this is getting good

 

Woah guys, I am setting valve lash, although i didn't know i needed to measure the push rods, how do i do this, setting lash with the feeler gauge now, so i have to go back? I never had any valve train failure..

 

Not to discourage him, but when he starts the engine I have a feeling it wont last long. I hope it works out great for his sake, but we will see I guess......

 

why you setting lash with a feeler gauge?

 

I put up a link for how to adjust the valves read that it'll help a lot. Also you do not need to set lash with a feeler gauge unless you are running a solid roller and to save from you asking the question. No you do not have a solid roller cam.

 

How exactly are you setting it? Just wanna make sure your doing it right beforehand.

To check pushrod length take off 1 rocker...take a black marker and color in the top of the valve stem until it is solid black. Put your rocker back on and set the lash on it. Turn your crank a few times. The rocker will wear a pattern into the marker on the top of the valve stem as it moves This is called a witness mark. If the pushrod length is correct, the witness mark should be located on the inboard third of the valve-stem tip. If the witness mark is too close to the intake side of the valve-stem tip, the pushrod is too short. If the witness mark is in the middle or toward the exhaust side of the valve-stem tip, then the pushrod is too long.

 

Make sure you know which valve is what though! The pattern is "EXH INT INT EXH EXH INT INT EXH. Look at the valves in relation to your exhause ports and intake ports on your heads and that will tell you which valve is which.

 

i am doing the exhaust valve, i turned the crank till the intake just started to open, now i am turning the push rod till i feel it start to get tight, then i turn the the lock a quarter of a turn then i tighten the actual lock and do the same to the intake side.. this stating to sound right? no feeler gauge the video was confusing me! sorry...

 

If he's only doing a cam swap and not changing anything else, he won't need to measure pushrod length and just use stock 7.20" pushrods. We know precision isn't paramount in this build anyway.

 

No!!!

 

Adjust the EXHAUST valve when the INTAKE valve begins to CLOSE!

Adjust the INTAKE valve when the EXHAUST valve begins to OPEN!

DO NOT SPIN the pushrod...if you tighten it until you cant spin it they will be TOO TIGHT!

Loosen the rocker and grab the back of it where it sits on the valve. Move it up and down. You should hear a clicking sound of the rocker hitting the valve stem. Tighten the poly until the MOMENT the clicking cant be heard any more. Once you get to that point you will be at ZERO LASH. From there turn the poly 1/2 turn to a full turn to set it. I went 3/4 turn to be safe. Once you have done that use the wrench to HOLD YOUR POLY LOCK STILL, and take your allen wrench and tighten the set screw

 

Alright someone please explain?! i thought that is how you set them.. how do you properly do this... this is how it was done in the video, so this is how i did it... It says, rotate the crank shaft untill the opposite side (exhaust/intake) is starting to open (push down) then tighten the outter part of the lock until it starts to get hard to turn the push rod, then you tighten the outter lock part another 1/4 turn, then you tighten the inner part of the lock and repeat?! can someone help me rather than talk **** thank you Z28camaro30ann!

 

No i can still spin them when they have been set! I just am starting to feel slack in them!

 

I did mine 1 cylinder at a time. I took a piece of paper and wrote my valves down as they looked from the front of the car. like this:

EXH INT INT EXH EXH INT INT EXH

EXH INT INT EXH EXH INT INT EXH

Left would be the front of the engine, right would be the back. As I set a vlalve I would put a checkmark next to that valve on my paper so I knew it was set. Then I would keep turning the crank until the other valve for that cylinder was ready, then I would set its lash, put a check nect to it and cross off that cylinder from my paper. Then I would start on the next cylinder.

Yes you turn the crank alot doing this, BUT you dont get lose or mixed up.

 

Speak laymans terms for him.

boostedpower, just adjust each valve when the lifter is on the base circle (i.e. when you turn the crank and the lifter doesn't move). Spin the pushrod until you barely begin to feel drag, then add your preload. Tighten the **** out of the set screw. Done.

It should be noted that on a higher HP build where valve lash tolerances are much tighter that people do not like the "pushrod-spin-drag" method and opt for a different method.

 

Listen to the video again dude...specifically at 2:20 when he starts talking about the valve positions...

 

Here straight off Shoebox's site that it seem like you are refusing to read
#
Method 3


Another cylinder by cylinder method that does not require looking at the balancer position, follows:

(A remote starter switch is quite helpful)
# Turn the engine in the normal direction of rotation until the exhaust lifter for the cylinder you are adjusting starts to move up (valve begins to open).
# On the intake rocker arm, adjust for zero lash and add your desired preload.
# Turn the engine over again until the intake lifter on the same cylinder comes all the way up (valve open) and then goes almost all the way back down (valve almost closed) .
# Now, adjust the rocker arm for the exhaust valve on that cylinder to zero lash and add your desired preload.

Continue the above procedure for each cylinder until all valves are adjusted to the same amount of preload. This procedure will work for any hydraulic lifter cam with adjustable rocker arms. Refer to this diagram posted above if you need visual reference. The reason I specify lifter movement in the above is because when you start off with completely loose rockers, there is no valve movement to watch.


Poly Locks


Here is something additional for those that use "poly locks" (typically used with roller rockers).

Since the poly lock is not a prevailing torque fastener like the nut used with the stock rocker and ball arrangement, it spins freely on the rocker stud. This gives you an advantage to finding zero lash. With the allen lock backed off, spin down the nut until it just stops. This is very close, if not right on zero lash in most cases. Check your pushrod for proper movement and play with it to get a feeling just how snug or loose the nut should be to obtain zero lash. Once you do that, you can just use the nut to reach zero lash and not have to worry about messing with the troublesome pushrod. This will speed up your valve adjustment.

Another aide is to make a mark on the top of the nut so that you can easily see how far you have turned the nut. I always found it a little difficult to obtain the exact amount of rotation on the nuts under the cowl, because of there being less room to swing a ratchet or other tool handle. I used a little dab of white paint on the top and was easily able to tell when I made a half turn or whatever was needed. Now, I can just use a wrench to tighten the nuts, then throw the allen wrench on it and snug the set screw down (while holding the nut).

Some like to run the allen set screw down and then tighten it and the nut together. If you overdo it this way, you may break the nut. I always have good luck with setting the nut and then the set screw (never had one come loose). With all the variables in making adjustments to hydraulic lifters like the number of turns for preload, methods of finding zero lash and trying to see what you are doing under the cowl, slight errors are common. Just try to be as consistent as possible and use the method that works best for you.

 

Alright so i did one here are some pics, I just did the exhaust i turned the crank until the INTAKE was begining to close (lifter started to go back down) I then turned the pushrod till i felt some slack and turned the outter lock 1/4 turn (at 1/2 to 3/4 i could no longer rotate the pushrods with my fingers and set the lock here are some pics,

 

Read my post.

 

what is this preload i need to set this is what is confusing me i think