Experience: Comp cams 268H in a stock 289

[GT1966]

Yep, can't wait to find a few hours to pull this baby and dismantle.... I would bet my life on the fact that I was crankin' down on the adjusters to move the rockers away from the valve covers (God, does that sound stupid) which is when the noise went away, so more must be better!!! NOT. I did hone all the lifter bores and things were quite smooth, but I thinjk all the tinkering in getting the motor to run probably just blew away the assembly lube. I've learned SO much, but still have a hard time getting a full night's rest before I awaken with an "OH ****, that where I screwed up"! Thanks all.
GT1966

 

[mj440]

just out of curiousity, I know the roller cams and lifters need hardened push rods and I have seen people wipe out motors because of this mistake, I'm not sure on the comp solid cam though if it needs hardened push rods but worth checking. Also I've seen cam lobes wipe out from a carb float sticking it dumps gas in the oil.

 

[D.Hearne]

just out of curiousity, I know the roller cams and lifters need hardened push rods and I have seen people wipe out motors because of this mistake, I'm not sure on the comp solid cam though if it needs hardened push rods but worth checking. Also I've seen cam lobes wipe out from a carb float sticking it dumps gas in the oil.

Someone's mislead you here, either that or you've misunderstood the reason that hardened pushrods are needed. Hardened pushrods have a harder surface that's required to run them with pushrod guide plates where there's a metal to metal contact between the guides and the pushrods. They're also needed on the older 289 heads that had a slot cut into the heads where the pushrods passed thru them. This slot served the same function as guide plates do now (keeping the rocker tip centered on the valve stem) Hardened pushrods have no association with roller cams or roller rockers (unless the rockers are the types that need to be used with guide plates) As an example, if you have a late model 5.0 roller cammed motor thats run on an engine with the 78-up small block factory heads, this is the type of head that uses pedestal type rockers, these rockers aare positioned on the head and kept in alignment by means of the rocker fulcrums (pedestals) The thin metal shims under the pedstals are the mechanism that keeps the alignment, and does not come into contact with the pushrods. As such, hardened pushrods are not needed, they can be used, but they're not necessary. If you try to run std, non hardened pushrods with guide plates, the guide plates will shave the sides of the rods where they contact the guides.

 

[mj440]

right, thats what I was curious on I know the later roller ford 5.0 require hardened push rods, but wasn't sure if his set up did.
Thanks for the info