lookin4astang

Ok, there has been a ticking under the valve covers since I bought the car. I was told by the dude who sold it to me that it had roller rockers in it, and I know some of them tick. So I took him at his word. I took them off this week only to find the rockers are stock and have some play in them.They aren't adjustable, so is there a way for me to tighten them down where theywon't tick or rattle? Anyone know if they have a certain torque spec or how does that work? The car is close to being back on thestreet, and I wanna fix this before it messes something up. The engine was just rebuilt and everything is really clean in there.

5.0stanger

You can't just tighten them down more, then shouldn't need to be adjusted with hydraulic lifters. You might haver a calapsed lifter if you have play in your rockers. Are your heads and cam stock?

lookin4astang

Heads look to be completely stock. Cam I'm not completely sure of. It lopes some when idling, which sounds like a cam, but then again the carb is in major need of rebuild and it needs new plugs/wires, so until that's done I dunno bout the cam.

It holds great oil pressure and runs perfectly fine. It just has that ticking noise which is really annoying. There are a few of em that wiggle left and right. None move up or down. Just left and right, and they don't move too much that way. Just enough to make noise. Any reason as to why this would happen. Everything appears to be new.

5.0stanger

Sounds like worn push rod seats in the rocker arms. The only reason I could see that is if they were adjust badly(loose) and ran like that for a while. Or your lifter spring pressure is holding it up tight up and down, but the lifter wont build up pressure. Check your rockerarms for shims underthem. If there is a shim there, you can make them tighter(might not fix it), but if they are set right, I would consider new lifters.

lookin4astang

You mean shims on the rocker arm bolt between the arm and the bolt? If so, then there are none there. So I dunno. Would roller rockers and new pushrods be any better?

5.0stanger

The shims under the pedestal, that is how you adjust for the proper preload. If you have shims under your rockers, you might have a chance that they are just not adjusted correctly.

New rockers and push rods will do no good if the lifters are bad.

shawnk007

Maybe the previous owner loosened them up for some reason. If so, the torque spec on the rocker arms is 25 ft. lbs. Check that, if checked out okay, than listen the guy above me. If some of them were loose, then it may have caused some damaged lifters.....