Push rod replacement
 

If anyone can give any help please do.
I have a 67 Coupe with the 200 ci I6. I was lost acceleration and the engine was running rough. After some investigating Ive found a bent push rod in my number three cylinder. I have the replacement rod but Im a little nervous about getting it properly reinstalled. Do I need to use a feeler gage and tighten the rocker screw on the rod until the valve is at a certain gap? Do I just tighten it down with zero clearance and allow no turn on the rod? Or is it supposed to be able to move? Also, do I need to lube the push rod with grease or oil before dropping it in the cylinder? As you can see, I have avery limited understanding of this stuff. If anyone could dumb down some directions to me I would appreciate it. I dont want to screw it up and bend the new rod too. Someone, anyone please help, I cant find a good descriptive answer any where. Thanks.

I might be able to help you a little, but all I can tell you is what I did with my big block. First, I do know you need to put just a little assembly lube on each end of the push rod. As for clearances, I'm not sure but I think it has to do with your lifters. I am running hydraulic lifter that have .080" of give. When I measured for my pushrods, I was told to tighten the nut down until I had about .040". That is, the bottom of the pushrod was just about in the middle inside the lifter. Hopefully this will help and other people can elaborate on this.
Oh yeah - the reason for putting the bottom of the pushrod in the middle as best as possible is because the lifter fills with oil as the engine runs, and you want to be sure to have enough lube without bottoming out the lifter. I don't know it this is only true with hydraulic, though...