Weird rocker adjustment?

[RACEME]

I got my 95 mustang running last night but it was not the normal setup to do it.

I have the dart pro 1 alum 170 cc (13111181) heads on a factory oem 93 mustang shortblock with a trickflow stage 1 cam (.510 +\-) and factory ford hyd. roller lifters. I am also running Comp. Cams 1.6 silver roller rockers and 6.5" hardened pushrods.

I adjusted the rockers like this. I spin the pushrod with my fingers while tighting the rocker nut until there is tension on the pushrod and I almost can not spin it. Then I crank the nut about 3/4 turn more and lock the set screw.

At first the motor would not start. After checking all the normal stuff (fuel, spark, air, dist. position ect) I put my compression tester in the spark plug hole and had no compression in any cylinder. It turns out that the rocker was holding the valve open slightly all the time. I had to back the adjusting nut off all the way and only give it 1/8th turn or less of preload.

It starts and runs like this with no strange ticking or anything, but I am still nervous about the small amount of preload I have on the lifters.

Has anyone ran into this? Could the springs be weak? (heads came assembled)
I have not checked the spring pressures, and I don't think I have the tools to do it. It is like my factory lifters have an ego problem?

Thanks...Tim

 

[millhouse]

It sounds like your adjusting the preload too tight. When your feeling for pre-load you want the point at which there is "barely" any resistance on the pushrod and then turn the 3/4. If it becomes in the least bit difficult to spin you have gone to far. If it were me I'd go back and re-adjust them for peace of mind.

 

[GT_Rich]

Yeap, what he ^ said. You could also adjust them running since the car now runs for you. If you search my username you'll find a few posts where I suggested this and the details.