adjusted the valves at .019  Cold....too tight?

Thats good.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Thats the suggested setting.Question-are you working with a well used rocker setup and did you use a feeler gauge to adjust them?If you did you may find they are actually still too much lash-noisy when cold.You really cant use a feeler gauge with used worn rocker arms because the valves will have worn part of the rocker arm where thet contact giving a false meaurement of.019.Better to use the 1/4 turn from zero lash method.

  

Pushrods rotating are a good sign that the lifters are rotating.  If the lifters are not rotating, then accelerated cam lobe and/or lifter wear will come to the forefront.  On the flip side, the lifters can be rotating while the pushrods appear to be stationary depending upon the drag that’s present between the lifter cup and the adjuster ball.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

the rockers that were on the car when I bought it were extremily warn out and gummed up, they were not oiling at all plus they were very noisy.  So i went to the junk yard on saturday and got a set off of a '55 that showed low miles.  After cleaning and inspection they were actually pretty nice (showed normal wear, but alot nicer than the one's I had on it)  Before I took the old one's off the pushrods were rotating.  After installing the new set I think that me lubing up pushrods that there is no drag at all on them ...could be why they werent turning. At this point Im going to drive it for a few days and check it.   

Is there oil comming out the drain tubes at the end of each rocker assembly?

  

yes, it is oiling properly

One thing I found on my outfit - the rocker tips had a slight concavity worn in them. So when using a wide feeler gage - it spanned the dip and they ended up set looser than I thought.

So I checked the actual clearance with a dial indicator and they were uniformly worn about .001. So then I adjusted them to a .001 thinner gage - and that resulted in what I wanted. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona