Pushrods, how do I measure for...

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MAPS

MAPS

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Hello
I need to figure out how to measure the length needed (pushrods) to change them in my engine. (I didn't build this engine, bought the car last yr more or less and know little about the engine specs, aside the car was running well (high tens)
Any help will be truly appreciated.
MAPS
 
discharger1332 said:
i have a ball ball adjustable you can borrow if you want to pay the shipping. I am in washington state
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Wow, thanks (Discharged) I will ask the guy who is looking after the car now add I'm basically an idiot when it comes to "hands on mechanical" issues....
But we bought some tool that looked like a Pushrod that screwed in on top add if it would extend higher with the top screw and this tool (all this is mechanic talking to me, I'm lost) would get longer as you turned the top part...i can see it being called a ball ball etc but this tool itself bent so he is ordering another to measure it again. (This time ordered 2 lol) I think he screwed it to high and that's why I bent ? Maybe he should have gone in small increments but that again is not telling me how he will figure out what's the exact measurements.. I know it's supposed to measure between 7.8 to 8.Something...
The car has crane cam roller rockers with a 590 solid cam..(mopar cam )
Talking to a grant here also who I hope will help me out.

Reason we are changing them is they were heard making some noise and when the covers were taken off we realized they were loose... Just lucky to see it before anything else could have happened. Car is running rich also .. Can this be the reason ? Car ran real well and is barely a cpl'm of thousand miles on a fresh rebuild.
Have W-2 heads and was thinking of swapping these 340 heads but now I'm getting nervous as I thought it was just a few bolts here and there, swap the heads and of I go..... nope!

Thanks for all the help thus far.
 
first off take the damn springs off the cylinder you're checking and the tool won't bend. start off by having two threads on the adjuster showing below the rocker arm. rotate motor thru a valve event and see if the roller rolls pretty much in the center of the valve tip. adjust the length until you're happy.
 
second adjust the damn running clearance for the valves. the wider it is the more noise there will be. use what mopar recommends. if it's still to loud for you tighten them up .001 or so until you're happy..
 
4spdragtop said:
Sorry but I can see **** going sideways here....things are gonna get lost in translation. ..
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He is killing parts so it's already sideways. He needs a different mechanic if he's checking pushrod length without soft springs on it.

IMO, 2 threads out of the rocker is too much, especially with the W-2 and the offset intake rocker. It should be 9/32 inch plus or minus .025 which usually equates to no threads out.

Putting the adjuster farther out also changes the rocker ratio. Not by much, but a bit anyways.
 
MAPS said:
Wow, thanks (Discharged) I will ask the guy who is looking after the car now add I'm basically an idiot when it comes to "hands on mechanical" issues....
But we bought some tool that looked like a Pushrod that screwed in on top add if it would extend higher with the top screw and this tool (all this is mechanic talking to me, I'm lost) would get longer as you turned the top part...i can see it being called a ball ball etc but this tool itself bent so he is ordering another to measure it again. (This time ordered 2 lol) I think he screwed it to high and that's why I bent ? Maybe he should have gone in small increments but that again is not telling me how he will figure out what's the exact measurements.. I know it's supposed to measure between 7.8 to 8.Something...
The car has crane cam roller rockers with a 590 solid cam..(mopar cam )
Talking to a grant here also who I hope will help me out.

Reason we are changing them is they were heard making some noise and when the covers were taken off we realized they were loose... Just lucky to see it before anything else could have happened. Car is running rich also .. Can this be the reason ? Car ran real well and is barely a cpl'm of thousand miles on a fresh rebuild.
Have W-2 heads and was thinking of swapping these 340 heads but now I'm getting nervous as I thought it was just a few bolts here and there, swap the heads and of I go..... nope!

Thanks for all the help thus far.
Click to expand...


Ok I THINK I get what your asking. First, like bOb said, put checker springs on the number 1 cylinders valves. If you are using W-2 heads, the offset of the intake makes that pushrod about .060 or so longer, so I always buy an intake length pushrod and an exhaust length pushrod. I'm just anal about that stuff and .050-060 is a bunch to me.

Once you have the soft springs on, roll the engine over to TDC#1 cylinder and put your SHORTENED checking tool into the intake lifter. Set your rocker gear on and just snug it down. Screw th adjuster into the rocker so NO THREADS ARE SHOWING. You should have 9/32 inch sticking out, or about .281 or about 7 mm if that's how you roll.

Now, just raise the screw on the checking pushrod until it just touches the adjuster. Take it back apart and accurately measure the overall length. It is the overall length if it is ball and ball. If you use cup and ball it's still the overall length, but you need the EFFECTIVE LENGTH, and any good push rod company can take your OAL and get the effective length.

Do not forget to subtract you lash from whatever measurement you get. Then you know the adjuster will be where Chrysler wants it.
 
Is everybody missing the fact that the OP does not do any mechanical work and has someone else doing this stuff? I mean really giving another mechanic (Supposedly) advice is what we're doing here. I think someone said it already when they said get someone else to work on your car who knows what they're doing. I'm getting a little confused here as in your first post states that you have to find out how to measure the push rod but in your second post really you don't do that stuff the mechanic does and if he can't ....
 
j par said:
Is everybody missing the fact that the OP does not do any mechanical work and has someone else doing this stuff? I mean really giving another mechanic (Supposedly) advice is what we're doing here. I think someone said it already when they said get someone else to work on your car who knows what they're doing. I'm getting a little confused here as in your first post states that you have to find out how to measure the push rod but in your second post really you don't do that stuff the mechanic does and if he can't ....
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I'm preparing for the oncoming poop storm for the OP.
Going to get dirty and smelly pretty quick if the mechanic can't measure PR length.
 
Ok, let's get something straight. As it seems, something had been lost in the translation... Literally.
First and foremost, i can't get on (site) at the drop of a dime as I work closer to 16 hrs a day. So any free time I can squeeze between cadavers ( occupation is somewhat, "dead") during work, is a luxury. Therefore, please excuse my delay with my replies.

Aside from not wanting to make this a pissing contest or a she said, he said.. i just need any help that can be offered and it will truly be appreciated it.

First and foremost the W-2 heads are not on the car, presently.... What happened was the car was making some type of noise that the mechanic said it was (after looking at the engine, heads, etc) because the pushrods were " loose" (his words... Meaning they were the wrong length) as mentioned earlier.
I don't know my *** from my elbow when it comes to putting a block together, aside from some specs of what I have (on the car) and/or....repeating what I have been told.
I don't know squat... About engine issues/repairs. I can't say the same of the human anatomy, (can take it apart and put it back together, no problem, lol )
The car was bought and was basically told to use this mechanic as he had maintained the car the last cpl of yrs of the previous owner's dealings) Ergo, I use him.

I agree with the gentleman that stated it is even harder when you explain to a "illiterate" of mass proportions when it comes to trying to deduce and/or repair an engine, than to someone who has some inclination what is being advised. Yet it does not hurt to be told how or what can be done, no matter the level of engine intellect on my part as I will just fwd this and dare I say, friendly advice to the mechanic.

With that said, I hope I have cleared the air about my dilemma, my qualities as a mechanic and most important, the utmost gratitude I have for any and all the help that has been offered by all.

P.S. I have fresh "liver" daily.... .... Should the need arise. Lol
 
Did the mechanic try adjusting the valves? If you have the Crane rockers you mentioned, they are adjustable. I'm a little lost as to why you'd need different pushrods... especially if the car ran as well as you indicated earlier.
 
On my solid tap it cam if my pushrods that formerly worked all the sudden became looser than I could have ajusted for with my rockers I would start thinking my cam was wiped out or my solid tap it? This is the part that I haven't personally seen that commonly just where's out. I'm not saying that it can't, I'm just saying it's usually something on either side of it. it's more or less just a solid piece that transfers motion and sometimes lubricant. If these are the push rods that were put in before then I would be of the school if they need to be changed and they were never the right ones to begin with OR it's not the problem!
 
bOb shingler said:
fire your mechanic!
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bOb has hit the nail squarely on the head. With a sledge hammer.


To the OP, it would be nice, when you get a minute, to tell us what you had, as far as parts, with as much detail as you can. Then maybe we can piece the story together and help you learn something so you don't get taken to the shower and have your fudge get packed.

Think of it this way. I posted I had a cadaver here, and I needed to take it apart, and see what went wrong. Think of all the details you would need to know so I could take said cadaver apart and ultimately learn what happened. Or, you could say...get the chain saw out and bisect from the cranium to the crotch and call it good. With details, the autopsy is much cleaner.

That kind of detail, as best you can would help us help you.

And, as jpar said, you may have more going down that pushrods that either bent, or by the miracle of osmosis and alchemy became shorter.
 
Yellow Rose, lol wish we worked together life would be so much easier to explain to others.

