Shovelhead pushrod adjustment?

[Bugman]

I have a 74" shovel out of a '77. It has aluminum pushrods and a solid lifter cam. How do I properly set the lash? I know how to do it with hydraulic lifters, but not the solids. I'm paranoid I'll set them too tight, because I have seen shovel valves whack each other. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

-Jeff

[scott]

I have a 74" shovel out of a '77. It has aluminum pushrods and a solid lifter cam. How do I properly set the lash? I know how to do it with hydraulic lifters, but not the solids. I'm paranoid I'll set them too tight, because I have seen shovel valves whack each other. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

-Jeff
First of all the engine must be cold
Remove the clips and xpose the push rods and hold the tubes up with a clothsepin or wire'bla bla bla.
pull the plugs to make it easier to turn the engine over
on each push rod do the following rotate engine until valve is completely closed (tappet at lowest point) pushrod will be at its slackest point.
loosen jamb nut
adjust pushrod so there is no up and down movement at all, but the rod still turns freely with thumb and index finger. tighten the jamb nut and check to see if there is NO up and down
you may have to repeat if there is.
Repeat on all rods and you are done my friend.

[hatch]

Yup...that's the correct way..........I learned the hard way....I won't go into any gory details.

[Bugman]

Thanks for the info, it sounds easy enough. Not to question the experts, but I thought that at zero lash, the aluminum pushrods would expand more than the iron cylinders and cause the valves to hang open?

[hatch]

Thanks for the info, it sounds easy enough. Not to question the experts, but I thought that at zero lash, the aluminum pushrods would expand more than the iron cylinders and cause the valves to hang open?

Just make sure the pushrod spins freely between your fingers....I ran my pan/shovel stroker with a B grind andrews cam for years using that method. If the pushrod doesn't spin freely, you will burn valves.

[Bugman]

Just make sure the pushrod spins freely between your fingers....I ran my pan/shovel stroker with a B grind andrews cam for years using that method. If the pushrod doesn't spin freely, you will burn valves.

Ok, thanks again.

-Jeff

[jcs64]

huh, I just delt w/ this over the weekend. I was checking some things on a buddies shovel and found there was no clearance on the valves (zero lash). I made some phone calls but no one could tell me how much clearance there should be w/ the solid lifters. We decided that a little looser is better than a hung open burnt valve, so we set them to zero lash and then backed them off a 1/4 turn.

Now after reading this I have to ask, Should I go back and set them to zero?

jeff