I set out to install the Crane Adjustable rockers this weekend. I assembled the drivers side shaft and installed it. I decided to put the valve cover on after setting the initial lash on the rockers. OOPs the cover doesn't clear the rockers. I'm gonna go pester the auto parts house tomorrow to see the availability of taller valve covers. Anybody know of taller valve covers for a 390? I've seen M/T valve covers on FE's before, are they taller? HELP....

 

I had the same problem. My 66 Tbird was converted to adjustable rockers, and the covers would not fit. The factory covers have an angle on the outside edge that will not allow it to fit. I went and found some $25.00 chrome covers at my local high performance store. Get inside of the covers with a tin snip, and cut away the baffles underneath the breather holes. This worked for my 390. I kept the original covers in case I ever go back to stock.

 

I had a 302 with aftermarket chrome valve covers that had no baffle. This caused a major oil loss problem as the PCV was sucking a LOT of oil into the intake (like 3qts per tank when drivn at freeway speeds) I know this because simply putting baffled covers on solved the problem. How do you get around this with your T-bird?

 

The 390's oil travels through the rocker shaft and runs through a passage in the rocker arm to the pushrod, where it exits toward the carb. Very little oil is splashed up towards the baffle. On a small block, I think the oil comes up through the pushrods,and squirts up through a hole in the rocker arm. Quite a bit of this is splashed on the roof of the valve cover. Make any sense?[img]/dcforum/Images/happy.gif[/img]

 

I guess I ran the motor for about 45min with no valve cover and only splattered a little oil. I am picking up some Ford Motorsport chrome covers tomorrow morning. They don't have the cool aluminum ones that I like, and the aluminum ones they have are $160 (finned Cobra LeMans). The chrome ones are about the same price as the chrome Edelbrocks @ about $60. So your saying that the smallblock spews the oil right at the PCV vaccuum, and that vaccuum alone isn't going to pick up much oil in the FE. They say that the Motorsport are taller, hopefully I won't need to remove the baffle.

 

Well, I got the Ford Motorsport chrome valve covers today and they have plenty of room for both the baffles and the adjustable rockers. I guess these were made for 428cj or 428scj that came with adjustable rockers. They are noticably bigger and very shiny. Now if only the bottom of the motor were new and shiny. I have the rockers installed and somewhat adjusted. I think that the adjustment screws and lockdown nuts are backing out on me. I'm thinking that I either need to lock the lock nuts down tighter and or use locktite. I am somewhat pessimistic that I have oil pressure problems in the lower end. I noticed that cylinders #4&8 seemed to rattle the most. I'm thinking that they are the last lifters to get oil. I may try and get a pro to fine tune the rocker adjustments.

 

 

I want to install the edelbrock packaged on my 68 390. But i'm gonna need some adjustable rocker arms. I have the ones that are on a shaft with four bolts and aren't adjustable. Where did you guys get yours?

 

OK, i found what i want on crane's web page. but it says i need special pushrods, one with a cup on the end for the new rockers. Is it hard to get the right ones? Just measure my stock ones, get the diameter, and order those except with a cupped end?

 

The speed shop that sold me the rockers knew which pushrods to sell me. The Rocker set was 34772-16 and the pushrods were 34645-16. With the adjustments backed way out, it was real easy to bolt the rocker shaft to the head because the rockers were not even close to the pushrods so there was no concern about strain on the rocker shafts as you bolt them down. I still haven't been able to get all the ticky lifter sound out and I think I must have debris in the oil galley that feeds the drivers side lifters. I didn't rebuild the bottom of my engine and there had been broken pushrods, and collapsed lifters with flattenend lobes on that side of the motor. I will try tightening that side down some more, but the passenger side is pretty quiet with minimal adjustment. Plan on getting taller valve covers. The Ford Motorsport chrome covers I got work great and you don't have to remove the baffle. I guess I'm to the point of living with the tick for awhile and then rebuilding or replacing the shortblock.

 

Great! I thought i was gonna have to order some custom pushrods, and that probably meant big bucks. Now i know what i need to get. I want to put the edelbrock performer rpm package (cam, intake, valve springs, timing chain) on my 390. Was worried about running a bigger cam with non-adjustable rockers, not anymore. Were the rockers and pushrods expensive? Thanks

 

I am running a Comp Cams 268H cam in my 390 and the speed shop I have been dealing with assured me that I don't have to worry about valve/piston clearance with this settup. I don't know what the difference in lift would be between the comp cam and the edelbrock. I also don't know whether your heads have been shaved. Those things could make yours a different situation. You should probably either get assurances from someone you trust to know for sure,or pull your heads and put some modeling clay on top of the piston. The drill here would be assembling the rockers and a pushrod on #1 cylinder and cranking the motor around (by hand) and then disassembling and checking the modeling clay to see if the valve came close to colliding with the piston. I was lazy and took the shopowners word for it. This shop doesn't just sell parts, they build quite a few engines and race. The proprieter I trust not to snow me. The set of Rockers and Pushrods together were between $350-400. Figure in tall valve covers as well. The Ford Motorsport chrome and Edelbrock chrome were both around $60. You might find some No-Name tall covers for less.

 

Man, they are gonna be expensive. I figured a couple hundred, maybe. I have edelbrock valve covers on now, but I think i hear a rocker hitting them now, so i may have to find a taller edelbrock valve cover when i do this. Do they make different hieghts (edelbrock) for the 390?

 

Are you sure that your rocker is hitting the valve cover. Take some vaccuum hose and see if you can find the exact spot. I would think that that would make a pretty sharp noise and that putting your finger over it you might feel the contact. Are you sure you don't have a lifter that isn't pumping all the way up and the clack is the rocker hitting the top of the valve stem? I was able to hear a couple of specific cases of the rocker clacking on the valve stem by putting one end of the hose into my ear and the other very close to the valve stem (with the valve cover off). If you could sacrifice a valve cover by cutting the top off, this would help you not spill oil over the edge off the head while running the motor without the cover. I had trouble on the passenger side with oil puddleing on the back corner and over the edge. The driverside doesn't seem to do that. Near the front of the motor, I had to position the hose away from the air flow from the fan, because the wind was noisy. In a last ditch effort I've put a qt of ATF in the oil in hopes that the detergents may clean out the dirty oil galleys. I may just have to face the fact that I need to do a lower end rebuild. I cranked the drivers side down some more tonight but it seems like I shouldn't have to go that far with them. It is a little quieter. Maybe after a couple hundred miles I will cleanse the oil passages. I would think that if the Edelbrock you got was designed for an FE that you would have clearance. Since I decided I'd rather have a Ford logo than and Edelbrock logo I haven't tried the Edelbrock. With the new rockers on the stock "canted" covers I have worn't even close. I was told that the Motorsport ones I got were designed to fit a 428SCJ or CJ with stock adjustable rockers. They are noticably deeper than the ones I had.