ODD EA81 4mm rocket clearance ?

Nubaru · Post by **Nubaru** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:22 pm

hi, been doing a dry fit of head on ea81. head serviced.valves tops are dead flat even across the tops.push rods are all the same as before not mixed with other side, checked all same length.head gasket is in place.just not tensioned due to the rocker bolts part of head sequence.

got this one mad 4mm exhaust tappet clearance on number 3. did not see this on pull apart.was a long while ago.stands out like dogs balls. weird.surely should not require a lot of adjustment if others do not ?I think the noise would have been too much or push rod would fall out if it was like this before and never had an engine reassemble this odd before.because this is a rocker shaft, their is some ratio so 4mm gap does not need 4mm screw up or down on adjuster. Adjusters are plain normal needing funny size spanner on square drive, blue rocker covers, so can't be collapsed hydro lifter. May need some thinking before sucking and see, or do next side, worry later

Willy Fisterbottom · Post by **Willy Fisterbottom** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 8:45 pm

Was this valve and or seat replaced? If they were worn the valve would have previously sat higher, so to achieve the right clearance that rocker would have been backed off more. This happens more often on exhaust valves when incorrectly adjusted (not enough gap) rockers cause valves and seat to wear (burn) out. The rocker may have been later adjusted for correct gap after the damage. Or have you mixed up the left and right head rocker assemblies? Thats all I can think of for now after a few too many cans without looking at it.

Post by **TOONGA** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 8:47 pm

Once you have it all in place and the heads have been torqued then retorqued then worry about the tappet clearances. I will say they will all be bigger than when you tore the engine down.

If you are really worried roll the push rod on a flat surface to see if it is bent.

TOONGA

555Ron · Post by **555Ron** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 3:54 pm

You haven't popped a cap off the bottom of the pushrod and somehow not noticed. Or picked up a pushrod from an ea71. Seems strange.

Post by **TOONGA** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 8:24 pm

Not strange at all he hasn't even torqued up the heads yet.

Remember this is a 25+ year old motor, were the lifters replaced wa the cam checked?

TOONGA

Nubaru · Post by **Nubaru** » Sat Jun 28, 2014 10:17 am

thankyou for the replies guys, was jumping the gun here, was replacing head gaskets only , due to oil leaking from them underside.Engine stayed put in car, so cam or followers could not be inspected, nor susspected. The push rods soldier up side by side and pass muster. I am guilty of not checking tappet gaps before ripping into this task, and guilty not thinking a scrap of extra tight on the gaskets would make a skerrick of difference to my clearances, so taking advice, backed off all tappets, torqued up head bolts three stages and then redid the tappets according Gregories manual - with one exception I might add as they have arrows saying centre valves are inlets where clearly they are not! EA82 must have been on the test bench in Gregs Labs at the same time !

Just faced and valves lapped, but yes, you are all correct, not putting the same engine back together am I, not even genuine gaskets. The rocker assemblies are so marked and you know, don't believe it is even possible to mix that one up - but thankyou anyway
More later

4540 posts and still a new member ? How many posts to elevate to next level ?

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:44 am

Definitely sounds odd. How did you go in the end?