It's the wife's fault!!!

[Nathan289]

I'll have to do some research and see if there are any specs on rockers. I know the shaft is bad.

I found an nos shaft in Oregon.

I have to see I need the whole kit & kaboodle.

[Nathan289]

The shop manual contains the specs for the rocker arm shaft. .781
Mines toast..
The shop manual also provides specs for the bore diameter of the rockers. .783
Haven't measured those yet.

Normal clearance is .002-.004 though discard is .006.

So ill get those rockers measured and go from there.

[Nathan289]

My parts measured in at;
.769 for the rocker shaft, well beyond the wear limit. Plus it has a bend in it.

Rockers measured anywhere from .784 to .787.
Some are worn but all are within limits. Majority were .786

Still on the fence about what to do...

[Nathan289]

Roger,
The shaft you sent me. Is the first shaft I've ever seen that had copper bushings in every rocker.. very odd. Even odder is they were out of specs.

I don't get it. I got an assembly from PhilC next. It was looking awesome until I got to cylinder 3 exhaust rocker and it scored the shaft and rocker really bad. The shaft was perfect except for 2 cylinders.. how do two cylinders wear, but everything else is good?

So I bought the nos fomoco shaft off ebay from a guy in coos bay, OR. For $30.

Using the best 12 rockers I built myself an assembly. Bolted to the car, adjusted valves, did a compression test, fired it up and my knock or noise was still there.

The wife looks up the stock spark plug number, cross-references it to an autolite plug and tells me I have a colder plug in there.. I was running a autolite 45. She says try a 46 like its supposed to have.

Guess what? A change of plugs later and the noise appears to be gone..

Hmm..

[ew1usnr]

The wife looks up the stock spark plug number, cross-references it to an autolite plug and tells me I have a colder plug in there.. I was running a autolite 45. She says try a 46 like its supposed to have.

Guess what? A change of plugs later and the noise appears to be gone..
Hmm..

I really am impressed that your wife thought to check that you had correct spark plugs.

It is surprising that a colder plug would cause a knocking sound, but if the noise went away you received a surprise success.

I need to have your wife look at my car and tell me if anything needs to be changed.

[Nathan289]

Colder plugs shouldn't make it knock or detonate, so I don't get it.
Maybe something in the engine was hitting the plugs or plug, but I don't see evidence of that.
Maybe the colder plug was fouling at idle causing a miss that was causing a noise?

Only other thought is bad gas, but I didn't change that till after the noise went away.

Right now the wife is shopping for a plasma cutter..

Ebay has some really cheap 3&1 plasma cutter, mig and mms welder all built in one. Probably not a good buy, but its tempting.

[Nathan289]

Noise is back...

I don't know. I went through and retorqued everything I could on the outside of the motor..

I'm thinking possibly the distributor, as the end shaft play is really excessive.
End shaft play is supposed to be leas than .008 mine is .020

When I move the shaft up and down it makes a similar noise as my engine noise.

I'll order a rebuilt distributor and maybe drop the oil pan and check the mains and rods..

Otherwise I don't know.. maybe flywheel bolts next