Pushrod clearance to intake

[Dot Heton]

I'm putting my 390 together with Holly Street Dominator intake, ford adjustable rockers. The heads have had .002 skimmed off, the block decked but I don't have the deck height on hand. Custom ground cam similar to comp 270s on new blank so I'm assuming stock base circle. The pushrods are stock ford and might be a hair short but I have a couple threads of the adjuster still showing above the rocker. One pushrod is close to the intake, maybe within .030". I kept the oil shields in place. The oil shields are .024 thick, I really wanted to run without them but I'm not sure why. Stock shafts and stands. It's going in an old truck that I just cruise in so no high RPM's.

Is this no bueno? I was so meticulous with putting on the intake and it went on so perfectly that I'm reluctant to pull it. I could pull it and relieve the troubled spot if you twist my arm.

[Barry_R]

.030 is a mile.  Some folks don't mind if they nearly touch - including Kaase, who told me not to worry so much about it at one time  A light linear touch is no different than all the engines that run guide plates....  I still prefer to have a little daylight.

[Yellow Truck]

Certainly not comparing my experience with Barry R or Jon Kaase, but with a Holley Street Dominator and T&D Edelbrock style rockers I had contact and had to grind some clearance. I had no daylight and ended with about 1/100th of an inch - hard to measure but 2 to 3 thicknesses of a sheet of paper.

Doesn't seem to be doing anything strange.

[My427stang]

Same here, as long as it isn't touching hard or trying to turn a corner, it's OK, but I like to try to get a calibrated eyeball .005-ish, which means enough room that I can confidently see it

[jayb]

I assume that you checked the clearance while turning the engine over?  The pushrods move around in the holes with cam rotation, due to changes in the location of the pushrod end of the rocker.  If you didn't check while rotating the engine, you should do that, especially on that close one...

[Dot Heton]

I rotated the engine and checked it at multiple spots. I called the machine shop and they said the pushrods were very close to the correct length.  im not too worried about it now