OEM Rocker Arm Side Play
Good lord it never ends with these USA made Melling rocker arms! Out of the sixteen, five of them have issues with how they fit on the rocker shaft. Inconsistent stamping for valve spring clearance and pushrod causes them to contact the shaft as indicated in pictures below. Some relieving must be done so that the bottoms of the rockers actually contact the shaft.
After initial measuring for pushrods there was too wide a variance vs. within a reasonable range. Closer inspection reveals the reason(s) Some rockers riding lower on the shafts than others which is easily rectified, AND the Speedmaster valve heights being all over the place! Added up and we got a mess.
If anyone thinks they can buy these heads, and use new hydraulic oem style rocker arms and a set of identical pushrods and all will be good, beware. You might luck out but.....
The required lengths between the pushrods on our setup vary up to .100”. IMO, best bet is using adjustable rocker arms to accommodate the valve heights.
Time to ponder our next steps:wtf: