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When setting the valves on a LT1, once you have gotten the up & down movement of the pushrod removed, what is the reccommended
amount of turn on the rocker arm nut---1/2 or 1 turn????
Will 1/2 turn result in less valve lift than a full 1 turn???
1/4 to 1 turn should work fine. Some say you will get a little more rpm out of 1/4 turn. But, I doubt that there is a lift increase/decrease with any setting.
The service manual for my 92 LT1 says one turn after zero lash. The manual defines zero lash where you use your fingers to rotate the pushrods and tighten the rocker nut until you can no longer rotate it. Then tighten one additional turn.
With #1 piston at TDC, adjust the exhaust valves for cylinders 1,3,4,8 and intake valves for cylinders 1, 2, 5,7. Rotate the crank one full turn so that the # 6 cyinder is at TDC and adjust exhaust valves 2,5,6,7 and intake valves 3, 4, 6, and 8.
Because the ECM limits RPM through a fuel cutoff at around 5850RPM, you should not be able to increase the rev limit through valve lash. Hydrulic lifters do take up some slack in the valve train. If you tighten the rocker arm nut too tight, the valve may open more but there could be a risk of piston-to-valve contact which is not a good thing....
The service manual for my 92 LT1 says one turn after zero lash. The manual defines zero lash where you use your fingers to rotate the pushrods and tighten the rocker nut until you can no longer rotate it. Then tighten one additional turn.
With many lifters, you can spin the push rods until plunger bottoms in the lifter body. Further tightening of the adjustment lifts the valve off it's seat. The valve will never close.
Originally Posted by c4cruiser
With #1 piston at TDC, adjust the exhaust valves for cylinders 1,3,4,8 and intake valves for cylinders 1, 2, 5,7. Rotate the crank one full turn so that the # 6 cyinder is at TDC and adjust exhaust valves 2,5,6,7 and intake valves 3, 4, 6, and 8.
That's OK for stock cams.
Originally Posted by c4cruiser
Hydrulic lifters do take up some slack in the valve train.
Not really. That is why we adjust the lifters on a hydraulic cam to a preload condition. The lifters are preloaded and have no slack.
Originally Posted by c4cruiser
If you tighten the rocker arm nut too tight, the valve may open more but there could be a risk of piston-to-valve contact which is not a good thing....
The valve lift does not change with the amount of preload. The only way a hydraulic lifter could lift higher, is if it were preloaded all the way down as to where the clearance ramp was providing lift to the valve. The plunger would have to be fully collapsed. That would be similar to running a solid lifter with no lash. The valve could reach a point where it will never close.
The object of the 1/2-1 turn is to properly preload the lifter plunger, i.e. center it (roughly) within it's bore within the lifter. There is a range to this poition so we have the 1/2-1 turn.
Unless the preload is too close to the lifter bottom or top (assuming the valve springs are doing their job as is the lifter) you will gain nothing more from "tweaking" this adjustment.
I've found that, when twirling the pushrod, I can detect "zero lash" to within 1/8 turn so I set preload to 1/2 + 1/8 turn after I detect zero lash assuring that the preload is set to 1/2-3/4 turn.