I have an 84 Ford F250 3/4ton 4x4 with a 351 Windsor. Recently I changed the nasty 2 barrel EGR intake and carb to an Edelbrock 4 barrel dual plane manifold and 650cfm Edelbrock carb. While I was in that deep I decided to change the cam to an Edelbrock performer. When I got it all back together I started it up and lots of valve tick....... didnt think much of it because its still new. Week later one valve is still ticking loudly. So i took the cover off and its loose, like you can wiggle its side to side and push it up and down loose. I checked the torque on the bolt 25 ft lbs (non adjustable rockers). so i torqued it to 34 ft lbs and the ticking almost went away but it still ticks. The edelbrock cam kit also comes with new lifters that I let soak in oil overnight. Is it possible the rocker could be warped? There arent any metal shavings in the oil so I dont think it hurt anything. Should I just torque the bolt down some more till its good? a few of the other valves had a bit of tick but torqueing them down a little bit more fixed them. I primed the engine before I started it so I didnt start it dry. All of the valves are fine except for one. Please help! thanks, matt

 

Over torqueing them runs the risk of breaking the bolts off.

You are correct, the Ford valve train is non-adjustable. This is ok when using Ford cams, and the valve stem lengths are correct. Add a aftermarket non-Ford cam with a different base circle, and add a little valve stem wear, and you are out of range of the lifter's automatic adjustment.

To properly correct this problem, Ford sells pushrods that are a little bit longer than normal. Other ways to get around this is to put shims under the rocker pedastels if the pushrod is too long.

In your case, it sounds like the pushrod is too short. You can buy the longer pushrod, or I have never tried it, but you may be able to grind a little bit off the bottom of the pedastel so goes down farther and takes up the slack.