hey guys, i have a 1971 ford 302 in a 65 ford falcon, its a bone stock motor and have a little valve train noise on the drivers side, is there anyway to adjust the rockers to get rid of the noise?? if so what sequence and torque is used?? also it seams to have lost some power and when really on it wont go above 2k RPM when in gear under a load, the tranny is a fresh C-4. so i dont think it would cause that. was thinking maybe a vaume leak? or not advancing? it does have a edelbrock torqer intake and pertronics ignition, so no points. thanks for the help!
The rockers on those Fords have no "adjustment",....Torque the nuts to 25 ft. lbs. I would remove each rocker and ball, inspect for wear, and if any show signs of excess wear, I'd just replace all the rockers and balls. Also inspect all the pushrod ends. "Torque sequence" doesn't matter. A vacuum leak would likely cause either a lean miss, if it's the intake gasket, or the idle speed won't "dial in" to spec. Timing, isn't likely to be the issue, from what you describe. Happy Roddin' ! ! ! 4TTRUK
if it's valve train noise, and the rockers or balls aren't excessively worn, then it could very well be worn lifters, OR if you haven't been feeding it good oil with high levels of ZINC, the cam might be going flat.
You used to be able to get pushrods in +/- .060" increments for fine tuning. What is the oil pressure? If the pressure is good, it's time to look for worn out parts. Bent pushrods, worn cam lobe, etc.
I used to adjust the valve train on my 1967 Mustang with stock hydraulic lifters. I loosened them until they made noise then tightened about a half turn. Never had an issue. I'd take the valve cover off and see if you can figure out which one is causing the noise. You can run the motor with the valve cover off - it'll just splash oil everywhere!! Tighten that one up maybe a 1/4 turn... They weren't "positive stop" or without adjustment until later on in the 1970s. 1971 should have "rail" type rocker arms if I'm not mistaken.
It's been getting good oil and additive. And the pressure is about 40psi. it doesn't seem to misfire. just wanted to get rid of the noise. just worried about this loss of power and odd shift points when Posted from Jalopyjournal.com App for Android
I had a bone stock 76 302 with noise. I took some thin star washers, hammered them flat, they are thinner than the thinest easily available flat washers. I put a washer under each nut to take up space in the lifter. No more noise, the car ran better too. Am I cheap?? You bet!!
260's, 289's and early 302's had adjustable rockers. The later were Positive Stop Stud style This type stud was used on 1969-76 302 and 351W engines, as well as 1968-72 429 engines with hydraulic cams. They do not allow for lifter adjustment and work only with smaller cams when the dimensions of the engine (block, head deck height, etc.) remain close to stock. They also dont work on solid lifter cams. The rail type rocker only has to do with alignment of the rocker to the valve, these were used in place of Guide Plates and have no bearing on adjustment.
What would cause the hesitation and sudden loss of power? would that still be at leaning towards a vacuum leak? Posted from Jalopyjournal.com App for Android
So torqueing th rocker arms to 25 foot pounds, and sequence to go by? Posted from Jalopyjournal.com App for Android
your oil system is failing, causing friction and the engine is slowly seizing??? Anyways, its a crap shoot till you get it apart and inspect. I would use a short section of hose as a stethiscope to pinpoint the noise before dissasembly.
Bring #1 to TDC, torque both rockers, bring next cyl. in the firing order to TDC and torque those. repeat process until all are done. Probably 15426378. There is a procedure that you torque various valves at certain degrees but can be confusing getting cyl #/in and ex correct.
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