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Phillyfanfrombirth · 11-18-2005, 04:32 PM

First... 302s came out in 1968... so either that is a 289, or a replacement.

Now, as far as tightening the valves. I made this mistake in my younger days. You are dealing with hydraulic lifters, they will compress when you tighten them down. When they then fill up with oil, they will have too much pressure on them and you may end up with some broken or bent parts... or at the least, a poor performing engine.

What we did was take the distributor cap off... and crank the engine by the harmonic balancer bolt...

We loosened (just enough to take off the pressure so that the rocker arms could wiggle up and down) all of the nuts that held on the rockers, then tightened them one by one depending on where the rotor was pointing.

For example, if the rotor was pointing at the #1 cylinder, we would know that both of those valves should be closed... tighten the nuts until the pushrod will no longer spin with a gentle rolling between your fingers... repeat with all 8 cylinders.

Replace the valve covers with a couple bolts, and start the engine... let the oil pressure build up for a couple seconds, then recheck all of the valves the same way.

Hope that helps.

11-18-2005, 04:32 PM	#2
Phillyfanfrombirth Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: South Central PA Posts: 358	Re: 67 Lifter problem First... 302s came out in 1968... so either that is a 289, or a replacement. Now, as far as tightening the valves. I made this mistake in my younger days. You are dealing with hydraulic lifters, they will compress when you tighten them down. When they then fill up with oil, they will have too much pressure on them and you may end up with some broken or bent parts... or at the least, a poor performing engine. What we did was take the distributor cap off... and crank the engine by the harmonic balancer bolt... We loosened (just enough to take off the pressure so that the rocker arms could wiggle up and down) all of the nuts that held on the rockers, then tightened them one by one depending on where the rotor was pointing. For example, if the rotor was pointing at the #1 cylinder, we would know that both of those valves should be closed... tighten the nuts until the pushrod will no longer spin with a gentle rolling between your fingers... repeat with all 8 cylinders. Replace the valve covers with a couple bolts, and start the engine... let the oil pressure build up for a couple seconds, then recheck all of the valves the same way. Hope that helps.