96LT1Z

Alright so I went to lash valves and the oil had bled out of all of the lifters. You can move the rocker and push the spring in the lifter up and down. How do I set preload with lifters like this? Should just get to zero lash then add my half turn?

warriorcustoms

iTrader: (10)

I have an old school oil squirt can to use if the intake isnt on... Otherwise Pull the coil wire & fuel relay then crank the bad boy over to pump up the lifters... Thats all I got

shbox

If you can find zero lash, then you don't really have an issue.

96LT1Z

Alright what I think I'm going to do is back the rocker off a full turn. Then start it and set the valves hot so the lifters are pumped up. I'll set them with it hot until the rockers are quiet (zero). Then shut it off and give it the 1/2 for preload

Shownomercy

iTrader: (1)

Rotate engine by hand, watch rocker until lifter is on base circle, find zero lash, add desired preload.

No need to make it more complicated than that.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

... ooooooooooooor if the manifold is still on you can find TDC by taking the #1 spark plug out, get a McD's straw (they are larger than normal ones which makes finding resistance easier), put it into the cylinder, rotate engine until you feel the most resistance on the straw (while pushing pulling), look at rockers (or pushrods) to ensure they are even (valves closed) and you've found TDC. If they are not even then do another full rotation. This way you can follow shbox's adjustment procedure of adjusting a certain set of valves on that rotation, turning crank and adjusting the rest. It can be found here:
http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#adjust_valves

Disregard the "arrow at 12'oclock" reference. Don't ever trust the arrow on the damper to be accurate. Find your own TDC.

big hammer

Doesn't matter if they're pumped up or not. You'll still be able to find zero lash and adjust from there. It will likely tick for the first minute or so after start up, but it should quiet down relatively quickly as the lifters pump up.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

^^^
Agreed. The best and most consistent way to make sure you are at zero lash is to move the PR up/down while tightening the adjusting nut until there is no more slack.

96LT1Z

Alright so I'm going to finally work on the car tonight. Just going to bump the motor over and use the EOIC method and just find zero moving the pushrod up and down then just give it half turn on the poly lock. Just need to be careful not to go past zero I guess

93BlackZ28

iTrader: (5)

Don't over think it like I did. It really is pretty simple.

myltwon

iTrader: (1)

I've always had better luck with setting it while running. The cold method leaves alot up to interpretation and opinion IMO. The fact that you're running poly locks is good as this will make finding zero lash much easier.

96LT1Z

I ended up backing all of the rockers off quite a ways. Started it, ran all of the poly locks down by hand so they weren't ridiculously loose. Then went to each and set them to 1/2 turn. Setting them hot is pry the way I'll go about it from here on out.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

messy

96LT1Z

Very....
Header paint doesn't like oil either

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

True, but the LT-1 s don't spit out anywhere near as much oil as the first gen SBCs did.....