Brian :
I'm pretty sure Ken Gillanders at BFE has shortened push rods in stock (he
had mine). Call him at 626-443-0939, or email at BFEKENG@aol.com. He can
probably have them to you by Wednesday (it's after 6PM here, so too late
for FedEx tomorrow). Or check with Brian Schlorff at Performance British.
Racers use shortened push rods all the time, so they should be easy to
find.
However, 1/16" should be within the normal range. My rockers have at least
1/4" adjustment (at the valve) left. Something else is wrong, unless you
also had the head ground. Before doing anything else, I would suggest
pulling the head and checking the situation. If the exhaust seats really
are too low, the head casting will act as a shroud, in effect reducing the
valve opening.
The hardened seats are definitely the way to go, and I'm sure the situation
can be corrected. However, I sure understand the frustration of taking
time off, and then not having the right parts !
Randall
On Monday, April 19, 1999 3:38 PM, Brian Sanborn
[SMTP:sanborn@net1plus.com] wrote:
>
> Listers,
>
> Hit a big snag and need some serious help.
>
> I'm at a dead stop on the engine rebuild. I got the rocker shaft
assembly
> all together so I can set the timing of the cam. You have to use that
> crazy procedure in the workshop manual. I installed the new push rods
and
> the rockers..... and big trouble. The camshaft would not move at all
> after tightening down the rocker posts. I found that none of the exhaust
> valves had any play at all.
>
> It turns out that the machine shop guy installed the hardened seats in
such
> a way that the top of the valve is now 1/16 inch higher that it use to
> be.... 1/16 higher that the intakes. This takes out ALL of the
adjustment
> gap and actually pushes down on the valve a little with the cam in the
> completely closed position.
>
> I called BPNW to see if they had any shorter pushrods... no dice. He
did
> have some advice..... his first thing is to complain to the machine shop
> owner..... but the damage is done. He suggest a couple of things.... I
> could grind 1/16 off the top of the exhaust valve stems, and/or grind
some
> meat off the bottom of the adjuster end of the rocker to great some
play...
> and/or shorten up the exhaust push rods by pulling the head off and
cutting
> down the shaft and pressing the head back in.
>
> This has me really bummed. I thought that I was doing the right thing
by
> having the valve inserts done. I have taken this week off to reassemble
> the car and now I am stalled. The machine shop guy is on vacation in
> Disneyland with his family and won't be back until Monday the 26th. But
> unless he rips out the exhaust seats and redoes them... if that's
> possible... I'm stuck. I could have my backup head done instead.... but
> that has other problems.
>
> Anybody seen this problem before? Any advice is welcome
>
> Brian Sanborn
> 62 TR4 CT16260L - Groton, MA
> sanborn@net1plus.com
>
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