I am replacing the valve stem seals on my GTA and wondering if there is a certain foot/lbs I need to tighten the rocker arm bolts to? Or is there some other way of measuring how tight they need to be? Any help is appreciated.

Jeff

 

there is no specific torque you have to set the lash on them. dont remember what the order is but you rotate the motor till the lifter is on the base circle of the cam then tighten it just to the point that the push rod doesent twist anymore. then go 1/4 to 1/2 turn past that point.... not that hard to do but if you have them too tight the valves will hang open and it will run like crap. too loose and the rockers will make that clicking noise.

 

Final torque value has nothing to do with it. Adjust a couple of the rockers to the proper lash with that cylinder on the compression stroke, then run the rest of the nuts down to about the same point by counting how many threads are sticking out of the nut. Then do a final adjustment on all of them again with the engine warmed up and running. That's probably the easiest/quickest way to get them set properly. You can also set all of them cold by setting half of them with the motor at TDC #1, and the other half at TDC #6. Most repair manuals have the proper sequence listed somewhere. This takes a little longer than the first method though.

 

Ok I wanted to go ahead and comment on my own post since I am now done with replacing all the valve stem seals. The initial problem I had was that once the car had sat for awhile (a few hours or so) it would send a good sized cloud of distinctly blue smoke out of the tail pipes when I started it up. I ordered the valve stem replacement kit (with the umbrella seals for the exhaust...since the exhaust valve stems do not have seals on them from the factory) .

I also bought the spark plug adaptor for high pressure air so that I could pressurize the cylinder I was working on and also bought the spring compressor tool. I am going to bullet the things I did i.e. things learned/mistakes made:

1. Needed a 2.5 gallon compressor running at 60-65 PSI to pressurize the cylinder I was working on. I started at 90 PSI, but it started to turn the motor over.

2. I started on the driver’s side first and removed alternator wires, PCV valve and hose, and even the air pump lines going into the exhaust manifold in order to remove the valve cover without too much wrestling ;however, please see Item 3 below!

3. I would NOT remove the air pump lines going into the exhaust manifold again. I did this to get what I thought would be better access to the spark plugs, but learned it was better to put the back 3 plugs in from under the car (I also put the car up on ramps). Another reason I wouldn’t remove these lines is that it was a huge pain in the rear getting the lines back on. In the end I had to remove the valve cover again to just get the rear line hooked back in!

4. I also used a magnetic probe to help in not losing the keepers once they came loose.

5. I replaced the o-rings as well since they came in the kit and mine were all brittle and cracked anyways.

6. Passenger side process was a pain getting the valve cover off. Two hands are a big help in holding back some of the wiring harness while you manuever/wrestle the cover off. I actually ended up removing the coil and loosening one of the coil mounting bracket bolts so that I could bend the bracket back enough to give the wiring harness a bit more room to allow for clearance on the valve cover removal.

7. Once I had finished the seals I had to set the valve stem lash. I borrowed my Dad’s remote starter switch (handheld) so that I could manually rotate the engine and watch the valve stems/springs. **Remember to disconnect the coil wire from the distributor when you are doing this.** What I did to set the lash (I know there are other ways, but this worked best for me) is start with the #1 cylinder (closest cylinder to the front of the car on the driver’s side). I jogged the motor around using the remote start switch until both valve stems were not moving. I started to tighten the rocker arms down while using my fingers to rotate the push rod until the push rod just started to get pressure on it and I couldn’t turn easily with my fingers. I then kind of “shook” my push rod to make sure it was seated good and in some cases it wasn’t and would go loose again…and then would continue to tighten the rocker arm until it was snug. At that point I would turn the rocker arm nut ½ turn. I would then continue the process of jogging the motor and tightening the rocker arm nuts all the way down. By the time I got done with all of them I would go back and recheck the push rods again to see if any had loosened up with the jogging of the engine and every now and then one would be have loosened up some so of course I would redo that cylinder. Once I finished the driver’s side I would move over to the passenger’s side. Once done I buttoned everything up and started the engine…no clacking and no rough idle!

8. End result is now I have no blue smoke!

9. Oh, I also went ahead and replaced the spark plugs and wires while I was at it and I also replaced the valve cover gasket (which wasn’t such a pain as I thought it would be…the gasket is slightly undersized to the cover and has some rubber tabs that all help hold the gasket in place while you wrestle the cover back in position especially on the passenger’s side!). I put in Bosch Platinum 2s.

 

Rocker arm STUDS get torqued to about 30-40ft/lbs.
Rocker arm NUTS get torqued as mentioned above to set lash.

No such thing as rocker arm BOLTS.
Just had to clear that up. Seems like you've figured out your problem eh?

 

Nothing wrong with the engine turning over during this process. Much better than dropping a valve in the cylinder from too low a pressure to keep it seated, and a lot easier than turning each cylinder to TDC before you work on it.

 

Although I understand what you are saying, having the engine turnover with your wires and hoses tucked away in places they normally are not isn't exactly the kind of excitement I want during engine work. Not to mention it just surprises the crap outta ya!

 

Well, I expect it, so I make sure nothing is put where it can be hurt.