Hi Guys,
I know this is a truck forum but an engine is an engine as far as I'm concerned, haha. I've got a '65 Mustang that I bought a couple years ago. It supposedly had a "fresh" 289 rebuild when I bought it but the rear main started leaking and when I pulled the pan I found it was a 302 and the main bearings were all shot. So I spent last summer rebuilding a good 302, did a retro roller conversion, large port aluminum heads, 11:1 racing pistons and a lumpy cam (31-600-8).

I only had the chance to drive it twice before winter and seem to have a couple issues. The first is that the cam I have produces almost no vacuum for the carb (which I was expecting), I was unhappy with the Edlebrock carb I had so I ordered a new Holley carb with a low vacuum power valve which will be going on in a couple weeks and that should take care of the vacuum issue.

The second problem I'm having is that I'm having a bitch of a time adjusting the valves. I have tried roughly 5-6 times with the car running and aside from getting oil everywhere, I seem to be fighting a losing battle. I got the drivers side sounding good but have a persistent "pop" on the passengers side exhaust note that's indicating one is out of adjustment. After talking to a few people I'm starting to suspect that I installed improper length pushrods so I bought a pushrod length checking tool and am going to check them. I also bought a new intake (RPM Air Gap) so they'll be easy to check while I change that. After all this rambling my question is this: I have seen videos on checking pushrod length and it's straight forward but how do I accomplish this with hydraulic lifters? A lot of guys say you need to use a solid lifter so do I find a solid lifter that is the exact same length as my hydraulic's or do I need one slightly taller? I have heard that hydraulic lifters "pump up" once the oil runs through them so that is why I'm a bit confused. I want to make sure everything is right while I'm in there this time so I don't have any more issues.

Sorry for being long winded but I wanted to provide as much background as I could to save some questions. Any advice or info that you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Here's how I adjust the valves on mine: Get the #1 cylinder to TDC on the compression stroke. To adjust the valves, While tightening the poly lock (you did use poly locks didn't you ?) nut, twist the pushrod between your fingers, soon as you feel resistance in the pushrod, stop tightening then tighten the nut 1/2 to 3/4 of a full turn and lock down the jam screw in the poly lock nut. Do both valves on that cylinder. Now when done, rotate the crankshaft (I use a breaker bar and socket on the balancer bolt) 90*. Now adjust the valves on the next cylinder in the firing order. When done repeat the steps, rotating the crank 90" each time, when done you will have rotated the crank two full revolutions and gone completely thru the firing order for all 8 cylinders.

 

That was my plan, I'm just wondering about the lifters now. I want to make sure if I use a solid one that it's the right length so I can properly determine my push rod length and not have to revisit this again.

 

I'm not an expert, so take my advise with a grain of salt! My experience has all been on pedestal style rockers...

That said, you should need some amount of lifter preload that needs to be considered when ordering pushrods, so I don't know about your solid lifter idea.

I would think stud type rockers would be more forgiving - as long as you can get the desired preload, and have good rocker to valve stem geometry, that you should be in good shape.