ok i had a rocker arm that was loose and i kept bending pushrods and broke one off. well i figured a lifter was bad cause i would hear a tapping sound adn then it would quit. well today i left work and it was tapping real bad and quit when i got on the interstate and i was cruising along when a fellow 3rd gen pulled up and cruised next to me and then guned it and then i ment to ease into it adn all of a sudded the car kinda jerked and started pecking and knocking. so i hobbled off to a local park and ride to check it out i figured my tq converter bolts were loose since oil presure was good (40-55psi) i knew i didnt fry a berring. started it up was even worse. so i took valve covers off and on pass side the farthest back rocker was sideways and pushrod was snaped off at the point where it comes through the head! i was lucky that the other pice didnt fall back into the motor! well i putt another pushrod in the motor (since i have plenty extras just in case) started it up sounded fine so i cut it off finished cleaning up and went to start it up again and there it went pecking again so at this point i was pissed! my girlfriend followed me home abot 1mile away and i parked it. while we were out tonight i stopped at autozone and picked up some liffters and intake gasket set and once i got home and got everyhting apart i got to looking once i took that rocker arm off the sides of the stud are slotted from the rocker shiming side to side! I have once replaced that rocker arm a week ago cause it keept bening pushrods cause the slot had gotten gouged out caouse valves werent adusted right. my question is how in the hell am i to get the stud out of the head and a new one in by monday? please help anyone!

 

well i'm awake, so i'll try to help you out.

somehow your pushrod slot has widened, and is not holding your pushrod straight eh? and only that one? weird. oh wait, re-read, did you notice if your pushrod slot is wider at that spot? check to see if you a pushrod will wobble left to right in the slot much, I think it should have .015" clearance on the side or so. There's a reason why your rocker is tending to go sideways and chew up rockers and studs.


ok, so you need a mickey fix to hold that one rocker still, so you can drive the car on monday? I think you've got a couple of options:

1) buy one self aligning rocker, if you can't buy a single one, buy a set and only put one on for now, then put the rest on next weekend or something. You've replaced that rocker arm stud before? so it's threaded in then right? so you should be able to buy another set of those, and thread a new one in.
if it's not threaded in, how is it held in? (i'll assume it's threaded in, otherwise you're in for a bigger hassle of tapping the hole with the heads on the car...)

2) putting on guideplates, or at least a guideplate. I think that's much less feasible then option 1, in spite of the large cost of a set of self aligning rockers.

ps. if you go for option 1, you might be able to get to a junkyard, and find a car that has self aligning rockers stock, and snag one with the 5 finger discount. Or buy one, if they'll let you just buy a single one.

hope this helps

 

well i think i fixed it for now atleast. it has pressed in rocker studs. i took the rocker off and put a bunch of closed end wrenches on the stud almost to end of it and put te nut on and tightened it until it pulled the stud from the head. then i did the same to and extra head i had laying in my shed that came off my old motor. then i cleaned it up rubed some oil on it to aid it sliding in and tapped it in w/ a mallet. now i hpe my problem is solved. the reason my rockers were moving was cause the valves werent uite adjusted right and ive had a hell of a time geting them right. well the rocker had just moved around so much that it eventualy tore up the stud and started to dent my new valve covers but i think when i take the car to get the body work done and painted im gona take the heads and get them ported and pollished and get screw in studs instaled since i wanna put a better cam and roller tip rockers any way and since its geting painted its not like im gona be driving it much! oh and a friend and his step dad are painting it for me and im doin dissasembly and hlping on prep to cut down costs. so it could be down for a few weeks and that would give me good time to work on it!

 

if you hammered in a new one, it'll come out very quickly. i'd drill it and pin it with a roll pin. you can do it with the heads on, just keep vacuuming as you go.

 

I agree, if you put it back in, it will come out even faster than before. I would even consider tapping and installing screw in repair studs.

 

For about a dollar apiece, a set of screwed studs is lookng pretty attractive. It's cheaper than a wiped valve train.

 

Do not remove the damaged rocker stud. You can repair it.
Weld up the gouge in the rocker stud shaft with a mig welder. Carfulley grind down the weld till its smooth and round with a die grinder and a stone bit.
Check the pushrod slot in the head. It should be 5/16" wide. If its too chewed drill it out and install 1 self aligning rocker 87+. if the slot is ok install and new rocker, ball and nut and a new pushrod..

 

ill have to look into that tonight when i go to autozone but right now i have biger problems i went to start it and the timming must have been out and shot a flame fom the carb and set the top of the motor on fire luckaly i got it out before anything was messed up. scared me though now im doing clean up and im gona pull distributer and start over. im not planing on running it long w/ that stud in there if at all now but im gona just take it to a shop cause its been pissing me off ever since i got it home and im about ready to give up unless someone on here lives near and could come give me a hand!?