I have a '54 Olds with the 324 V8 Rocket. I had removed the valve cover and rocker arm assembly on the driver's side head so that I could inspect the valve stem seals. I removed the two pushrods for the cylinder I was going to inspect, cleaned them and tried to put them back in.

One pushrod went in just fine - the other dropped in about a 1/4" below the surface of the head. I checked all the other pushrods, and all of them went back in just fine, sticking up about an inch or so above the head. This one keeps wanting to drop in too far.

Does anyone know why that pushrod dropped in like it did? What should I be looking for?

 

I don't know these engines at all...

But is there a way(enough wiggle room) for the push rod to slide
down past the lifter?
Does it feel like it's missing the lifter, or that the lifter is no longer there?

Might have to pull the manifold...
But let someone chime in who knows these engines.
I'd say get a flashlight and see if you can identify the lifter at the bottom of the pushrod hole OR if you're seeing cam lobe and the lifter has...vanished!

 

There is a chance that the retaining clip that holds the lifter together was broken. The tension from the valve train was what was holding the lifter together. When you removed the pushrod the lifter came apart...If this is true you will need to remove the intake and replace the lifter.

 

How difficult is it to remove the intake? Any special tools I might need?

 

I'm glad you mentioned that - when I looked down into the hole, I didn't see a lifter, but i did see something that could be a cam lobe. Guess that solves the mystery.

Grrrrr...

 

The intake and carb assembly comes off pretty easily with no special tools however you may need to pull the distributer and get it back where it belongs....and you will need new gaskets and have to drain the coolant...Yes if you can look down with a light you may be able to see something....the lifter cannot drop down though past the camshaft without something very serious going on inside the engine. Pulling them too usually isnt real easy due to grime buildup so I still doubt that the lifter came out when you pulled the pushrod. I am assuming the engine ran fine before you begain looking under the valve cover.

 

If I remember right, it was smoking.

 

Yea, J - it did have a smoke problem, and the reason I was removing the rocker arm assembly was to inspect the valve stem seals to see if they were the culprit.

Unfortunately, I ran into another problem