i put my heads back on and se the lash on the roller rockers but whne i fired up the car i could hear the valves were way off, it was kind of making a slapping noise, i am going to readust the rockers but i am not sure when the valve is fully closed. is there any kind of trick to telling whne the lifter is collapse without takeing the lower intake off again?
Put motor back together, rockers not adjusted right. please help
- Thread starter 90lxcoupe
- Start date
EMW150
Founding Member
Adjust them in the firing order. Pull all the plugs out and get it at TDC #1 cylinder and adjust both valves. You can either watch the rockers or pull the dist. cap off and follow the rotor to #1. With #1 it's easy because you can get it close and then just bring it up to 0 on the balancer. For the other cylinders if you follow in order you can either mark you're balancer in 90 degree increments and go through them that way or you can feel in the plug hole with a pocket screwdriver each piston coming up to top dead center as you're turning it.
Notchbck93
New Member
I assumed that you used your dial indicator along with a shim kit for adjusting the positive stop rockers arms right??
There is a very involved process to setting the positive stop rockers and it involves removing the lower and spending a couple of hours to do it correctly.
And even after you do all of that , they do clatter a bit.
There is a very involved process to setting the positive stop rockers and it involves removing the lower and spending a couple of hours to do it correctly.
And even after you do all of that , they do clatter a bit.
NeQX
Founding Member
sometimes i think suicide is better then adjusting stud mount roller rockers, if they're pedestal just torque em down its easy stuff, otherwise read up some on stud mount online i dont have the links but many sites explain how to do it......certain order and you goto 0 lash then turn certain amount and lock the locknut, its time consuming and tedious, if you have the $$ pay a performance shop to do it..i tried numerous times and had no luck but a couple times i got it right 
Michael Yount
Mustang Master
Actually, I find installing the pedestal mounts correctly is more tedious than the stud mounts. For either, the cam has to be on the base circle for the pair you're installing (both valves closed). Put your socket on the crank pulley and rotate the engine clockwise until the exhaust valve opens and closes. As it's closing the intake will start opening. Slowly rotate until the intake valve closes all the way -- you can now install/re-do your install on that pair. If you start with #1, and follow the firing order, you'll find the next pair in the order will require just a small amount of engine rotation before they're ready to do.
For stud or pedestal, once both valves are closed, slowly tighten the bolt or nut until there's zero lash - that is, the rocker won't rock by hand because there's no gap on the pushrod end or the valve stem end. For stud mount, from this point you simply tighten 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn, and then set the allen head lock and you're done.
To properly install the pedestal mounts you have to torque the bolt to 17-20 ft-lbs. while you are counting the number of turns it takes to get there. You should hit that torque somewhere between 1/4 and 1 turn. If it takes more than one turn to get there, you need to shim that rocker to raise it's height. One .030" shim will reduce the number of turns by about 1/4. Most people use shims to try and get all of theirs to hit the torque at about the same number of turns - around 1/2-3/4. On mine, 11 of them hit the torque without shimming at about 1/2 turn. 4 of them required a .030" shim to hit at 1/2 turn, and 1 required a .060" shim to hit at 1/2 turn. If your heads have been cut, or the block decked and shorter pushrods were not used, you may need shims on all of them. If it takes less than 1/4 turn to hit the torque, you're gonna need longer pusrods, or to remove some material from the bottom of that rocker's trunion. You'll know you have this problem if you find it's not possible to get to zero lash by hand, or you can't get zero lash even with it fully torqued. Good luck with it.
edit - Oh, I've also discovered that this works best (for both types) if the engine's warm. So do the best job you can with it cold, but know that after the first warm up, if one or two are making racket, you may have to go back when things are warm, and do it again. If you're lucky, you may be able to determine which rockers(s) are making the noise, and perform the installation procedure on just those. I've never been able to do that. Once they're correct, if for some reason you have to remove them, as long as none of the components affecting valve train dimension change, simply keep track of the shims and put them back the same way and you should be fine. I had mine quiet, did a cam change, and had to go back through the same procedure all over again - including re-checking them when warm to quiet down a couple of noisy ones. Mine run as quiet as it did when stock. (pedestal mount 1.7 rollers)
For stud or pedestal, once both valves are closed, slowly tighten the bolt or nut until there's zero lash - that is, the rocker won't rock by hand because there's no gap on the pushrod end or the valve stem end. For stud mount, from this point you simply tighten 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn, and then set the allen head lock and you're done.
To properly install the pedestal mounts you have to torque the bolt to 17-20 ft-lbs. while you are counting the number of turns it takes to get there. You should hit that torque somewhere between 1/4 and 1 turn. If it takes more than one turn to get there, you need to shim that rocker to raise it's height. One .030" shim will reduce the number of turns by about 1/4. Most people use shims to try and get all of theirs to hit the torque at about the same number of turns - around 1/2-3/4. On mine, 11 of them hit the torque without shimming at about 1/2 turn. 4 of them required a .030" shim to hit at 1/2 turn, and 1 required a .060" shim to hit at 1/2 turn. If your heads have been cut, or the block decked and shorter pushrods were not used, you may need shims on all of them. If it takes less than 1/4 turn to hit the torque, you're gonna need longer pusrods, or to remove some material from the bottom of that rocker's trunion. You'll know you have this problem if you find it's not possible to get to zero lash by hand, or you can't get zero lash even with it fully torqued. Good luck with it.
edit - Oh, I've also discovered that this works best (for both types) if the engine's warm. So do the best job you can with it cold, but know that after the first warm up, if one or two are making racket, you may have to go back when things are warm, and do it again. If you're lucky, you may be able to determine which rockers(s) are making the noise, and perform the installation procedure on just those. I've never been able to do that. Once they're correct, if for some reason you have to remove them, as long as none of the components affecting valve train dimension change, simply keep track of the shims and put them back the same way and you should be fine. I had mine quiet, did a cam change, and had to go back through the same procedure all over again - including re-checking them when warm to quiet down a couple of noisy ones. Mine run as quiet as it did when stock. (pedestal mount 1.7 rollers)
thanks for all the help i have pedistal mount not studs by the way, i was out there all day yesterday and i couldnt get them right and i have an appoinment for my car to go in the shop for front springs weds. so i think i am just going to have them check it out
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