I'm late to this party, but I got a little notice that I'm supposed to post, so here's some general advice for young Jason-- before you pick up a wrench, READ !!! Get a factory service manual for this engine, go to the library and get some books on general automotive, read and learn.
When I was a kid, probably about nine or ten, I found my grampa's old '41 Dodge owner's manual-- that thing had all kinds of explanations of how cars work.
A monkey can be taught how to do one simple task at a time, but once you generally understand how things are supposed to work it will start coming to you naturally.
--van
PS-- Adjusted the valve lash on my 312 last Saturday, now it clatters evenly on all eight cylinders...
If the rockers are originals, they almost certainly are pitted on the face where they contact the valve stem. The pits are basically the shape of the end of the valve stem in relief. You can get an idea of how deeply the pits extend when doing the lash, by picking either of the #1 valves at TDC, and taking out the adjusting nut. Then rocker and/or push rod can be moved off to the side, and the rocker rotated so the contact surface can be seen and felt. Touch is probably a better gauge of depth than sight in this case. To get an idea of what you are feeling in terms of numbers, lay a .005 feeler gauge on a flat surface and move fingers back and forth over the edge.
So why do this? You can adjust the lash perfectly on all the valves to .018-.019, but if the pits are .005 deep, what is your actual lash(?)... .024, and you have some noise.
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1946 1/2 ton with 305 cu in Y-block
1990 Ranger 4WD
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