Valve Lash, Loud tick in my HO

Reply #15 – January 16, 2009, 07:34:13 PM

I think my youtube clip is not being fully understood. This engine uses pedestal rocker arms which are not adjustable, you just tighten them all the way down. In the full length dvd, I have a long chapter about valve train geometry, how to check for correct pushrod length and checking piston to valve clearance before this short clip is shown. In the clip I’m only verifying that with the lifters on the base circle, I screw the bolt down by hand until zero lash, then I make sure there’s a ¼ to one full turn left before the pedestal bottoms out (and the bolt torque at 20 ft-lb). You can tighten the rockers with the lifters off the base circle or even at full lift and you’ll still torque the bolts all the way down. Of course, you only want to tighten the rockers with the lifters on the base so the lash and preload can be verified. If your having rocker noise, pulling the valve cover then loosening and retightening the bolts does nothing at all. Normally noisy rockers are caused by bad lifters, loose rocker bolts, rocker hitting the valve cover or pushrods that are too short. Understand that some roller rockers are normally a bit noisy anyway. Also there’s no need to “prime” the lifters because as soon as you start the engine, the lifters will get all the oil it needs. It may take a minute or so the valve train to get quite but really it should be fine a few seconds after start up....Ken.