My TT 351w just bent the #6 intake pushrod.. and I do mean bent.. As in the roller rocker was no longer pushing the valve on the roller tip; the valve was being opened by the aluminum beside the roller! I think I cought it pretty early on. My setup is this: 1.7 rockers, comp cams pushrods, matchin guideplates, dual valve springs, 2.02/1.60 stainless Ferrea valves, stock 5.0 roller cam, stock 5.0 hydro lifters, aluminum ProComp heads, ARP head studs. The contact pattern on the valve tip is darn near the middle, just a poop skin towards the exhaust side of the heads, but just barely. I'm pretty sure I got the pushrod length correct. I about crapped my pants when I saw this because the engine only has 20 miles of very easy street driving on it, some idle time, and has never been over 4600 rpms yet. I still have a few things to do before I can put it on the street. I pulled the head and the valve.. it never hit the piston, and the valve stem is perfectly straight.. (rolled on a flat surface and watched the face). I don't get it.. how did this pushrod bend? The only theory I can come up with is the lifter collapsed (vehicle sat for about 6 months while I was moving, etc, etc) and the pushrod jumped slightly out of the bucket in the lifter.. then got caught in the guide plate and jammed a bit. Has anyone run into something like this? I have some Crower solid roller lifters that are going in, but I really don't want to put it back together without knowing what went wrong.
