anyone have any tips on adjusting rockers or know of a writeup on this?
have never done this before so have no past expierence. I was told i want to remove the valve covers, run the engine with the rockers loose and tighten the bolts just when they snug up the rockers.
If you have a old valve cover,you can cut the center out to reduce the amount of oil spilling when it runs,but lossen them up till they "clack" and then slowley tighten till the noise stops,that is zero lash,then go another 1/2-3/4 turn
I prefer to do mine by pulling the plugs and putting each cylinder to TDC and and adjusting my lash that way(solid cam here)
I would do it the way iskwezm said. It is easy and very accurate, plus you can listen to the engine and how it is running. It makes it easier to pinpoint error. I had a lot of problems because my valves were adjusted incorrectly. I am going to go to the junkyard this week and get an old valve cover to hack up.
Do not try the engine running method. It's messy, smokey, and confusing.
Why are you asking anyway? If you just have a single ticking sound or two, try some Marvel Mystery Oil; it may just be a stuck lifter and this stuff may clean it up and make the ticking stop.
What engine and cam do you have? The procedure varies according to whether you have an adjustable valvetrain or a solid cam.
If you've got an adjustable valvetrain and a hydraulic cam, just keep in mind that what you're trying to do is set the plunger at the halfway point between the top and the bottom of its travel, with the cam on its base circle. I just bring the #1 up to TDC compression, and tighten the rocker nut down while moving the pushrod in an up and down motion. When the up and down runs out of room, I switch to a twirling motion. When I feel drag on the twirling -- that's zero lash -- I give it a 1/2 turn. Then I do the other valve. Then I crank the engine 90 degrees and do the next cylinder in the firing order, then the next, etc. If I get confused about whether I've hit zero lash, I just loosen up the nut and start over. You'll get good at it pretty quickly.