away and start again>

 

All i did was grind the valves in with fine paste.

I have a feeling that the so called oem valves, even though identical in size, have a different collet position.
I don't think taking a mm or so of the valve stem would work, as they are hardened.

Head off either way though, again,.