i just took my whole engine apart to replace the head gaskets and know im putting it back together... i have a 89 firebird with a 2.8L V6 MFI engine and i need to know the torque setting for the nuts that tighten on the rocker arm stud... i have a chilton book but it say 11 in pounds which is WAY to loose... i even tried 11 ft pounds and it still felt loose... can someone help me???

 

Well for starters the nuts that tighten down on the rocker stud dont get torqued they need to be adjusted. If you have the Chiltons manual it should have a section on adjusting your rocker arms.

 

well i looked that up first and its telling me to rotate the engine to the no.1 firing position then exhaust valves 1,2, and 3 and intake valves 1,5, and 6 may be adjusted and so on... but do i really have to do all that just to tighten the rocker arms down??? and thanks!

 

Yup you found it. Also yes you really have to do all that. The reason is our valve trains are adjustable and theres no set torque or position that just works for all situations. Your objective when adusting your rocker arms is to remove all play (lash) and then tighten them down just a little bit further (preload). The reason you have to turn the motor over to certant positions is because you need to adjust the valves when the lifter is not sitting on a cam lobe. The problem is say you adjusted the rocker arms when the camshaft was in a postion to fully open that valve. You go through adjust for 0 lash plus preload that valve will never open and it will make a horrable ticking sound because when the cams in a position when that valve should be fully closed now you have a ton of play. The flip side is if you over tighten them the valve may never close and could even hit the piston. Needless to say its very important to follow the precedure to the letter. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Do it once do it right.

 

thanks so much! and one more question... i didnt see a diagram in the book... but how do i know which rocker arm is for the intake and which is for the exhaust???

 

Also just another little heads up just so you know. #1 firing position is where you probably want to start. To find TDC (top dead center) #1 you just line up the line on your harmonic balancer with the 0 degree mark on your timing tab. The word of caution I will offer you is that when these 2 points are lined up it only means that cylinder # 1 is at top dead center and this happens twice once in the compression stroke (#1 firing position) and also on the exhaust stroke (can't recall which cylinder would be firing at this point on a v6). You need to make sure you are in the right position otherwise you will adjust all the valves wrong and its enough of a pain without having to go through and do it twice.

 

Easy way to tell is the exhaust valve will line up with the associated port on the exhaust manifold. Meaning if you look straight down you will see 2 valve. Below one of the valves you will see an exhaust port the other one wont line up with the exhaust manifold so well this is the intake valve.

 

thanks so much! you dont know how much help this advice was to me and i greatly appreciate it!

 

Oh you might be surprised lol. It wasn’t all that long ago I was tinkering around with my first third gen (also a 2.8). I was 16 and didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I still remember what it was like having to go though and learn a lot of this stuff as I went. I’m glad I could help. Best of luck and as always if you have any further questions feel free to ask.