How do you know if your rockers need adjusting?

jcode68

Active Member
Jul 15, 2003
892
1
29
Massachussetts
I have a new CHP 347 with all roller valvtrain that I swapped in addition to a number of other upgrades. Projects combined took some time for me to work all the gremlins out (yeah, I admit I took my sweet a$$ time too...). Anyway, I now have the engine running and tuned really good and have been putting a few miles on it, probably clocked 150 miles now. Is it normal to check and adjust the rockers as part of the break in process for a new engine like mine? If the valves need adjustment, what would the symptoms be other than being noisy? I'm running AFR 185 heads if that matters.
 
On cars I've had with mechanical (non-hydraulic) valvetrain, the valves didn't get noisy (which would indicate them loosening) the car just got harder to start due to the valves getting tighter. How often you check them depends on how hard you run it.
 
Yeah, especially if you check and have good compression on all the cylinders. Leave 'em alone. If you have low compression, you may need to back off on the preload, but that (low compression) would have likely been a problem from the get-go.