hey guys hows it going i got a question it might sound stupid tho. i recently took my heads off to replace the gaskets and the heads were off for a while now but i did soke the cylinder walls with oil then cleaned them up with tranny fluid now my heads r back on and i wanna know about the rocker arms is there a special way to but them on or do i just but them on and tighten them i dont wanna screw my motor up but i dont even know if it will turn over yet. any help would work thanks

 

Putting the rocker arms back on is strait forward but you will have to adjust them. Do a search for valve adjustment. A shop manual would be a good investment.

 

i have been told to tighten the rockers so they just wiggle back and forth a little then have one side covered with rags or the valve cover so the oil wont go everywhere and then tighten each rocker down till stops making a ticking noise then go a half turn after that, then just do the other side and it should be sent. that is how i have always been told to do it and i have never has any problems but i would still research it to see if there a better way to do it just to make sure.

 

Yup. that's it. But to make it easier, tighten each bolt down till you get 0 lash as in turn the pushrod side to side while tightening the nut. Youll want to get the push rod to have some resistance but not to much. Doing this will get some of the "slack" out of the process. Now once you got all the pushrods at a predetermined 0 lash, cover put on one valve cover and put on some CLEAN material to cover the oil from jumping out of the rockers. Use ANy material that will divert the oil onto the inside of the head so that you wont lose any oil. Now have someone there with you. Now you'll need about 3-6 feet of tubing so that you can put one end to your ear, and the other at the rocker. Turn on the Camaro and put the hose to your ear and the other end to the rocker. You should hear a loud ticking or knocking sound (dont worry, the block is fine). Have you friend slowly tighten the nut until the ticking goes away. Once the tick is gone, turn 1/2 - 3/4 turn. Now do this to all the rockers because there will be a lot of ticking noise that sounds like the block is falling apart. So do all of them. Then once youve got all of them tightened down (2,4,6,8,1,3,5,7), there should be very little knocking noises. Now start agian. Go through each rocker at a time so that you can be sure that each valve has it's 1/2 -3/4 turn. Once youve gone through the 2nd time, then your done. If there is still a ticking sound, then use the hose method and re-adjust.

 

Chevy's correct. You want to find 0 lash by spinning the push rod (engine not running) between your fingers while gently tightening the rocker arm nut (be sure not to lean onto the ratchet you're using, otherwise you will feel resistance caused by your weight, not push rod friction) until you feel resistance. This is 0 lash, everything is in full contact, valve is touching rocker arm, rocker arm is touching push rod, push rod is touching lifter, lifter is touching camshaft.

Hydraulic valves need to be "preloaded" about halfway into plunger travel, so that they can compensate for any wear or surplus/deficit of oil pressure.

This preload is usually 1/2-3/4 more of a turn on the rocker arm nut past 0 lash.


Keep this in mind while adjusting your valves, it is better to have too much lash than too little. This is because components wear in your engine, valves wear into their seats and lifters wear concave, which will lead to premature valve-train wear.

 

thanks guys this was a big help hopeflly i can get my car on the road agian soon i miss driving it

 

Any time bro.