So I get my new motor in after years of gathering parts, slapping things together whenever I have a little extra time & money. Start 'er up, and it runs nice, but lots of rocker noise. Fair enough, so I adjust them using the method described in the Y-book. Done that plenty of times on the old motor, so it goes pretty well. The noise dies down somewhat, but it's still there. My oil pressure is great, and I'm using royal purple break in oil.

Well, I figure, let's drive it a little and see how things go. After putting about 15 miles on it, the noise is getting worse. I pull the valve covers and check the rockers. Clearances are waaaaayyyy out. Pull the rockers off and the ball ends that fit in the pushrods are really worn down on about half of the rockers. Both sides, more wear toward the back than the front. New cam, New rocker assemblies. Needless to say I'm pretty p.o'd at this point.

Next, I take the rockers off my old motor & try them out. They always ran nice & smooth, no wear problems, good oiling, so it's worth a try. Install & adjust, and they sound pretty good. I can see oil coming out of the rockers and dribbling toward the pushrod ends. These rockers use the stock oil overflow tube on the end.

Sure enough, after putting a few miles on, the noise is getting louder again.

Looks like I'll be pulling this pig out & putting the old motor back in for the time being ( it ran great, I just wanted to build something with a little more power) as the car's been off the road for 2 years & I really just want to drive the car.

I'm ticked off enough now to just sell the thing or swap it for a 390, but I'd rather not go through all that for what could be a relatively simple fix. I remember back when I bought the cam there was talk of the groove not being deep enough on some. What's considered "deep enough"? Does this sound like a cam problem, or should I try blocking off the overflow tubes to pressurize the shafts?