Broken rocker!

[Nelson]

The rocker assembly was delivered yesterday! Thanks so much! I haven't had a chance to get it installed yet, but I'll let you know how it goes when I do.

 

[Michael Mayben]

michael - you are the man! Thank you so much for your support on this...it's much appreciated. So I get to use my shiny new rocker shaft afterall, eh? You just had to bore out the stands a bit more to get them to fit over it?

Thanks also for all the cleanup and inspection/instruction. I'll be sure to put it back in the correct way and verify that all rockers are oiling before bolting the valve cover back on. I bought some permatex thread sealant...do I just need to do a small dab on the bottom threads of each bolt? I'm wary about it globbing out when screwing down and plugging the oil hole...

Thanks also for the replacement pushrods. I will definitely keep them handy in the event that I need them now or down the road.

Can't thank you enough!! I'll let you know when they come in and if I have any other questions. Ihon (and specifically mm) is the best!

Glad it made it!

I use the sealant on all the bolt threads, that's just insurance as you never know if one of the holes was drilled maybe a bit too deep. Four of 'em penetrate the intake manifold runners, that is the reason for sealing. Otherwise we'd have a severe vacuum leak, and that in turn would pull oil from the heads and create a ton of smoke continuously.

You notice that blue (or is it green) coloration on the bolt threads?? That is the "factory" special sealant along with a nylon "button" inserted in order to act as the thread seal. That is why those bolts have a particular part number assigned, other than that they are nothing special, just a simple grade 5, 5/16-18 bolt. The washer is a double thickness that helps prevent distortion and cracking of the rocker stand. So don't glob the sealer on the threads, just wipe a thin film, that is all it takes. The oil slot in the "oiler" stand is huge in comparison with the rest of the part so don't be concerned with blockage (do not allow sealant to contact the base pad on any of the stands though!!).

When you tighten those bolts, just get 'em real snug, there is no specified torque for that location and if you use the standard bolt torque table, the stands will crack!

I honed each stand individually for the best fit, you can see each is snug but movable on the shaft. Since the reconditioned shaft is a tad oversize, that makes up for the "wear" that is present in each of the rocker arms. However, that single rocker Jeff sent ya is a new one and I'm jealous of that, he must be holding a few of those back on me!

This pic shows a fresh rocker assembly mounted to the head (engine is on a stand). Because I put these together dry (and then pre-oil by using the pump driver and drill motor), I can easily watch for any oil leakage at the base of each stand (not all have oil holes). And I run it until oil appears at each rocker arm before it has a chance to wet spot everything. Once I'm certain everything is tight and oiling, then the drill motor gets cranked at wot for about 15 minutes while I slowly rotate the crankshaft by hand to allow all the spit holes to line up in an alternate fashion...takes patience to do this and then be satisfied it's going to be ok!!

 

[Nelson]

Hey michael, I totally forgot to mention that I got this installed last weekend and she is up and running again! I had some concerns about oil appearing to drool out from the base of the stands, between the head and stand (which I thought would seal pretty well despite not having a gasket, since both surfaces are machined), and was wondering if that is common? I took some video of it running so you could take a look at it and let me know what you think, but haven't had time to upload it yet. After running it for quite awhile, all of the rocker arms seemed to be getting some kind of oil, with the exception of the fourth one from the firewall (not sure if it's actuating an intake or an exhaust valve, but it'd be on the second cylinder). Not sure why, as that one is one of the closer ones to the #3 oiler hole and I would have thought it would be one of the further down rockers that took more time to get lubing properly if any. But it sounds very smooth and seems to run just fine. I'll try to get that video posted as soon as I can so you can give me your take.

Also, if I was planning on doing the same procedure for the other rocker shaft in the near future, is there going to be a shaft available for purchase at some point that won't require mayben-ization of the stands in order for it to fit?

 

[Michael Mayben]

The third rocker stand from the firewall on the passenger side is the "oiler" as you know. On the driver side that rocker assembly is simply "flopped" and the third rocker stand from the front becomes the oiler. When ya think about it...the same rocker stand on either assembly is the oiler!

That said, since some of the other rocker stands actually have oiler holes (and some don't) then if the rocker shaft is pressurizing as it should, oil can emerge from the base of some stands...but in general, it should not.

Normally, the oil stand will drool at it's base if not tightened sufficiently. There is no "torque spec" for the rocker stand bolts, if you overtighten, they will simply "compress" and even worse, will split! So I tighten those bolts with an 8" ratchet with just enough force to "feel tight"! I simply can't explain that any more accurately!

So I'd ask...put a wrench on the oiler stand bolt and tighten just another smidgen with the engine running and watch to see if that stops the drool. The slight amount of oil bypass you might see at that location is really nothing in the overall scheme of oil delivery to the valve train.

So...at this point...is that side of the engine now "quiet" when running with the valve cover removed? If so, and you can see at least some oil accumulation at each rocker, then your #4 cam bearing is at least partially functional!

I had a long discussion yesterday with a machine shop dude regarding the rocker shaft situation. Right now I don't know what we'll be doing for the future, but since we do have reconditioned rockers shafts on the shelf now that are slightly "oversize", then those will be sold only with "fitted" rocker stands on an assembly basis with a core charge. That means rocker stands and shaft custom-fitted. The customer then supplies their own rockers or we'll supply appropriate rockers when needed.

Our goal is...to have reconditioned rocker shafts that are exactly the correct dimension done for us in quantity after the first of next year, we're working on that now as I mentioned. It all comes down to the cost vs. Demand. It's possibly we will be supplying only an "assembly" that is down up to customer specs however, we should have additional info regarding this by the end of January, 2011.

So for right now...it appears that with the parts we have on hand, the "custom" fitment approach May be the only answer to this problem, the typical customer does not have the ability to custom fit this stuff and we want these parts to be plug and play as much as possible!