Short pushrods in 302
 

Short pushrods in 302
 

I had the heads rebuilt about 6 months ago on my '72 302. When I put it all back together I had to use the shorter pushrods because the heads had been milled. Now today I did a compression check and found one of the cylinders down compared to the rest. When I back the rocker arm nuts off a turn the compression matches the other cylinders. This would seem to indicate that even with the shorter pushrods it is still keeping the valves open a little. This brings up a couple of questions:

Why, after 6 months would this problem be appearing?
Is there something funny going on with the lifters?
From what I understand there is only one step shorter pushrod available and that is the one I have. What do I do now? Could I use a self-locking nut and adjust it that way?

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks in advance:-X10

Short pushrods in 302
 

I'm not sure what your solution is but you might find an answer on the 302 engine forum.