Are my pushrods on OK?

Status
Not open for further replies.
André Bourbonnais

André Bourbonnais

Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
113
Hi, it's my first engine rebuild and had a hard time putting the top back on. Now I'm paranoid that my pushrods aren't on properly. All my bolts tightened back on ok, is this an indication that I'm ok?

Second guessing myself.

Thanks.
 
Was the push rods sitting on the rocker arms before you tighten the head down and if they were then things should be right but you can still look to see if they are, just take your valve covers off and look to see they are sitting right.

Ashley
 
ashman said:
Was the push rods sitting on the rocker arms before you tighten the head down and if they were then things should be right but you can still look to see if they are, just take your valve covers off and look to see they are sitting right.

Ashley
Click to expand...


I tried that and didn't see them. It's the bigger one and not the 2 smaller ones? (I'm new to this) lol
 
Can I remove the covers and manually turn the engine over and look for something specific like the springs go up and down?
 
Yes, the rocker arms will push on the springs and the valves open. You are gonna need to adjust those valves so turning it over and watching is part of that process.
 
Sure. You might even see if the pushrods are located properly. Rien de perdre...
 
Before you turn the engine over, take off the exhaust rocker covers and look at the pushrods. You should be able to see all of the pushrods and check that they are engaged with the rockers.
 
When setting your clearances if you find the locking nut near the bottom of the threads on the adjuster then suspect the pushrod being on but not in the cam follower. But manual inspection with a torch is the best option as well as slowly turning the engine over as confirmation.
 
I find a bright torch very useful to see what is going on especially if engine is in the frame.
 
You have 40 thou thinner head and your pushrods should be 40 thou shorter than std, you need to check this.
 
I like to put a dab of grease in each female end and seat them to the rocker ball ends, then secure them with rubber bands until the head is nearly on the gasket. The lifter or lifters that are raised by the cam will hold everything up until you start to tighten the bolts and then you can cut the rubber band and pull it out. Sometimes a pushrod or two will fall down into the cavity, but they're easy to re-seat on the rocker end with a little fiddling in the valve cover openings.
 
Also when each valve is closed, the properly positioned push rod can be turned with your fingers.
You will be checking the gap with feeler gauges between the rocker arm and valve tip at this point.
 
Combat pushrods were the same length as standard.

Yes from the factory they were the standard length but the NOC Commando notes recommend the 40 thou is taken off them to restore rocker geometry as the Combat head had 40 thou milled off to increase the compression with no adjustment to the pushrods.
 
kommando said:
Combat pushrods were the same length as standard.

Yes from the factory they were the standard length but the NOC Commando notes recommend the 40 thou is taken off them to restore rocker geometry as the Combat head had 40 thou milled off to increase the compression with no adjustment to the pushrods.
Click to expand...


Yes, but you did make it sound as if Combat pushrods were normally 40 thou shorter than standard and without any further explanation as Andre might not be aware about what it says the NOC service notes and that shortening the pushrods would actually be a modification.
 
And your quote of my post made it sound like they did not need to be shorter, so all sorted now as long as Andre knows what the std length is to measure against.
 
kommando said:
And your quote of my post made it sound like they did not need to be shorter,
Click to expand...

Well, they don't need to be shorter as it caused no problems as far as I'm aware.
Ideally, it may be worthwhile to shorten them but that's a different thing, however, I hope this has avoided any misunderstanding by Andre.
 
To double check, after following the tips above, take note of the length of adjuster showing above the rocker arm. If all balls are in their sockets, the length showing should be about the same.

Slick
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top