how often do you use to check valve clearance at your eggvan? Does ist usually change a lot? I saw that it is recommended every 60000kms. Mine (1992 non-SC, RWD, manual) has 98000 kms now, and i just can hope that the first owner checked it before...
I'm not familiar with the term "MK1", so I'm guessing you're in another country. If it's a gasoline engine like we have in America, there's not an easy adjustment, but they don't usually change much. There's exceptions, but it's not unusual for the gas engines to go up to 500k miles without problems (at least not problems created by being out of adjustment). Of course any time the head comes off, it's a very good idea to check and adjust as required. These are adjusted by using specifically sized shims and it takes time and requires an assortment of shims to complete.
If it's a diesel, then I know nothing about it as these were never offered here in America & I've never seen one. Tim
2.4 is the size we had with gas/petrol so I'm going to assume that's what yours is too. If so, if it runs good and there's no valve clatter, I would just run it without worrying about valves. Even when these engines get to high miles it's more likely something else will fail before valve clearance becomes an issue. Head gasket leaks are much more common, so if/when that happens, check the valves then. Tim
Tim is exactly right: Every 100k km, while changing valve cover and distributor gaskets, is a good time to check valve clearance. I got the tools to do so, but in over 500k km, never had to change one.