Not what he wants to do with his car. All of that would require he switch to tall valve covers. He wants to stick with stock height valve covers so his windsor clears his power brake booster. And he's looking for a simple way to fix this without tearing the engine apart again.
I had a set on my first 351w been about 17 years since I bought them so I can't remeber the brand. Everything I've had since has been 3/8 or 7/16 stud
I think they're made like a polylock, with an allen plug in the middle. Even if they're not though I could probably double nut them. Or yeah, worst case I could live with having to adjust the valve lash occasionally if it means I can finally get rid of that tapping. Exactly. I have no immediate interest in taking the heads off again if I can solve the problem with a simple kit. If I'm going to bring a pair of heads to the machine shop it will be GT40's, and I'll go ahead and do the full package - bigger valves, etc. And when I start thinking about doing all that I really need to be thinking about aluminum. And if I do that any time soon, I also need to be thinking about where I'm going to sleep when She Who Must be Obeyed sees the bank statement...
That kit dosn't have any kind of set screw, They are the pinch type locking nuts that rely on the pinch and friction to keep then in place. It would be hard to double nut them since they are deep in the rocker arm and would be hard to get a wrench on them and then another wrench/socket on the nut above them. It may be possible though. I'd suggest that after you get them adjusted spray them with brake cleaner and let them dry. Then apply some lock tight to the threads, the kind that is used after assembly. THat way it will soak down into the nut and threads and dry to lock them in place as an added precaution to keep it from loosening.
im not sure the loctie would soak past the crimp in the nut. if you want to lock tite them. note the exact clocking of the nut with some paint or marks of some sort. then remove the nut counting the turns. apply a drop of red loctite and reinstsall same amount of turns and to the same clocked postion as marked.
That just sounds too risky on losing your adjustment. The pinch should hold on its own. But whatever locktight can get past the pinch then well... thats an added bonus. The nut is usually just pinched in two sides so there should be room for some penetration on the non-pinched sides. That stuff is made to be real thin and if theres any room then it will find a way to soak in.
I don't like the idea of using Loc-Tite. How can I say this to keep peoples mind out of the gutter..if your fasteners are getting loose buy new or find some good used fasteners.
Two things: one is to make the positive stop studs and nuts adjustable, you need to place a thick flat washer under the nut. Two is if the rocker studs are working their way up out of the heads, nothing's going to stop them from going farther and thus your noise is going to continue to pop up.
OK I have made many of them "Adjustable" All you have to do is go to a hardware store and get 16 hardened 3/8" flat washers and 16 5/16" fine thread nuts. Then you turn the engine over to where the valve you are adjusting is on the heal of the cam. Remove the nut (will be a 9/16 head) and put the washer on top of the fulcrum then put the nut back on. Make sure the washer is centered on the stud due to the difference in diameter and tighten the nut till it reaches 0 lash. You can do this by turning the push rod with your fingers while you tighten it. As soon as you feel resistance you are at 0 lash. Then turn the nut another 1/2 turn. Then install the new nut on top of the old one (it will be a 1/2 head), hold the bottom nut with a box end wrench and tighten the top nut with a socket till it becomes a Jam nut. Works very good and like I said, I have done it on many engines. If you have any questions please message me.
^ That sounds like a good way to save the $35 that the one kit Drew was looking at. And good point about the studs pulling up. Take a good look at them and maybe make a few scribe marks at the base of them. Then if the noise comes back after adjusting you can tell if they have lifted higher out of the head.
Well, I just finished doing as you suggested. I suspected I might be able to do it that way, but it was good to hear from someone who has actually done it with success. I put the hardened washers over the fulcrums, then tightened the nut all the way down at first. (This was to ensure the washer was centered; had a tough time keeping them straight without doing that.) Then I backed it off until the pushrod was loose again, turned until I had resistance on the pushrod, and down another 1/2 turn. Put the jam nut on top. I had difficulty keeping the bottom nut still while tightening the jam nut. I don't have a wrench that fits inside the Comp roller tipped rockers. I could have ground one down, but instead I was able to wedge a screwdriver against it to keep the nut still. As I was doing this, I looked at the number of threads left between the tops of the jam nuts and the ends of the studs and started to notice they weren't all the same. At first this bothered me, but by the time I was finished I noticed a pattern. I don't remember which ones ended up further down the stud, (want to say it was the exhaust) but all of the intake valve studs ended up with their nuts at the same level and all the exhaust valve studs matched each other as well. I'm not sure why, but since I've been running 16 pushrods of the same length, it's no wonder the valvetrain made noise. I haven't driven it yet, mainly because it's 2am and my exhaust tends to set off my neighbor's car alarm, but will let you know how it acts tomorrow. Thanks for the help! :Handshake
Yeah, that's the first thought I had when I noticed the difference in the amount the exhaust and intake valves had to be adjusted, but if that's what's going on then several of the studs would've had to back out exactly the same amount, so I don't think that's happening here. I've had pressed in studs come out on a Chevy though, and it sucks.
