Valve adjustment question - loosening and tightening?

[andy burkard]

hey all,

well, finally did another valve adjust at 45k miles last night...  for the 2nd time now all exhaust valves were pretty much at the loose end of the spec requiring no adjustment, but intakes were all way loose resulting in going UP in shim size since the last adjustment.

i understand gaps getting smaller with wear, but does the widening of the gaps mean something else is going on?

i always figured that the reason the valves get tighter over time is that as the valve seats wear, the gaps get narrower... what would cause a gap to increase?  cam wear?

any thoughts?
andy b