neverhit

I am a new owner of a 69 coupe with a 302 engine and I was told the engine was recently rebuilt less than 5K miles ago and that it has a 'mild' cam. I have a carter YF carb on a weiand intake manifold as well. I like to trust but verify. I removed the valve covers to find that most of the rocker studs had only 1 nut on them, but a couple of cylinders had 2 nuts. I don't know if these have hydraulic lifters or not, since there is only 1 nut, I don't see how they could have set the gap properly. Is there a way to tell? If there are hydraulic lifters and if I push on a push rod would it spring downward and back up when I let go. If solid, I assume I couldn't get any motion from it, or do I have to remove the intake manifold to verify. Are the locking nuts the same as the adjustment nut (On the couple of cylinders where there were two nuts, they appear to be two of the same nut). I appreciate any insight. I suspect my first order of busines will be to get a set of locking nuts. Also any suggestions on timing? I have it at about 10 BTDC and it seems to have more 'pop' than when set to 0. Thank you.

69thunder

Most of your assumptions are correct about the lifters. Not too many use solid lifter anymore so I wouldn't worry too much about that. If it has a cam it will need more timing than stock. 10 degrees is a good place to start.It might need a little more. Just listen for detonation under load.

Colorado_Mustang

34-36 total timing is pretty typical for the 302 (@ 2500 rpm). Advance rates and initial timing will vary, but 10* is a good starting point as mentioned. Typically, advance the timing as far as you can without pinging or bucking the starter when hot starting.

It's most likely you have a hydraulic lifter. It sounds like you have a poorly rebuilt engine if they aren't using the same fasteners for the rockers. Most likely, you also have the factory push in studs, which tend to work themselves out over time. Post some pics and we can tell you what you have a little easier.

If you had solid lifters, the engine should have a slight tapping sound at idle, which would be the valve clearance needed for a solid lifter to run without damaging the engine.

neverhit

Thanks. I do have the factory push in studs. I am going to order some nuts for the rockers. I found them in a catalog. I will have to look into getting improved hardware.