Hydraulic lifter Pump-up

[JimNolan]

Guys,
    I got another question. Will the lifters pump up to maximum ridgity by rotating the oil pump with a drill, allowing me to adjust the valves without the engine running. Or, is the spring inside the lifter itself adaquate to provide enough ridgity to set valve lash. What I'm doing is eliminating most of the gap by raising and lowering the push rod, once gap is almost gone I rotate push rod back and forth with my fingers until I feel a slight resistance in turning. From what I've read, once slop has been taken out, rotate adjustment 1/4 turn. I'm using the firing order method of setting both intake and exhaust at top dead center of power stroke. Am I correct. Jim  PS.  Someone could have told me that my beautiful set of 66 GT valve covers weren't going to work on adjustable valve rockers. What a let down that was.

[jayb]

Bummer on the valve covers; I'm surprised they didn't clear.  Are they hitting the top of the adjuster screws?  If you don't have a lot of interference you can always double up on the valve cover gaskets; just glue two of them together to make one thick gasket to get added clearance.

You shouldn't need to pump up the lifters with oil to do the adjustment, the spring in the lifter should hold the lifter seat and pushrod up to their maximum height.  I'd be cautious about spinning the pushrod between your fingers for an indication of when you start getting depression of the lifter seat; it is easy to get fooled by that.  Suggest you just keep moving the pushrod up and down until the slack goes away, then tighten an additional quarter turn or whatever.  I usually use a half turn.

[JimNolan]

Thanks Jay,
    The top of the rockers are hitting. That's the unbaffled end also. There's no way in H _ _ _ they'll set down on there without substancial raising like you suggested. Not going to do that. Wish I could use my 63 covers but putting oil in through the dipstick seems like a waste of time. I've got a set of cast finned covers that I'll use.
    I'll adjust them the way you said, go 1/2 turn more and see if they chatter, if they do I'll go more until chatter is gone. I don't think I'll be able to adjust with the engine running very easily. The adjusters have to be turned with a breaker bar no less. They are a lot nicer than the Pop's I had once that the man told me to pound the side of the rocker with a hammer to increase tension on the threaded adjuster. That was a real work of art. The adjusters could be screwed all the way in and out without a wrench. And, they weren't made for lock nuts. I'm suspicious of new products, expecially since they sell rocker arm's that are 50 years old on Ebay for premium prices. The fact that they are still here and wanted after 50 years should mean something.

[ScotiaFE]

I'm more a full turn guy.
A good .040" press on the lifter will not hurt.
The lifter should be empty when setting preload.

[fe66comet]

You could use the gasket as a template and make spacers out of aluminum. I have done that many times to get past baffles and other obstacles in the way of my valve train.

[machoneman]

If you must, Dennis @ DSC has FE spacers......not cheap but.....

http://www.dscmotorsport.com/asp/products/content_cylinder.asp?SubCat=65&GroupID=2

[My427stang]

It takes time, but in cases where I didn't have time to babysit a build, I have mocked up the valve train with the intake off and measured the preload at the lifter.

Then disassemble, keep pieces in the same location, and put the intake on and reassemble.  It certainly builds a little confidence over feeling the preload and counting rocker turns.

[Barry_R]

We're the same as Ross.  We measure every build for pushrod length before installing the intake & do it at zero preload with the adjuster position set a turn/thead back from desired end position.  That way we know how far down we'll get with a full turn.

When you're "done" all the adjusters should look similar - if you have one thats way higher or lower you know there's something that requires a re-do.

[afret]

If you really want to use those valve covers, why not just sell the adjustable rockers and go back to the non adjustable ones?  It should be easy to measure the length of the pushrod with the lifter plunger at the top then add .05 or whatever preload you want to the length and order custom pushrods.  Just be sure to measure each one and use a 12" caliper and a ball-ball pushrod length checker.  You can order different length pushrods if needed.

Another thing you could look at is the length of your adjuster screws.  If they are too long, and a lot sticks out past the lock nut, a shorter set might make a difference.

[JimNolan]

If you really want to use those valve covers, why not just sell the adjustable rockers and go back to the non adjustable ones?  It should be easy to measure the length of the pushrod with the lifter plunger at the top then add .05 or whatever preload you want to the length and order custom pushrods.  Just be sure to measure each one and use a 12" caliper and a ball-ball pushrod length checker.  You can order different length pushrods if needed.

Another thing you could look at is the length of your adjuster screws.  If they are too long, and a lot sticks out past the lock nut, a shorter set might make a difference.

Afret,
    Edelbrock refuses to warranty the heads if I go to 1.73 rockers. I will try my best to honestly adhere to their requirements so if anything happens to the heads I can confront them with conviction. I'm glueing two cork gaskets together now and I've bought a set of rubber gaskets that I plan on applying to the heads permanently with rtv assuring the level of the intake-head match at the ends.  I already know that the Edelbrock rocker studs work without interfernce, so it's just getting the height for the adjusters to clear. If this effort somehow fails I will order the spacers from DSC or Barry. I just wish they made extentions in 1/4" increments. I've got to consider my power brake booster. I didn't know they made different length adjusters. I'll look into it depending on how plan "A" turns out. Thank you for your input. Jim

[afret]

It's admirable how you're trying to follow the specifications listed on the Edelbrock FE Performer RPM Head instruction sheet.  But have you looked at what else they require on that sheet besides the 1.76 adjustable rockers?  They say to use Ford B8AZ-6565-C pushrods with 9.180" center of ball to center of cup and 9.370" overall length, 7* x 3/8" valve locks (#9612), 30* intake valve seat, 1.55" diameter springs installed at 1.885" with 120 lbs seat pressure, and so on.

So if you use different valve springs, retainers, valve locks, pushrods, rockers, than what is listed, I guess the warranty is void.  I don't think you can get those pushrods anymore.  Also if you read the warranty on the Edelbrock site, they state that the warranty is void if the product is changed or modified in any way or used for racing.  So if you do anything to the head or take it to the track, the warranty is no good.

I think they have covered themselves pretty well.   

[fe66comet]

One thing I do know on race parts you get the taillight warranty, you buy it you own it.

[jmlay]

And they will know you used a different rocker arm how?

[JimNolan]

Guys,
   I called them and talked to them about it. They just gave geometry as the reason for wanting 1.76 rockers. So I went with it. Does anyone on here use 1.73 rockers with 60069 Edelbrock heads. I'd like to hear from them as to their experiences.

[fe66comet]

Just a question? Why would you want to go with a lower ratio rocker? Are you trying to tame down your camshaft or do you have valve clearance issues, just wondering?