I will get back to you about what details I know, cam etc....
I do know the cam is a 590 lift MP. ... Solid cam.

Problem is, I don't know what you are looking for, exactly. What do you need to know so I can ask accordingly.
WoW ! I never thought it would be this difficult trying to find the correct manner, procedure to measuring the length of a Pushrod.
Please advise me on how to go about it.... or better yet, let me know what you may need to know to be able to address my looping headache.
Thanks to all who have shared an opinion, thought or any form of input. This will not (have been) be corrected without all your help. Thanks once again !!!
 
MAPS said:
Yellow Rose, lol wish we worked together life would be so much easier to explain to others.

I will get back to you about what details I know, cam etc....
I do know the cam is a 590 lift MP. ... Solid cam.

Problem is, I don't know what you are looking for, exactly. What do you need to know so I can ask accordingly.
WoW ! I never thought it would be this difficult trying to find the correct manner, procedure to measuring the length of a Pushrod.
Please advise me on how to go about it.... or better yet, let me know what you may need to know to be able to address my looping headache.
Thanks to all who have shared an opinion, thought or any form of input. This will not (have been) be corrected without all your help. Thanks once again !!!
Click to expand...


Read jpars post.
We can't figure out why, on a running engine, if you gained valve lash your mechanic would come to the conclusion the push rods were too short. Did it clatter all the time? If not, it gained lash some how. Either you bent some pushrods, had some lobes go flat , or maybe the adjusters came loose.

We now know it's a MoPar .590 cam. Nothing wrong with that.
Whose rocker arms?
Did it ever not make noise?
Those cams call for .028/.032 lash hot. I set them at .020 hot. There is zero reason to run any cam with that kind of lash.

Those answers would be a start.
 
Y.R.
As made clear in earlier posts and quite evident of my stupidity in regards to engine repairs and reasons/needs for them all I can and will do, is repeat the advice said to me to the so-called "car's" mechanic. I'm confident that he knows what he is doing as he has been honest with me from the get-go.
From there I don't know where we will be going, but definitely I will be here ... Because I know I won't get lost in this maze of car repairs....
MAPS

P.S. Should have listened to myself and just stayed with a numbers matching "stock" car/engine. lol but noooo we wanted a 10 second car, with plates. A screaming small block that sounds like a Jumbo Jet @ the airport runway just before take off....
 
MAPS said:
Y.R.
As made clear in earlier posts and quite evident of my stupidity in regards to engine repairs and reasons/needs for them all I can and will do, is repeat the advice said to me to the so-called "car's" mechanic. I'm confident that he knows what he is doing as he has been honest with me from the get-go.
From there I don't know where we will be going, but definitely I will be here ... Because I know I won't get lost in this maze of car repairs....
MAPS

P.S. Should have listened to myself and just stayed with a numbers matching "stock" car/engine. lol but noooo we wanted a 10 second car, with plates. A screaming small block that sounds like a Jumbo Jet @ the airport runway just before take off....
Click to expand...

PSS... PLEASE EXCUSE ANY GRAMMAR ERRORS AS I'VE ONLY SLEPT 3 HRS IN THE LAST 24...(AND I'M TOO TIRED TO GO THRU THIS SPELL CHECK, CORRECTION, ETC)
 
I originally voice commanded out this long post on how pushrods work ect...
but I scratched that as the world is full people with $$ and bad mechanic's to take it.
IF you brought your car into a mechanic because it was not running right and the mechanic told you it needs new pushrods because they got loose and that was it? then likely you've been taken to the cleaners.
I've kept in mind that I'm just an internet dumbass and your mechanic is someone you shake hands with that look in the eye but I understand that, But facts are facts.....
 
MAPS said:
PSS... PLEASE EXCUSE ANY GRAMMAR ERRORS AS I'VE ONLY SLEPT 3 HRS IN THE LAST 24...(AND I'M TOO TIRED TO GO THRU THIS SPELL CHECK, CORRECTION, ETC)
Click to expand...


I'm not a spelling or grammar nazi. Life's too short.

As long as you trust the guy, move forward. Just use caution, ask him questions and demand that he MAKE you understand what he is doing and why. That is part of his responsibility. He's just as much teacher as mechanic.

Never forget, it's YOUR car and YOUR money. Make him teach you. If you can disassemble a human you can grasp the rudimentary functions of the piston driven, OHV, cam in block, pushrod/rocker arm driven internal combustion engine.

Glad you decided to make horsepower. That's never a bad decision in my world.
 
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