So I have an elderly gentleman who has a nice 55 Crown Vic that I am working on.

One of his original complaints was rough idle. After checking the valve lash,it was discovered that the valve lash was set at .002.

Once I corrected the lash (and tuned it up) the idle is now smooth as a frogs hair !

So now he complains that the engine was MUCH quieter before my work.

I patiently explain to him that the engine has solid lifters and that the sound he is hearing is normal.

He is ready to load the engine up with STP as he believes the additive will quiet the engine down.

I"ve done scads of Y Block valve adjustments and its completely normal.

My question to the group is  /   Is there a Ford document that states that there is some engine lifter/valve noise and that the sound is considered a normal operating situation?

I have looked thru the T Bird TSBs, 1957 Ford owners manual, 1957 Shop manual and a few other publications that I have searching for a statement about the solid lifter noise being normal operation with no luck.

Any suggestions ????   (Or should I just readjust them back to a nice quiet .002)

Oldmics

I certainly wouldn't adjust them back to .002.  When the engine fails, you'll be the one to blame.  All you can do is educate him the best you can and let him make his own decision.



Lawrenceville, GA

Two thoughts:

1-get a set of cast aluminum valve covers to dampen the noise
2-remind the owner to turn down or turn off his hearing aids whenever he is near the Ford

Seriously, my father tried every hearing aid known to man while he was still alive and they all wound up in the bottom dresser drawer. With the hearing aids there were certain frequencies that would drive him buggy. The ticking of a grandfather clock was one example.

John.  I remember from the service days that the tappet noise was always a sore spot with the Y engines and it was simply an accepted norm due to the solid lifter nature of the engine.  I don’t ever recall any memos or service bulletins that even began to address that there was even any noise level to be considered.  I’ll suggest reducing the tappet clearance to 0.015” and see if that adversely affects the idle characteristics while reducing the noise somewhat.  Any less than that is not recommended though.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Maybe you could show him the many post about solid lifter noise being normal. It may be a sore spot to some people, to me it's music to my ears. I even run solids in my 390FE.

Back in the day, a friend of mine would tell people who complained about solid tappet noise that " he would rather hear them than smell them" try that out on him. Pete