Since I have my valve covers off and will be purchasing new ones, I'm thinking of cutting my old ones to adjust the valves while the engine us running.

Thoughts?
Tips?
How to's?

 

You have hydraulic lifters if it's the original cam, if they dont make noise leave them alone.

 

Why ruin a pair of valve covers?

 

I don't think the rockers make noise.
A few seem to be just a little loose, side to side and the push rods spin easily.

 

The pushrod needs to spin. There usually is a little side to side play if you have stamped style rocker arms.

 

Follow the Lar's way:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/articl...vy-valve-lash/

Since the lifters are hydraulic, the adjustment is very forgiving, you don't need to go thru the hassle of adjusting while the engine is running.

Robert

 

I jiggle them up and down on the heel of the lobe. When the up and down play is taken up this is zero lash. Then tighten 1/2 turn.

 

If you feel like it, go for it. Won't hurt anything unless they are to tight

 

You only have to cut open 1 cover because they should fit either side.
I personally like the hot running engine valve adjustment technique.

 

dont cut-up factory covers

 

There isn't any need to check them 'hot'. Just make sure each lifter is riding the 'base circle' of its lobe and tighten the adjustment [while shaking the pushrod up and down] when the free play disappears. Then tighten an additional 1/2 to 3/4 turn and go to the next one.

If you are not "experienced" at doing 'cold' hydraulic lifter adjustments, forget the 'spin' thing and shake the rods.

 

There is no need to cut them up anyway, they make clips that attach to the rockers themselves that plug the rocker holes. For the amount of time it takes to adjust a bank of rockers, it doesn't matter.

 

If an engine hasn't run in a while, weeks, I would think I could have some oil bleed off inside the lifters, which would cause a cold set of the rockers to be in accurate.

I know of the oil block clips which keep the oil from making a mess.

I'm thinking a running , at idle, hot with strong oil pressure is a dang good, easy way to set them. I'm going to go this route and set them 1/3 turn after they go quiet.

 

Hydraulic lifters are spring loaded. With the 'shake' method, you can still find zero lash point easily. You won't get normal lift out of an "empty" lifter, but the lifter isn't loaded when you set lash.

 

U have a good idea to cut the old vlv covers and adj while eng running. Cut out vlv covers work great for this keeping the oil off u. Just loosen the rocker nut until u can move the p-rod up and down then tighten untill u cant move that p-rod up or down and only roll the p-rod with your fingers - the p-rod should just start to drag as u roll it. Then tighten what u feel u like - myself i go a full turn - this reduces the distance (just a little) the internal piston can fill up then bleed down reducing cam/lobe lift.

But as for adjusting with the engine cold after sitting for weeks the oil won't leak out of the lifter body - any further - unless u take them out and turn them upside down. So a couple of weeks before adjusting those lifters wont matter. They cant drain below the gallery fill hole on the side - unless the oil somehow evaporates. The lifter oil level bleeds down to that hole in milliseconds after the lifter travels down the cam ramp.
Its kinda a sore spot with me reading all the time that some cant find zero lash because the p-rod cup keeps collapsing because of oil leak-down or oil leaked out. Ive never been able to make that cup push in by hand - only with the force of the rocker adj nut to force it down. Last time i tried a used lifter i left a dent in a piece of wood i pushed the p-rod into - the lifter cup never moved. But if u are just re-adjusting the lifters it should be much faster to use the cutout vlv covers and adj the lifters with the engine running.

Hope this helps ya,
cardo0

 

to much can go wrong with hot oil and a hot exhaust manifold .you can do it cold like mentioned above .you can mark the base of your distributor for each cylinder ,to let you know when you are on the base circle for any cylinder .consider some poly-lock rocker arm nuts .most hydraulic lifters like a 1/2 turn .

 

Spinning push rods are the result of the cam lobes are cut at a very slight angle intentionally designed for rotating the lifters......which naturally causes the push rods to spin.....no spin, cam problems are developing