pushrod problem

[SmokeShadows]

oh and thanks for the luck and great advice, I'm thinking I might try to carefully tap the studs back down for now which is where I feel I'll need the most luck, I don't want to pull the heads for repair as im afraid that will open up a can of worms

[hamjet]

Good plan. just make sure you keep all parts in the order they came out as they wear their surfaces evenly with each other. also check the lobe the pushrod was setting on for gouges. I don't know if the pushrod was resting on the lobe while the engine was rotating, if so, it could have scored it. P.S., we love pictures...

[SmokeShadows]

ok iv took off the intake and found out that the lifter has indeed popped out of its bore, and it also looks like the heads may have been rebuild or worked on before because the rocker arm studs look like their is 2 different types, will post pictures asap, the cam looks alright when I look down the bore and the lifter doesn't look like it's been damaged either so now my diagnosis is bad heads, will research how much it's going to be for screw in type rocker studs after I check the valves to make sure that they aren't going to cause any more problems

[hamjet]

I don't know what your intentions are but as long as you don't have high pressure springs you can get rocker studs that are .003 thousands over. have the machine shop replace the ones that are pulling out. that would be the least expensive way out.. Also, check the spring extra good where the lifter poped out. Make sure it isn't broken. a weak or broken spring will allow what happened to you when high RPMs are involved....

[SmokeShadows]

well I intend to eventually go all the way with the heads block and tranny as far as rebuild with performance parts that's why I'd rather get the screw in type because if it already has 2 different types of rocker arm studs (on multiple cylinders after even further investigation) I feel like it might be a reoccurring problem and it seems like it has happened before and If you look closely at the previous pictures you can see on the 2 studs that are pulling out that they're both different, so Im hopin to just for now get the studs replaced with ones I know for sure won't come out and then when I can really afford it get the heads rebuilt ported polished roller rockers etc but for now I don't want my wife to be driving the truck and have it be any kind of problem, but it all depends on cost and funds, I hope it's not gonna be an arm and a leg because I feel like I might be better off going to the junkyard and looking for a decent set of heads, but my truck is all original except paint valve covers and intake/carb and I'd like to keep it as original appearing as possible (71 gmc cst camper special toolbox bed) this is where dreams meet reality hahah

[cleszkie]

Your rockers appear to be stock, in that they are not "self centering" on the button on top of the valve springs. That is, the rocker arms do not have an indentation on them to keep them centered over the valve springs. I had a similar thing happen to me years ago. Valve not adjusted properly, and intake rocker arm rotated off the valve spring. Took out the exhaust valve rocker and both push rods. Replaced all of my rockers with new stamped steel "self centering" units and never had the problem again.

[SmokeShadows]

the rockers are indeed stock, I have a later model 350 with a serpentine setup on it and the heads are garbage so what I did was take off the self aligning rocker arms off that and I plan to put them on my truck, I'm going to research the heads on my truck and see if they're worth salvaging and if not then I'm just going to replace the 2 press studs with oversized ones and hope for the best, I'm wondering though before all these problems came up the motor would squeal around 3krpm or around 68mph+ ish, does anybody know what could have been the problem with that because I'm concerned once I get this straight that something else might pop up, i was assuming it was from the belts but the belts are new so I was thinking it may be a pully? can anybody she'd some light on this? thanks in advance

[ChuckLee]

I had this same thing happen before.....twice:

First time: pressed in studs simply pulled out a bit (you would be surprised at how much of a tick this creates)

second time: on a ford 302 motor, I didn't correctly torque down the rocker nuts. (302's have some that you simply torque down, and others that are much more involved to get to zero lash)

[SmokeShadows]

ok just a brief update on this subject, I pulled the two studs that were coming out and got the .003 oversized studs and froze them before hammering them down with a carpenters hammer hahah and viola they smashed right in all nice and mushroomed on the top so I ground it down enough for the nut to catch now I'm dealing with putting it back together properly and adjusting it, not exactly the way I wanted it to go but iv found out the heads aren't stock so they're going to the scrapper eventually, but my experience with the studs is definitely something I won't be forgetting, when I froze the studs and hammered it in fast it turned out ok it's the one that cooled down before I got to smash it in that got mushroomed, I was afraid of breaking the frozen stud, but anyhow I will update with pictures of how it looked before I fixed it, the backyard rocker stud replacement went just as you'd expect but hey for under 10$ I'll be rolling soon, I started it up and need to fix the timing/valve adjustment after replacing all of the rocker arms, any advice or input is greatly appreciated!!!! and thanks for everything so far, a young kid like me with no parental influence is able to get by with a forum like this....

[ChuckLee]

good job. i would only change one thing maybe....next time thread on two nuts on the end of the stud with them tight together, and the top nut just above the top of the stud. That way, you are hammering the nut and not shrooming the stud. Having two nuts tightened together puts the "stress" from the blow onto the threads, not the top of the stud. Having two nuts here does two things: 1)prevents movement between soft blows of the hammer, and 2)disperses the impact over more threads to protect threads also.
Good job though and happy wrenching

[SmokeShadows]

oh yeah and when I tried to "simply tap the studs back down" they did not stick at all and when I tried to remove the nut off, the studs would just rotate in the hole stuck so I had to use vice grips and previously mentioned hammer to get them out, the oversized studs fit like a medium glove on a large hand, but they went all the way down with a few good whacks, tried to use a softer "buffer" in between the stud and hammer but thats when the stud warmed up too fast and mushroomed so the other one I took directly from the freeze to the hole and started hammering and that one was good to go, definitely would recommend machine shop pros for the job but if in a pinch this method worked out alright, at least for my temporary fix, new heads are at the top of my list though

[geezer#99]

If they pull out again before you get new heads, you could pin them.
Like here.
http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...ker-studs.html

I've done that a couple times over the years.
Summit, Speedway etc sell kits to do it.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Rocker...g-Kit,734.html

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by SmokeShadows

oh yeah and when I tried to "simply tap the studs back down" they did not stick at all and when I tried to remove the nut off, the studs would just rotate in the hole stuck so I had to use vice grips and previously mentioned hammer to get them out, the oversized studs fit like a medium glove on a large hand, but they went all the way down with a few good whacks, tried to use a softer "buffer" in between the stud and hammer but thats when the stud warmed up too fast and mushroomed so the other one I took directly from the freeze to the hole and started hammering and that one was good to go, definitely would recommend machine shop pros for the job but if in a pinch this method worked out alright, at least for my temporary fix, new heads are at the top of my list though

That is why I said brass or lead hammer....

LockDoc