I have a forged ls3 short block being built by TSP and thought I'd go ahead and hang onto my pushrods. After all there was a good chance that the new motor would take the same length. They all seemed perfectly straight. I would guess I was making 650+ rwhp with my boosted cam only sbe LS1 before I decided to sell that short block. I was shifting at 6800 rpm, but did hit the limiter a few times blowing the tires off. I don't really know what standard tolerances for run out are and most were a few thousandths with a couple near 10 thousandths and the highest was 19 thousandths run out. I decided to make a video of how I measured them. This is my tool for measuring runout of my hand loaded ammo so I was limited on length. If I could of measured further toward the end the measurements would have been higher. I noticed no issues with the motor before I pulled it so I was stunned to see the amount of run out some of these pushrods had.

 

Roll them on a pane of glass. Best go/no-go pushrod test I know of.

 

I was always told that as well. I had a tool for measuring run out so might as well use it. The pushrod was clearly bent even by watching the far tip of it in the video without watching the mic you can see it.

 

If a pushrod is bent AT ALL, you replace it. The pane of glass will tell you all you need. Knowing amount of runout is totally unnecessary.
Not being a dick here, just being practical. Some things are just yes or no. Pushrods is one of them

 

I didn’t have a pane of glass laying around, but I had a tool to measure run out so I used it. Now I know without a doubt it was bent. Just like some install a cam dot to dot and know it’s good and some trust nothing so they degree the cam even if they have a non adjustable timing set.

 

When I was checking if my pushrods were bent I put them in a drill. Tightened the Chuck and spun it at 3000rpm lol. Can't miss the bend that way. I had 15 bent lol. Went 11/32s.

 

That's an interesting way of checking pushrods. I like it.

 

Works for valves too clamp the stem and the head wobbles if it is bent.

 

I chuck everything like valves and pushrods up in my old Sioux valve grinder, and give them a spin...