I found this on a forum and I have a question about it.

With the engine at TDC mark a line at 180 Degrees opposite of TDC(this is the second point) then 270 Degrees from the second point(putting it between the factory TDC markings and the 180 degree markings. THIS IS YOUR THIRD AND FINAL POINT YOU GO TO.) It is wise to mark these with chalk.

At TDC you adjust

No.1 Exhaust No.1 Intake
No.4 Exhuast No.2 Intake
No.5 Exhaust No.7 Intake

Now Rotate the engine to the second point(the point 180degrees opposite of TDC)(This puts piston 4 on TDC)

At 180 Degrees opposite of TDC you adjust

No.6 Exhaust No.4 Intake
No.8 Exhaust No.5 Intake

Rotate the engine 270 degrees, putting you on the third marking.(the marking between tdc and 180 degrees opposite of tdc)(No.3 Piston is now on TDC)

At 270 past 180 degrees opposite of TDC adjust

No.2 Exhaust No.3 Intake
No.3 Exhaust No.6 Intake
No.7 Exhaust No.8 Intake

Remember that y-block valves are(from front to rear) E-I-I-E-E-I-I-E
and that the cyl. No.s go from 1-2-3-4(right bank) 5-6-7-8(left bank)
Also note, that this is only the preliminary adjustment, and that a final adjustment should be made after running the engine for 30 minutes, and should be a 0.019".
That being said, I have mine adjusted cold at 0.020" and it sounds like a really quite typewriter.
If you have any questions, just ask. It's no problem for me to break out the manual again.

When I get down to the part about 270 degrees No. 3 cyl is not TDC. The intake valve is half way open.

What am I doing wrong

 

Well, since I'm not smart enough to remember all that I just put #1 at TDC compression stroke. Then mark the damper every 90°. Adjust #1 E&I, turn 90°, adjust #5 E&I, turn 90°, adjust #4 E&I, and so on, following the firing order; 1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2.
That way I ensure each cylinder is @ TDC CS.
But I'm sure someone will have the time to figure out what you did wrong and say it's a better way.
But that's just me and my 1¢ worth...

 

I like your way better! It worked great.
Thanks

 

I do one cylinder at a time, too. I did it as outlined by the book in the first post and it ended up all weird.

 

I need to adjust mine and one at a time makes a lot more sense. 270 degrees is too complicated.

 

I do it as described by OP. you can always double check tdc by pulling the dizzy cap. and see where the rotor is pointing.

 

I tried adjusting my valves twice today bringing each cylinder to TDC on SC. I judged this by starting with #1 and the timing marks. Then proceeded through the firing order making sure the crank was at one of the 90 marks with both valves closed. Some of the cylinders seam to be out of time but I assumed the engine turned too far, and I just bumped the engine until the exhaust/intake opened and closed and the valves were at rest with the crank at a 90 degree mark.

I was tightening the valves to 0 lash then loosen 90 degrees to get to .019. (See the instructions below.) I checked #1 and #4 with feeler guage and they were close but the valves rattled terrible. Last year I adjusted them with a feeler guage and the engine sounded like a sewing which to my understanding is perfect. The feeler guage is a PITA. What I am doing wrong? Is zero lash when rocker will not rattle or when the valve moves?

<TABLE style="WIDTH: 402pt; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in" class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=670><TBODY><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top></TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 372.6pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top width=621 colSpan=3>Adjusting Valve Lash on a Y-Block

</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 1.8pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-row-margin-right: 2.55pt"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 29.4pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; HEIGHT: 1.8pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top width=49>
</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 1.8pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; HEIGHT: 1.8pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top width=3></TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 368.4pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; HEIGHT: 1.8pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top width=614><O</O</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-cell-special: placeholder" width=4>

</TD></TR><TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-row-margin-right: 2.55pt; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top colSpan=2></TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 368.4pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; PADDING-TOP: 0in" vAlign=top width=614>Y-Block enthusiast, let’s talk valve lash. As y-blocks have no hydraulic lifters, it is necessary to adjust the tappets quit often. Unfortunately, the use of a feeler gauge is satisfactory only if the rocker faces are in good condition. If the rocker faces have wear pockets, from contacting the valve stem, the use of a feeler gauge will provide results which are little better than calculated guessing, as the gap will always be greater than the thickness of the feeler gauge due to said condition.<O</O
About fifty years ago when solid lifters were most common, a tool was developed for adjusting valve lash, utilizing a dial indicator, called a P&G Valve Gapper. These tools were supplied with specific adapters for different makes of engines, including y-block Fords, by P&G manufacturing Co. of Portland, Or, but to the best of my knowledge they no longer exist. Can anyone expand on the existence of this company or a source of this tool, or parts thereof? I have found a few at swap meets but not in the last decade. This is the finest tool ever developed for adjusting solid lifter equipped overhead tappets as anyone who owns one would testify. <O</O
For those of you without the luxury of such a precision tool, may I suggest a very satisfactory method alternative to feeler gauges anyone can perform without special tools.<O</O
The tappet adjust screw is 20 threads per inch thus 1 full turn represents .050 of linear travel. It works just like a micrometer. Multiply 1 turn of travel times existing rocker ratio. Example, .050x1.54 = .077. As you can deduct, one full turn of the adjust screw used in a 1.54 ratio rocker will represent .077 of tappet clearance. Now divide one turn of tappet clearance i.e, .077 by 60 as in the 60 minutes of a clock face. This number is .001283 = 1 minute of clock face rotation. Thus 15 minutes of rotation will =.192 Very close to .019 which is the specification for valve tappet clearance on 292 and 312 engines. 15 minutes clock rotation = 90 degrees rotation, an increment most auto enthusiast can easily estimate quite closely.<O</O
Get into the engine, with the lifter all the down obtain some tappet clearance then carefully rotate the adjust screw clockwise to obtain .000 valve lash. Just touching but not depressing the valve. Now rotate the adjust screw counterclockwise 90 degrees. The resulting clearance should be very, very close to .019 regardless of rocker arm face wear.<O</O
If adjusting 1.43 ratio rockers rotate the adjust screw 16 min. of rotation ccw. To obtain .01906 clearance. Very, very, very close.<O</O
In order to determine the ratio of said rocker, observe the # on the side. 1.54 rockers are marked ECG 6564-B2 or “B1 I am led to believe any rocker with B1 or B2 suffix will be a 1.54 ratio rocker and all those without suffixes will be 1.43 ratio.<O</O
Walt Nuckels 12/31/00<O</O

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I can a chime in on this as I just did my 292 the other day. I used the Ford procedure in the OP, except I used the "tighten rocker adjusting bolt then back off 90 degrees method" with excellent results.
The trick to this I found somewhere on the internets is to
tighten the rocker adjusting bolt till the push rod is almost too hard to rotate with your fingers.
Then back it off 90 degrees. I also checked with a feeler gauge and was able to get consistent results.

 

If you use the 90 degree method, you can certainly check with a feeler gauge to satisfy your curiosity, however, they may not all match because the rocker arms can wear differently, and for all you know, they came from different engines with unknown mileage and unknown amount of wear. Don't go back and make them match with a feeler gauge after doing the 90 degree method. That defeats the purpose. Using a feeler gauge after the fact is not a good way to verify that the 90 degree method worked unless you have new or refurbished rocker arms.