Hey all,
what is the proper way to set the valves on an 82 351w. The problem is that the left side has the positive stop studs and the other has the bolts through to the head. I just need some help to figger out how to get them set right so it won't run like junk. What happened was my friend changed the transmission and didn't tighten the flywheel bolts right and it came apart and started slapping. Well, he thought it was the valves and pulled a head off before checking it out. Then when he put the head back on, he reused the old gasket (which was torn,) and tried to set the valves. Well, when he started it, all the water went right down the oil pan. The he pulled it and put a new gasket on, but tore it somehow when he put it together, with the same results. That was when he called me. Well, I ended up changing both head gaskets, intake, and exhaust gaskets, but I'm not very good at setting valves, so if someone could tell me the proper way to set both types of rockers, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Justin

1972 Ranger 360 (Grandpa's Truck)
1975 F100 Custom 4x4 360 (My Fixxer Upper)
1976 F150 390 (Grandma's Truck)
1978 F150 351W (Older Brother's-thinks he's a mechanic so why is it sitting??)
1982 F150 XLT Lariat 4x4 351W (Friend's Truck-but he's in MT and it's at my place)
1983 Bronco XLT 4x4 300 (My Daily Driver)

 

You have two different heads on this motor????

After re-reading this post and the re-using of head gaskets I gotta think you're pulling our legs!!!

 

I'm dead serious. It was his grandpa's truck, and before he got it, they rebuilt the engine. I don't know why they didn't use a matched set of heads, but they're both different. As for the reusing of gaskets-that wasn't me that did it. When I finally got to it, I put all new gaskets on with no problems at all, so if you don't believe me, fine. I'll just wait for someone else to answer who won't put down other peoples problems.

Justin

1972 Ranger 360 (Grandpa's Truck)
1975 F100 Custom 4x4 360 (My Fixxer Upper)
1976 F150 390 (Grandma's Truck)
1978 F150 351W (Older Brother's-thinks he's a mechanic so why is it sitting??)
1982 F150 XLT Lariat 4x4 351W (Friend's Truck-but he's in MT and it's at my place)
1983 Bronco XLT 4x4 300 (My Daily Driver)

 

Justin, Ive got to admit, it all sounds strange. First of all, DONT LET YOUR FRIEND TOUCH YOUR TRUCK EVER AGAIN!! Next, get yourself a matching set of heads. Ford made several different heads for small blocks, with different sized valves and cc volumes. Mismatching heads will cause one bank of cylinders to run much different than the other and this is always bad! Have a shop rebuild your new heads and go from there.

Nathan

 

Didn't mean to be rude. I was just having a lousy morning. Anyway, the truck is his, not mine. Last year when I went down to phoenix, I took him a tranny for it cuz he blew his up hauling a tractor from ND to CO. Anyway, I helped him put it up, but after I got it bolted to the engine, he said he could handle the rest (putting the linkages together, bolting up the flywheel.) Anyway, like I said, he didn't torque them down properly and after about 1000 miles (CO back to ND) it started slapping. The rest you know about. Anyway, I'll look around and find a pair of heads for it. He's in MT right now so doesn't really need it right away. Will still need to know how to set them. From what I understand though, there was one year that ford put the bolts through on (1980 I believe), then all the rest used the positive stop. Anyway, it was running fine before the heads were pulled, so I don't see much of a reason to swap it out, but just the same, I'll find some others.

Justin

1972 Ranger 360 (Grandpa's Truck)
1975 F100 Custom 4x4 360 (My Fixxer Upper)
1976 F150 390 (Grandma's Truck)
1978 F150 351W (Older Brother's-thinks he's a mechanic so why is it sitting??)
1982 F150 XLT Lariat 4x4 351W (Friend's Truck-but he's in MT and it's at my place)
1983 Bronco XLT 4x4 300 (My Daily Driver)

 

All right I'll give it a shot. I'll assume you know the cylinder you're adjusting has to be on TDC on the compression stroke.

On the pedestal mount(bolt through) you need to screw in the bolt till the push rod has no up or down movement. Then with a torque wrench you torque the bolt from 18-22 foot lbs. The bolt MUST turn between 1/4 and 3/4 before reaching full torque. If it's over 3/4's of a turn you need to shim the mount. If less then 1/4 you need to get shorter push rods.

The stud mount is the same up to the torque part. After getting the slack out of the pushrod just go another 1/2 to 3/4 turn on the nut. That's it and good luck.

Of course I'm assuming hydraulic lifters but with this get up who knows. LOL!!!!

 

are both the intake and exhaust valves set at cylinder tdc? I heard somewhere that you're supposed to crank the engine over so far to set the other one, is that true or was the guy wrong. Thanks for the help though, it is appreciated. Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time off to work on it and get it the heck out of my yard before winter.

Justin

1972 Ranger 360 (Grandpa's Truck)
1975 F100 Custom 4x4 360 (My Fixxer Upper)
1976 F150 390 (Grandma's Truck)
1978 F150 351W (Older Brother's-thinks he's a mechanic so why is it sitting??)
1982 F150 XLT Lariat 4x4 351W (Friend's Truck-but he's in MT and it's at my place)
1983 Bronco XLT 4x4 300 (My Daily Driver)

 

Both valves can be set at COMPRESSION TDC.

 

K. Thanks for the help. Will try it this weekend and let ya know how it goes.

Justin

1972 Ranger 360 (Grandpa's Truck)
1975 F100 Custom 4x4 360 (My Fixxer Upper)
1976 F150 390 (Grandma's Truck)
1978 F150 351W (Older Brother's-thinks he's a mechanic so why is it sitting??)
1982 F150 XLT Lariat 4x4 351W (Friend's Truck-but he's in MT and it's at my place)
1983 Bronco XLT 4x4 300 (My Daily Driver)