As you can see I didn't buy new
rockers so I made my own clearance with my die grinder. I sure have used
this tool a bunch and will probably use it more before I'm finished. Now
the chips that come off these rockers are heat treated and get into you
skin easy because there're so sharp (now how do you think I know that).
I'll be cleaning all the bearings in solvent before I assemble
anything.
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The engine builder said "Let
there be light....and there was light". Notice the clearance
between the spring retainer and the rocker arm now. It only took a few
minutes per rocker to produce enough clearance to make the difference.
How much is enough here? Any is enough but I gave it a little extra just
to make sure. Now it's time to set the proper valve lash, which is
.028" and then I can start checking the travel of the rocker arm over
the valve stem. What I mean is, while the valves are going up and down,
the rocker arms are moving too. The rockers push down on the valves but
when they're pushing, there moving along the top surface of the valve
stem. This movement should be centered on the top of the valve stem as
it moves. If not, the valve guides will get worn prematurely
on one side or the other depending if it were to far forward or
backward. By adjusting the screw in the pushrod, I can make sure the rocker arm stays
centered through out it's motion which in turn will determine the
correct length. I put a small amount of grease on
top of the valve stem, then cranked the engine around a few times and
then checked the pattern that it left. After adjusting the screw in the
push rod, I was able to achieve the correct pattern (even amounts of
grease left on both sides of the valve stem) which meant the length was
right. I came up
with a length of 6.500". Now this is short because a
stock one is 7.800 long so I'm talk'n over 1 1/4" difference here.
That's fine because that means the shorter ones will weigh less. Anytime
that you have lighter moving parts, that translates into higher RPM and
more horsepower. I also checked valve-to-piston clearance to make
sure I wasn't going to hit anything. The minimum you want is about
.100" and I had over .375" which is a bunch so I won't have to
worry about a valve hitting my pistons. Should of bought a bigger cam is
guess...
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After a call to Iskenderian, my
pushrods arrived. There're made out of heat treated 4130 steel with an
.080" wall thickness which will be more than enough for my needs.
Most companies, like Isky, sell these in increments of .050" long
so that makes it easy to find the right length. Iskenderian claims that
there product has the highest stiffness/mass ratio. These also have an oil hole that goes through to oil the top of the
engine. I'm just about ready to install the valve train and then put in
the motor. One more thing has to be done though and that's paint the
engine block. I'll be ordering some paint next week and then breaking
out the paint gun.
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Here I'm getting ready to install the guide plates
and rocker studs. The studs will get some assembly lube along with some
black RTV compound. Only one stud will be needing the RTV because the
intake studs break into the intake ports so this will keep them from
leaking.
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