fishkg

I'm trying to rundown a ticking noise in the driver's side valve train.
I have the valve cover off, and all the rocker arms seem snug except for the one closest to the firewall. It doesn't rock up and down, but it does rock side to side just a very little. My real concern is that when I twist it on the stud, it has a definite pop, like it slides back and forth over a bump on the valve/spring end. None of the other rocker arms do this. They have a slight slide back and forth, but they are smooth and firm.

Oh yeah, its a 69 302.

Anybody have any input?

TheRebel

Orginal heads and studs? My 69 302 with orginal studs did the same thing on the same rocker. The threads on the stud were stripped towards the bottom and I could not tighten the rocker down far enough. Replaced the stud and the problem was cured. Something you can try but is messy, Start the car with the covers off and see if you can thighen the rocker nut anymore and see if the ticking stops.

fishkg

Yes. The heads and studs appear to be original.

I wish I had an extra set of covers that I could cut the tops out of to contain some of the mess. I considered tightening the rocker nut 1/8 turn at at time and replacing the cover before running the engine. I'm just concerned about going too far.

By the way, what was involved in removing/replacing the stud? (Are they threaded or pressed in?)

Thanks for the help.

TheRebel

They are pressed in. I had a mechanic friend replace mine for me.

Your never going to get adjusted by going 1/8 turns and then putting the valve cover on. That'll take for ever and I suppose you could overtighten but not by much at 1/8 turns.

Do his instead:
Cut up a cardboard box and put that towards the bottom of your head on the inside. It will help keep some oil from running down the side of the block if you want to try and adjust he rockers with the engine running. You shouldn't be able to tighten the rocker to far. If it is ticking then start tightening (slow turns) if you can keep tightening but the ticking doesn't stop, then you have a part bad. Most likely a collapsed lifter or worn rocker arm. Or you could have the problem I had but my engine had a lot of miles on it.

fishkg

This evening I took off the valve cover and ran the engine. I rolled up an old towel and wedged it on top of the exhaust manifold to soak up the oil overflow. Minor improvement in the noise as I tightened the rocker nut, but I could not get it to stop completely. I quit tightening after about 1-1/4 turns.

I decided to remove the rocker arm completely to check it. The good news is the stud isn't stripped, and the pushrod seems fine. The rocker arm shows wear, kind of rolled where it rides on the valve. I think my next move may be to replace it.

I appreciate the help. This is a father/son project and we are learning as we go

TheRebel

I hope a new rocker arm fixes your problem. That sounds like the culprit from what you described. That should be a pretty inexpensive fix. Good Luck.

fishkg

We just put the new rocker arm and pivot in. Problem solved. It sounds great!

We adjusted the rocker by warming up the engine, and backing off the rocker nut until that valve started to chatter. Then we closed it 1/2 turn. Of all the methods of adjusting that I've read, that made sense mechanically, and was relatively simple to do (afterall, 2 newbies with a wrench were able to do it). Do we need to get more sophisticated, or should this keep us out of trouble?

Rebel, thanks for the advice. We were so tired of the tick we talked about going to the pet store and hanging a Harts 2-in-1 collar around the carb. This actually cost less.

TheRebel

I think you'll be fine by the way you did you adjustments. That's how I did my last engine and I have 40,000 trouble free miles so far.

theslyfox

alright fellas, so i recently converted my car to carb. well my efi set up my rockers werent chattering. but now, they are chattering like crazy. i changed out the heads, gt40p's reused my rockers, put a bigger cam in it pretty much a 303 cam the lift is 1 over the 303 spec. duration is the same. reused my pushrods and lifters got new springs to accomidate the higher lift. but the cam sounds like a stock cam there's no popcorn sound or any lope. i have a feelings it has to do with those rocker arms. hopefully someone can give me some good insight/ knowledge to my issue. the gt40p's arent stud mounted they are non adjustable torque to spec rockers. and all are torqued to spec. now is there a certain way i need to torque them such as closing every valve then torquing?

120mm

Probably be better off starting a new thread, instead of resurrecting a 5 year old one.