HELP asap.....rocker arm question
 

I had a friend of mine help me install gt40p heads, intake manifold and a bunch of other parts on my 302. Upon first startup I noticed a popping noise coming from the motor I believed to be coming from the carb. While the motor was running I decided to pull one plug wire at a time to see if it was valvetrain related. When I pulled plug wire number 2 the noise went away. I pulled the valve cover to find that the rocker was sitting sideways and not riding the spring. He apparently mis-adjusted the rocker and now Im wondering if this caused any serious damage. While trying to find the popping noise I was lightly reving and running the motor to find the problem. How much damage could this have caused the motor if any? I attempted to re adjust the rocker arm last night. I got in a ballpark adjustment ( i believe....havent really done this before) and noticed that the original popping went away and now there is a backfire coming through the exhaust which once again goes away after i pull spark plug number 2. I am at a loss and am really hoping that it didnt do any serious damage. He swore all of the adjustment were good but apparently he initially adjusted the rocker the wrong way. Please have some good news for me. I have spent all of my money on these upgrades and hope there isnt any serious, expensive damage. Thanks for the help.

If these are pedestal mount rockers there is no adjustment,just tourqe them,but I doubt you hurt anything,if the rocker wasnt riding the spring from what Iam getting it just wasnt opening the valve which would make the cylinder not fire properly.Pull the plug once and see what it looks like,possibly put a new plug in,could have fouled it out like crazy from cylinder not firing right possibly?

The rockers that are on it are the stamped ones from the factory. Do you know what the torque setting is?

18 to 25 ft.-lbs.

Thanks. Got everything torqued up. no more popping or backifiring.....thank god. Brought it for a quick ride and shes running great. Any idea for a good starting point for jets in my carb? Heres what Im running---
xcam
gt40p heads
holley 650 dp carb
shorty headers