I know similar questions have been posted so apologies for adding to possible redundancies..

I've just installed heads (minimal mill just for cleaning) and cam 224/224 581 114LSA (didn't measure BC) and am looking into getting the valvetrain quieted down. The rods are aftermarket 7.40's.

In the process, I checked for play on the rods (they didn't) and realized that the rods could be turned with very little effort using two fingers on all valves fully closed (at the time). I checked this on a cool motor as well as one that had cooled down for about 45 minutes after driving a while.

Is this normal? It would be cool to get some feedback from someone who's valvetrain is (stock) quiet and one who's experiencing the singer blues that can actually check..

thanks,

 

They should not turn freely if the rocker's are torqued to spec. If they spin freely with the rockers torque then your pushrods aren't long enough or your lifter is collapsed.

 

Double check your work and re-torque the rockers @22 ft lbs. before jumping to any conclusions. You might pull 1 pushrod and measure it against your stock ones to make sure they didn't send you the 7.35's

 

I've confirmed that they were torqued to 22ft. lbs. a number of times and measure the pushrods which are 7.40's..

I put the stock pushrods back on and they seemed to quiet it down at idle a bit but I'm still able to turn on closed valves.. (definitely more snug which I believe is due to the larger tips on the stock pushrods).. Based on the torquing down process, with getting to zero lash and getting to a preload of .050 (one and a half turns), I wouldn't have thought it would be possible as well.. up until I actually checked..

 

how can I confirm a collapsed lifter? based on being able to do it on all pushrods that are on a shut valve (i'm pretty sure all will do it if I take the time to check), what are the chances of all lifters getting collapsed?

 

If it's still spinning, then your p-rods are too short. Since it is all the p-rods, it ain't the lifters. Is the rocker rail seated correctly?

 

So the heads you installed were aftermarket heads from ForceFed? Were these heads on there before, or are they new? Maybe ForceFed installed the wrong valves in the heads.

 

ForceFed is sending a set of 7.45's which i should have tomorrow to try out.. We're going under the assumption of the smaller BC on the new cam being the cause.. I just wish I measured it before installing.

CANNIBAL: I've experienced this with the stock rockers as well as the Harland Sharps..

DaleMX: I'll check my paperwork on part #'s for valve's and so on.. and confirm this also. The heads were changed w/ the cam. Just thought I'd mention that Scott w/ Forced's been really cool and is willing to do whatever it takes to get things taken care of.. which, if you ask me is what separates the exceptional from the rest.

I'll be optimistic and figure on getting things resolved soon..

 

As of right now the car runs beautifully!!! It's idling pretty smooth around 875-900, is responsive, breathes and runs through the rpm's effortlessly. Pretty confident it'll idle nicely at 700.. It is once again a bad ***..

As to how things went w/ the longer pushrods, I got them in last night.

First, I should mention that I earlier I put the rockers on with the 7.40's (the first ones I received with the h/c setup) and... I don't know what others have experienced with these guys ,the harlands. I'm not entirely sure they could just be swap with stock rockers, not in my case anyways.. They definitely added to the preload since, although after running the car for a few miles and still able to turn the pushrods, it required much greater effort. I would say the valvetrain quieted down about 50% at this point and the drive showed a fairly noticeable gain at all rpms. All things considered, i could have lived with this..

So.. I swapped in the 7.45's, made sure I didn't lose any compression between the two lengths and fired it up. Man.. it's so quiet I could hear my belts again. Anyways, I drove it in this morning and it felt strong.. real strong. Windows down, if I heard the valvetrain it was that good healthy cool sound. The car feels like it gained at least 20 horses!!!

Needless to say I'm extremely happy with how things have turned out. Kudo's to Scott at ForceFed who sent the longer pushrods next day air and w/o charging me a cent!!! (BTW, Scott I'd have no problem covering costs on these) Thanks to all those who had replied or I had personally talked to (sometimes a different set of eyes, ears, brains helps.. WHEN YOUR HELLA FRUSTRATED!!! And, those HS rockers.. they are bad ***!!!

 

glad you got it worked out