macantley

my engine builder is putting my engine together right now, he says my pushrods are 1.25 turns to long, im assuming he means the retaining bolt on the pushrods.

anyway im not sure yet if texas-speed will allow me to return the pushrods since its now open box, but id love to get a set that are correct length, im using their 2020 cam with 111 LSA this is going into a 2002 LQ4 6.0L with longtube headers and k&N intake. right now my pushrods are the 7.4" length that came with the texas speed kit that i got.


any suggestions on what i should do until i get my builder to give me an exact measurement from my pushrod length checker?

matthew

Tainted

iTrader: (9)

Get him to tell you the right length and swap them out, they cant be shortened.

KCS

iTrader: (20)

Did you mill the heads or anything? 1-1/4 turn is more than .050", which is kind of odd for 7.400" pushrods.

kenp

iTrader: (9)

I wouldn't do anything until I knew exactly what the builder meant. Too long from what preload on what lifters?

macantley

builder says i need 7.34" pushrods, my heads are stock, but im using a cometic .040 headgasket, stock is .051, so i went with alot thinner head gasket, he said worst case i can use the 7.35" pushrods, but i he'd prefer the 7.34 if i can get them.

matthew

kenp

iTrader: (9)

What you're saying you have does not add up to a shorter pushrod. Stock unmilled heads with a head gasket approx .010 thinner than stock and then a cam with a smaller base circle than stock should mean that on an oem style lifter you would still be fine on preload. But whatever.

garygnu

what kind of lifter are you using ?hydraulic or solid ?did the engine builder use solid lifters for the valve train checking ?if you are using hydraulics ,did the engine builder figure in lifter preload ?

Tainted

iTrader: (9)

Youd have to get custom pushrods at that length which aint needed. The next closest general size will be just fine.

macantley

im not sure how lifter preload works, i watched him tighten the pushrods down until the rocker didnt have any play on them (i think finger tightened them), from that point he had to turn the wratchet 1.25 turns until it bottomed out\tightened all the way. he said he prefers 1/4-1/2 turn, im assuming his 1/4-1/2 turn is the preload that we are talking about, My cam was somewhat custom ordered by texas speed and drop shipped directly to me, mine is the 220R camshaft, but im running 111 LSA so it had to be drop shipped to me with the different LSA, i think 112-114 is normal in stock.

my lifters are brand new OEM replacements, i got them on ebay, they are Elgin lifters, supposedly the same lifters that compcams uses/sells

im hoping that all sounds right, ive never worked on valve train before, i mostly just swap engines, and some very light fabrication work. My engine builder normally does LS1, and LS2 motors, he races superstock in a 2000 model camaro and his car is super strong for the class he runs and he's been building for decades so i assume he knows what he's doing, but this is his first time using the adjustable pushrod length checker.

matthew

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

I think at 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 turns you are fine. I would run it and see how it sounds. At 1/4 turn beyond finger tight you will have no preload at all since it takes about 1/3 turn to preload the bolt.