The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Hey Dave, those rods were 9.250"
Erson recommend 9.210"
Crower recommend 9.160"
Crane recommend 9.125"
For hyd. cam and adj. rockers. Any other lengths would have to be made. Whaddya think?

For those that do not know, I have had problems with breaking rockers and rocker adjusters. Dave kindly came down last weekend, and sorted me out.

The Crane ones sound OK. 0.125 is an 1/8th of an inch. Just over 3mm.

The problem Jeff was having was that the Crane rocker adjusters were breaking. Crane have admitted that they were using a faulty batch at one time and lots of people had this problem.

I just wanted to be sure that everything else about this valvetrain setup was OK. Just as well I did.

On assembly of the rockers and pushrods on just the #1 cylinder it was clear to see that the adjuster was not fully all the way through the rocker. I like to see a bit of adjuster thread under the rocker to be sure that the load is being carried by as many threads as possible.

The other thing was that, because the adjuster was not very far through the rocker, at max lift the edge of the cup on the end of the pushrod was getting very close to the underside of the rocker. With the engine running and the lifter pumped up with oil pressure it must be hitting the rocker.

An examination of Jeffs old rockers showed clear crescent shaped witness marks on the bottom of each rocker.

I guess a pushrod 0.125 inch shorter will be OK. I might have been tempted to go shorter than that to be honest. But I am sure that these pushrods Crane reccommend will be fine.

Just get some solid spacers to replace those awfull springs on the shaft. The washers on each end of them are like razors!

Good, cos I ordered them yesterday!
I know our thoughts on the spacers Dave, and my fingers are still sore.

And that was a bit sneaky taking my photo when I wasn't looking ya git!

Hah!
I just got a mail from the guys at Edelbrock, They tell me to use 9.125" pushrods with my setup.

There you go then.

Now all you have to do is fit those....and tune the carb.

How do you adjust the valve clearence on a V8 engine? I have only done this on a four-banger before. Then I used adjust one cylinder at a time (both intake- and exhaust valve). Do you do in a similar way on a V8?

Pull out the spark plugs. Use a 1-1/4 inch socket on the crank pulley and a long ratchet to turn it.
Find TDC on #1. Mark the crank pulley at 4 even spaces 90 degrees apart and follow this chart.

Thanks! I have seen that adjustment cart before (but apparently forgotten it!).
I guess that a fully 360 degree marked damper or a timing tape is a must, if you want to do the job with precision.

Not at all. Just 4 marks on the pulley is all you need. It does not have to be exactly 90 degrees every turn as long as any small error is not added every time.

As long as one valve is well on it's way to being open then the other one must be fully closed and that is the one you adjust.

You twist the pushrod between your finger and thumb and adjust it until you just feel it start to drag. That is zero lash.

Any hydraulic lifter set to zero lash is a anti pump-up lifter. But unless you have race type lifters with a heavy circlip in the top instead of the stock type bent wire thing then chances are it will fail.

To be sure everything is OK you need to give the lifter a little pre-load. That way the clip on the top of the lifter does not get as much (or any) load. So after finding zero lash you give the adjuster another half to one full turn.

My lifters have the heavy duty clip in the top so I only give them a half turn of pre-load Max.