I think I just might have found my problem...

Not sure how it happened or what the damages are yet.

At least I now know why it feels like is is running on 7 cylinders.

 

Man I hate it when that happens. Did it just come loose or did the rocker arm stud break? Are those screw in studs?

 

Bolt worked it's way out and the rocker hopped off.

The cylinder next to it was loose enough that I pulled the screw out ny hand.

So I am going to have to go through all 16 and make sure none of the others are coming loose.

At least it wasn't the exhaust ones with the lash caps. I would have never found those things if they ended up in the oiling system.

You can see that it came loose slowly and walked around on the top of the valve a bit before coming off. But the roller tip still rolls smoothly so I think I can reuse it.

Are these things supposed to be lock-tited in? I didn't use it, and don't recall seeing it in the instructions. Just torque down and it has to be preloaded a bit.

 

Guess I should have looked closer and saw that you are using pedestal mount rockers duh.

I have not seen anywhere that you have to use locktite on them, just checked some websites and they dont say anything about it. Should be okay to reuse rocker arm as long as roller tip feels good. Geuss you will be pulling the other valve cover and tightening down them as well.

Just another day in the life of a hot rodder

 

Between you and Mashori you could have your own tech section on what can go wrong but hey we all learn this way

 

http://cranecams.com/pdf/453e.pdf

Doesn't mention anything about needing locktite, but this could have been much worse.

Any reason why I CAN'T use lock-tite? I don't want this to happen again.

I will bolt it back down for now and park it for the day. Getting to be almost Beer-o-clock, and I don't want to be working on this thing in the dark with all my other cars stranded out on the street (maverick is in middle of garage now).

 

nice B.F.H

 

Thanks, needed it to get the valve cover off

Well, cleaned up the bunged area on that tip, bolted it all back toghether, and runs like a charm now.

I still don't trust it, though. I need to clean those threads out and locktite them down.

All on the passenger side were snug, but three of the intake rockers on the driver side were loose, or in a state of becoming loose.

Kinda wierd that it was only intake and only on driver side.

I think I have been running on 6-1/2 cylinders for a while, because the car does not lope nearly as much now, and idles higher. Maybe I WILL have to take it back to the dyno and pick up a free 38 hp (if my calculations are right).

If only I had installed the O2 sensor bung on the driver side pipe, I may have caught this problem while at the dyno and fixed it then.

 

here to help!

 

Whats the lift on your cam? Are those pedestal mount?

 

They are pedestal mount, and lift on the intake side (ones that are working loose) is only .531.

Exhaust sides are all holding tight.

I will have to pull them all, clean out the threads, and lock-tite them in before I do any serious driving on them again. I don't trust the 20 ft/lb anymore.

Anna's non-mechanical thinking said to me maybe the vibes from the drive shaft jimmied them loose. I told her that isn't a completely hare-brained idea. It really was a loud and obnoxious vibration.

Which is now smooth as silk after swapping that u-joint...

 

I can imagine your surprise after you took off the valve cover. When my rocker let loose the problem wasn’t easy recognizable because the rocker was sitting in the correct location...only sitting a little higher than the other rockers.

 

Yeah, luckily, mine was easily seen and there was no serious and permanent damage done.

I was able to bolt them back up and drive the car back into the garage no problem. But I will be looking into some sort of locking mechanism, most likely lock-tite blue, before I drive the car again.

I don't want those coming loose again.

 

I torque these to 25 ft/lbs. Never had one come loose with either a stock F4TE cam or a B303. Loctite isn't a bad idea either.

 

What you need to get is those nuts with the "oval" thread circumference. they're lock nuts, but not like what you'd think. they're hard to come by these days. But that's what i've been using.