Gentlemen, I may be new to Y-block forum but no ones mentions the P&G valve gapper. This IS the only way to adjust your solid lifter valves. Read Gils tech tips about this great tool. Used it, love it.  And BTW, there's one on ebay for sale.

http://www.ctci.org/gilsgarage/ValveGapper.php


1957 Thunderbird 312 Fordomatic

The racing applications prefer the valve lash adjustment to be on the tight side as this simply increases the camshaft duration which helps the peak power numbers.  I’ve found that 0.015” is the low side for a high performance setting as lash adjustments less than this tend to have some top end misfiring due to the valve train heating up at high rpms and full throttle.  For the street drivers that have upgraded or longer duration camshafts, overall drivability is better with a looser lash setting as this helps low end manifold vacuum and carburetor signal attributes.  As a general rule, 0.019” lash is a good place to start in most applications where the recommended lash value is unknown.  Some of the wilder cams being used on the street tend to have fewer drivability issues with lash settings in the 0.022”-0.025” range as this reduces the amount of overlap and increases the manifold vacuum in the lower rpm band.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Um.......that's NOT noise!I have adjusted both ways (running and not running)  Couldn't tell much difference except it took a little longer turning the engine by hand!I had good oil flow to the rockers but there was little or no "mess" with it running.I would probably do it turning by hand now though....... ( I too want to "save" my feeler gage!)


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1955 F-600/272/E4OD// Disclaimer: No animals were injured while test driving my F-600 except the ones I ran over intentionally!

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Several members have told me they run thier Y's at .017 becasue the are so quiet there.

Darrell Howard Whitefish, MT Outlaw 56 Ford F-100's

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Do you go below .019......as in .017?

Darrell Howard Whitefish, MT Outlaw 56 Ford F-100's

Oil splash on on Yblock is very lilttle as compared to a 302..  Personally, I prefer to adjust the rockers while the engine is not running.


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

My own preference is to set the valves with the engine not running as I feel it’s more accurate as well as not beating up what could be a good set of feeler gauges.  Here’s the link to a past thread which discusses different methods for adjusting the valves.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic8614.aspx 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

So I have some extra valve covers I can cut a window in to adjust my valves. I happen to have at least one 292 with the cam shaft that has to line up all the holes before the oil comes out the tube on the end of the rocker assembley. When I turn the oil pump manually with the oil path open to the rockers, it floods the resivoir with so much oil I have to stop turning the pump. Im thinking if I adjust the rockers while the engine is running, there will not be as much oil. But if there is, this is going to be messy.

Then there is the issue of which type of adjusters you have on the rockers. The ones that turn easy after you back off the adjusting nut, or the ones that turn hard with no adjustment nut. I have heard there were special tools just for adjusting these rockers. Did they work for both styles of rocker adjusters ( lock nut and no lock nut)?

How much oil is going to get spattered all over the engine compartment when I adjust my rockers?

Darrell Howard Whitefish, MT Outlaw 56 Ford F-100's