Good day, from Manitoba.
New to this site; signed up due to a good buddy bringing me his '71 350 to put together.
A year ago his 'plastic' timing gear blew up, and proceeded to eat up the motor... bent valves & push rods, buggered up a few pistons, etc.
He them took it to an engine shop to get it overhauled, only to wait a year and have very little done to it.
So a couple weeks back he wheeled it into my shop, with a pile of new parts, and asked me to complete it.
Fast forward to today:
block cleaned, hot tanked, line bore checked good, cyl's bored .030 over, crank mag'd good & machined -.010 under, new pistons installed (Sealed Power L2320F's), re-used factory rods, and the heads (#7's) got hot-tanked/decked/valve guides installed/new valves (SBI 00969/00970) all lapped in.
Stock cam in rough shape, so he got an Edelbrock cam kit (#3712), which included a Comp cam & Edelbrock lifters.
Which brings me to my question...
As the push rods are bent, I'm ordering new ones.
I mocked up a head on the shortblock last night, with new Felpro H Gasket, to check push rod length.
These are flat tappet hyd lifters, and they have a huge range; I can push in the top receiver about .200"
I'm sorta use to a chevy, where the rockers are adjustable.... these are not.
With a couple of straight stock (8.240" long) push rods, I'm only pushing on the lifter by about .008" , and I'd feel way better with more.
Any reason I can't order up 8.300" push rods, as these hyd lifters are quite forgiving.
Please reply with some guidance, or if one needs a bit more info.
Thanks!
Clif

 

I'm sure someone else with more experience will answer, but I know I ordered standard pushrods and lifters and a aftermarket cam for my Olds 350 and when I put together I found the pushrods were too short- didn't even push the lifters down. I found out that the base circle on the cam was smaller that the original Olds cam.

 

The supplied Comp/Edelbrock lifters have .200 of travel? Are you sure? I’m not sure I believe that, sorry.

 

Yes, you can order longer pushrods. If nothing else, the thicker modern head gaskets will lift the head by ~0.022". You might be able to convince the customer to get the Comp adjustable rocker kit. It's pretty cheap, but the pushrods that come with it are very flimsy.

 

they most certainly do.

 

Wow, then you’ll need lots of preload. Otherwise at the very least they’ll most likely be noisy.
As mentioned, an adjustable rocker setup is really the only way to go then.

 

That .200 travel is when they are empty, right out of the box.
Installed, with oil pressure, they should be fine with .040" preload

 

I don’t agree with that but that’s fine.
Best of luck moving forward.

 

Enlighten me on your reply, as I'm only used to roller lifters/specific length push rods & lash adjusters on my hemi nitro motors.
My knowledge of hyd lifters, and setting them, goes way back to the old 350 SBC days of my youth.

 

possible you can give me a call?
1 204 382 7869
Clif

 

I tried, says call cannot be completed as dialed.
Sent you a pm.

 

For decades, racers have used as little as 0.002" lifter preload. I think 0.010" to 0.020" would be good for a street engine, maybe more. I assume cutlassefi is giving you some good advice.

 

x 2

 

Man, that's quite a line up of 'Olds', Mr. Oldster Ralph.
To you & all who replied, THANK YOU for the info; learned a bunch, which is the best part of these forums.
So.... one more question... the new parts 'wheelbarrow' also had a Felpro Valley Pan Gasket (MS 90069).
Not familiar with these junks of sheet metal, other than keeping engine heat away from the intake, or using something similar with a highrise intake install, which is not happening here... all stock..
Do I need it?
Clif

 

And, can someone tell me where this thing goes?

 

The small piece is a shield to keep oil from being thrown up into the oil fill tube. it goes in the front of the block before the front cover. Ill post a picture in the morning if nobody else beats me to it.

As far as your lifter preload goes my first question would be what does Edelbrock recommend ?? For a mild cam I would think anywhere in the middle of the lifter travel should be fine.

The factory spec is about .060 but they have you measure it in an unusual manner. Basically with everything dry you push the lifter end of the rocker arm down all the way and then they want .080 - .135 lash at the valve. But that is with the stock GM lifters.

I would find out what Edelbrock wants first and go with that if you can instead of guessing. Here, I did your homework for you. All the information you need is on page 2
https://www.jegs.com/InstallationIns...YwgP9KvjVAeXVF

 

Well you need an intake manifold gasket so you may as well use the one you already have. The valley tray is designed to keep oil off the hot exhaust crossover as well as seal the intake ports with the embossed areas. They have been used on Olds engines forever so no reason to fear using it.

 

Location where splash shield goes.

 

Dang... I knew I should have asked about that little plate BEFORE assembling the short block /timing cover/water pump/pan.
Well, i'm not going to tear it down for a little plate; I'll machine up a nice short filler spout to press in, that has a sealed screw-on cap..

 

I do have both options for intake gaskets, regular, and this pan-type. One has to go on...

 

I guess its left over from the days when there was a breather cap on top of the oil fill. Doesnt really do anything with a sealed oil fill cap.

 

Agreed it's not really useful unless someone drops nuts and bolts down the oil fill tube. Keep the little kids out from under the hood and all should be fine.

 

Glad to hear you’re moving forward after our lengthy conversations the last couple of days.
Best of luck on the remainder of this project.

 

Without a doubt M, I certainly appreciate the extra time you spent with me on the phone, to not just answer my question, but further educate me on all of the application aspects of both hyd lifter setting, and in-depth details on my specific cam timing.
Not very often in this day & age that one can get to know people that take the time to do so.
You are a wealth of information, and again, Thank You!
Clif