302 Valve lash adjustment?
 

I recently acquired a well abused 1965 F100 originally a 223 now has a 302 with rattling rocker arms how do I fix this. I have a Hanes manual for 1973-1979 fords but cannot find any method for tightening the rocker arms. Any suggestions appreciated.

if its a 302 all the ones ive seen ya turqe them down to 20-25 ftlbs but some of the ol 289's would adj.like brand x so im betin that this thing probably sat for a long while so id change out the lifters they probably colapsed makin for a noisy runin engine

By the way the #'s above the starter are:

D10E-6015-AA
2C1

It also has 3 bolts for the balancer and crank pulley. Can you tell what year and size motor this is because I am not exactly sure myself.

that would rule out 289 cuzz thats a 71 casting # the first letter d is for 70's and c for 60's then the #after that is the year like yours d1=71 so as far as the original ? if they are torqed down and still rattle look elsware ie.lifters,fulcums,valve tips,ect.

When I had 289's in my '65 Mustangs, the procedure for adjusting the hydraulic lifter based valves was first to get some old valve covers and cut the tops off. Install one and start the engine running (should be warm before doing this). Doing 1 valve at a time, loosen the lock nut until the rocker tip starts knocking on the valve stem/push rods, then slowly tighten until it just stops making noise, and then tighten 1/4 turn further. Do all 16 valves and you're done.

Now, there were other setups/engines that had solid lifters - those require lash setting. Other engines did have a fixed height and were torqued down as wizard mentioned above. You need to find out what type of valve train setup you have (sorry - I don't know too much about the '71 302's configuration assuming yours is stock).

Good luck,
dagger

I dont have any extra valvecovers to cut up, so is there a way to do it without it running? When you torque them down to do you have to have a certain cylinder to top dead center?

If you have the rocker arms that are held on with nuts (not the bolt down type like on '79 heads for instance), I can recommend Comp Cams 4610-16 adjustable rocker kit. It's not rockers themselvs, but machined spacers that allow for adjustment, and a set of jamnuts to keep it there.
I run a Crane Energizer cam and it recommended having adjustable rockers. Seems to work great, it was my first valve lash job & I didn't know you had to preload them so much (more than 1/8 turn), so I think I can hear a loose one.
My contribution would be, re-assembling from a head swap or head gasket r&r, don't use silicone on the valve covers until you've run it & satisfied with it.

Warm the engine up. Turn the engine off. Pull one valve cover. Crank engine, adjust. Put valve cover back on. Warm engine up again. Do other side. I adjust all my hydraulics the valve covers off and running. It does not spray oil nearly as bad as you would expect. Have a fire extinguisher handy just in case you are very slow and get enough oil on manifold to catch on fire. I have never had this happen, but my cousin has. If it can be messed up, he will do it.

I think the head set up is original '71 it has studs not bolts holding the rockers.

That's good, I know there's got to be people on the forums w/the bolt down ones so I won't tell you how errr, lacking, they are :). The Comp kit is a good fix for these heads.

ga302's right about running it with the valve covers off, it won't spray out. Might slowly overflow out the lowest point if you leave it running for a while.

Comp cam nuts 4610-16
 

4610-16
I guess my oil pressure is high. Rockers were shooting oil 3 ft

My guess after 17 years since this was posted, the issue's been resolved...................:-wink