383chevelle Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 My car starting making the familiar valve noise that these engines make when an adjuster loses pressure. Pulled the valve cover to find that the number one cylinder exhuast rocker has about an 1/8 of play in it at the valve when on the base circle of the cam. So my question is what is the easiest way to replace these things. I obviously dont have the little specialty holders called for in the manual to keep them all from falling out when you remove the rocker assembly. I loosened all the bolts holding the cam towers and rocker rods but could not get the timing sprocket side to come off the head. Is there a special trick to it or do I need to just pull harder? I did not have the engine at TDC on number 1 as I figured that was just for removing the and reinstalling the cam. Any help is greatly appriciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyquest Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Before you pull any of that apart you need to make sure you get the motor to a known state in the timing events AKA top dead center on #1 cylinder. Without doing that you will create a lot more work for yourself. As far as pulling out the hydraulic lifters you can typically loosen all of the rocker tower bolts and slowly lift the assembly up AFTER you've removed the cam gear bolt and made sure the cam sprocket is sitting on the shelf on the front of the head and isn't going to move. They will most likely come out pretty easily and make sure you don't let them drop down into the front cam chain cover etc. Putting them back in is a matter of following the instructions in the FSM for preparing them, then using a bit of tape or something similar to hold them all in place. Then as you start tightening the bolts you remove whatever you used to hold them. Then re-assemble it all using the correct torque specs and pattern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markhansenconquest Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 use masking tape to hold the lifters from falling out when u put it back............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
383chevelle Posted June 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 Ok so no short cuts. I will try again putting the engine on TDC #1 then pull the sprocket. I am assuming this is what caused my problems last time sicne I just loosened the bolts and tried to remove it without taking the cam sproket off. I will give it another go this weekend. Thank you for the help and the advice on the masking tape. Are the cam tower bolts one time use or can they be reused? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyquest Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 You can reuse them. They have a low torque spec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott87star Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 If you use nitrile gloves like a lot of us do just cut the fingers off and slide the open end over the tip of the rocker and lifter, holding the lifter in place. i would think masking tape would loose its tackiness with all that oil around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93 GSX TURBO Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 I used zip ties to hold mine up. http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww244/partsturbo/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps25ff7224.jpg I've also never removed the cam gear bolt in any of the three cars that I replaced the stem seals on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93 GSX TURBO Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 I forgot to add that I used a small pry bar to slowly and lightly push the rocker assembly off the cam. I know this might be obvious to others but make sire you get a shop rag and cover the are around the chain/sprocket so that you don't drop anything in there by accident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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