help with vavle adjustment after new pushrods

[F1atlander]

i cant figure it out. about a month ago i swapped heads and intake on my 94. i wasnt thinking and used the factory pushrods and never adjusted the guide plates. after 3 weeks of driving i started hearing a ticking noise. i wore notches in the factory pushrods from them rubbing against the guide plates. i also noticed that the roller tip was riding on the inside edge of the valve stem. so i came up with some trickflow 6.650 length hardened chromoly pushrods and now the tip is dead center of the valve stem. i adjusted the guide plates so they wouldnt rub the new pushrods and adjusted the valves again. got everything together and it sounds horrible!!!! its running great but sounds like it has loose rockers. i tore it down and tried again and again and again. still the same sound. scared im going to ware out my intake and valve cover bolts before i get this figured out. lol. anyone ever have a prob with these trickflow push rods? they have round tips but not a ball tip like factory pushrods. anyone have a better way of adjusting valves?


another wierd thing i noticed is when adjust the valves the intake rocker arms/lifters are alot softer that the exhaust lifters. the intake rocker nuts are still finger tight after a 1/2 turn past zero lash.


any help would be greatly appreciated!!! i have a track day in less than 2 weeks!

 

[ryclef331]

Are they stud or pedastel mount rockers? I'm assuming stud rockers by the way you said you're adjusting them. Are you making sure the valves you're adjusting are CLOSED when you adjust them?

 

[F1atlander]

yeah they are screw in studs (fully adjustable). and yeah ive adjusted valves on many different cars. even done this car without any issues. i use the ABCD method on the balancer. set at #1 tdc adjust #1, then turn the crank a quarter turn (B) adust next valve and so on.

 

[rz5.0]

"You have to adjust each rocker arm at a time and each one that you adjust has to have the lifter on the base circle of the cam first.

Once there, back off the adjusting nut and then loosen up the set screw some. Next, manually turn the nut with your fingers whist grabbing a pushrod with your other hand. While doing this, run the nut down, all the while gently yank up and down on the pushrod. While running the nut down, you should feel the push rod losing vertical slop. All you want to do is simply run the adjustment nut down ONLY until there is no vertical clearance in the pushrod. This is zero lash.

Once there, turn the nut another 1/8 turn. (This is only about 8 minutes rotation on a clock).

Now, you have to bottom out the allen set screw against the stud and then turn the nut another 1/8th turn(this will now take some torque to turn the nut.
Now the lock will not back off.

You are ready to go to the next rocker arm and do it all again.

A tip is if you get a cylinder near the end of the compression stroke, you will have both intake and exhaust lifter on the base circle of the cam for that cylinder and can adjust both of them at that point without having to turn the crank in between them" this is how i did it

 

[F1atlander]

"You have to adjust each rocker arm at a time and each one that you adjust has to have the lifter on the base circle of the cam first.

Once there, back off the adjusting nut and then loosen up the set screw some. Next, manually turn the nut with your fingers whist grabbing a pushrod with your other hand. While doing this, run the nut down, all the while gently yank up and down on the pushrod. While running the nut down, you should feel the push rod losing vertical slop. All you want to do is simply run the adjustment nut down ONLY until there is no vertical clearance in the pushrod. This is zero lash.

Once there, turn the nut another 1/8 turn. (This is only about 8 minutes rotation on a clock).

Now, you have to bottom out the allen set screw against the stud and then turn the nut another 1/8th turn(this will now take some torque to turn the nut.
Now the lock will not back off.

You are ready to go to the next rocker arm and do it all again.

A tip is if you get a cylinder near the end of the compression stroke, you will have both intake and exhaust lifter on the base circle of the cam for that cylinder and can adjust both of them at that point without having to turn the crank in between them" this is how i did it

you think it could be i went to far with the 1/2 turn instead of just a 1/4? i made sure i had each cylinder at tdc before adusting each one.

 

[rz5.0]

no sure but i was having trouble with mine and thats what worked

 

[F1atlander]

Guess all I can do it adjust em lose with just the 1/4 turn. Thanks for the help I'll update after tonight

 

[F1atlander]

Ok just got done readjusting the valves with a 1/4 turn passed zero lash and it got loader. Any other ideas?

 

[94MuStAnGGT5o]

i need some help too, my valves started rattling recently too. How do you adjust them is there a specific thread somewhere here on the site?

 

[rz5.0]

you sure you got the right size pushrods

 

[F1atlander]

i need some help too, my valves started rattling recently too. How do you adjust them is there a specific thread somewhere here on the site?

rz5.0's post above is dead on for adjusting valve lash if you valves are adjustable.

 

[F1atlander]

ohhhh chit!!! im sitting here thinking about this problem and im wondering if its possible that im adjusting the valves on the exhaust stroke! like i said in my first post the lock nuts on the exhaust valves felt so much harder to turn when setting the preload than the intake valves. i always checked to make sure the piston was all the way up on every cylinder before i adjust it. does it make a difference if its on a exhaust stroke? i would think so...

i also noticed that the lock nuts for the exhaust rockers sit a little bit higher than the intake nuts? do yall think this is possible?

 

[det_riot]

will be following this closely as my new pushrods are coming in tomorrrow

 

[F1atlander]

will be following this closely as my new pushrods are coming in tomorrrow

I should know something late tonight

 

[modo]

adjusting valves is something that i have found just takes practice. one small suggestion that i feel is well worth the small investment

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ARP-400-7606/

i always start at cylinder # 1 and just crank the motor over with a bump starter watching the exhaust valve. as SOON as it starts to open I adjust the intake valve. I then crank the motor over again as watch the intake valve fully open, as soon as it starts to close i then adjust the exhaust valve. You can follow the firing order or just keep cranking the motor until you get the to the next cylinder inline. Also the best time to adjust the valves is with the engine at operating temp and the lifters pumped up.

 

[daves94vert]

^^^ Your description is a little off^^^

 

[rz5.0]

beats turning by hand. that get irritating quick when you have full acessories and fan.

 

[modo]

^^^ Your description is a little off^^^

corrected it

 

[det_riot]

Any updates on it?

 

[F1atlander]

Any updates on it?

ill let you know tonight if it solves the problem. to tired last night so didnt get much done other than pulling the VC's