SoI am in the process of putting a set of harland sharp roller rockers on. I tightened the lock nut all the way down and there was still play in the pushrod. Do i just need to remove the allen nut inside of the lock nut, or do i have to short of pushrods? Do roller rockers usually change length of pushrods?

 

EDIT<<Ok, I re-read your post, and it looks like I might have misunderstood a little, and provided you with way too much info that you might not need. We installed the same brand rockers, and we had no problem with pushrod legnth, but, the pushrods I installed came with a cam kit. The rockers were bought independently of the cam kit, whenordered,noprovisions for roller rockers was made, butit is possible thatComp Cams may have assumed roller rockers would be used.

But, if you are bottoming out on the allen bolt before the valvetrain tightens up, part (or all) of what is below may apply. >>EDIT

Yes, you do need to loosen/move the allens.

I installed a set on my son's engine afewweeks ago. You will need to make sure that you have the rocker's "right side up" as well. The inner bearing has one side machined flat around the radius where the rocker mounts to the stud, and the other side is round. The machined side must face up. the adjuster nut will fit in this "flat spot".

These rocker arms will turn your valve train from "non-adjustable" to adjustable, and you will need to adjust your clearances. The tall nuts and the allens inside of them are used in tandem to adjust the valvetrain and to "lock in" your setting.

I am assuming that your lifters are hydrulic and that you have not replaced them since you last started your engine. The valve adjustment procedure will be different depending whether the lifters are filled with oil or not.

This procedure will work with used lifters.

Back all of the allens almost all of the way out of the nuts.

Put your rockers on the studs.

Tighten all of the rocker nuts down finger tight.

Turn the engine about a 1/4 turn, and tighten the rocker nuts finger tight again. (some of the previously tightend nuts will now be tighter than finger tight, that is ok).

Turn the engine about a 1/4 turn again and tighten the rocker nuts finger tight again. (some of the previously tightend nuts will now be tighter than finger tight, that is ok).

Repeat this process several times (theprevious two steps), until you are sure that all nuts are finger tight.

Turn the rocker nuts down an additional 1/2 turn, hold the nut in place with a box end wrench, and tighten down the allens.

This process should be good enough to get the engine started, then the valves will need to be adjusted again, this is a differnt process though.

Remember, if your rockers are too loose, the engine will be noisy and might not run, if the rockers are too tight it is possible to damage your engine.

 

You have to make sure you have the right length pushrods to get correct rocker arm geometry. The manufacturer will have a procedure for checking this

 

You can also get a pushrod length checker to help. I am in the process of working out the pushrod dilemma I've been having. Stock pushrods were way too short, the original one's out of the engine were longer than the stock ones, still bottomed out on the threads on the stud w/play in the rockers. So, I ordered a pushrod length checker, put it next to my original pushrods, adjusted it slightly longer and I could adjust the rockers just fine. Called Summit and ordered what I needed, they'll be here on Friday.
The pushrod checker looks just like a pushrod but it is in 2 parts, threaded with a couple of nuts to adjust and tighten. I think Summit called it a universal pushrod length checker, it cost about $12 is all.