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I'm having alot of difficulty with the pushrods. For one I'm curious how best to get the tips in...simply heating and tapping with a soft mallet doesn't work and that's after spending slot of time cleaning up both the tip and tube. Im also wondering how many threads should be outside the adjusting nut on the rocker arm once adjusted with a feeler gage... I'm finding that having less than 1/32 difference in rod length is the difference between the adjusting screw all the way in (the nut backed all the way over the last thread) and on the other extreme not being able to back the screw out enough to get the feeler gage in. I've done a number of these over the years typically in a couple of days yet every step on this assembly has been a challenge. I thinking perhaps I may need to reconsider engine choice.

This may or may not help you, but remember that you have some room for adjustment using the spacers under the rocker assembly.

Hi Peter,
I used a press to push mine together, it doesn't need a great deal of force but its much easier than the mallet technique. Once the tips are in, I haven't so far figured how to get them out again. I discovered this when I ran out of valve clearance adjustment and needed to shorten them. I ended up gently machining a couple of mm off below the tip and then pushing the tip down in the press. My press and lathe are just your common garden Harbour Freight type items and have been well worth the 'investment'. Unfortunately I do subscribe to the 'Tim the Toolman' school of thought.

No lathe, no press. I've shortened my push rods twice. As the heads settle in the rods get too long. The crude way I used that worked very well is to chuck the nipple end in the drill press and sit the bottom end in a hole in a hard wood block clamped in place on the table. Run it on high speed and using the edge of a very thin file I filed the end of the tube away just under the nipple flange. The nipple is hardened and the file won't touch it. Then using a socket that fits over the nipple and seats on the flange I put the arrangement on the concrete floor and hit the socket smartly with a hammer. You can do eight pushrods in a couple of hours that way. It your file is too thick you can grind away one side until the right thickness is left. I think I did mine at about 1/16 at a time.

sonex1566 wrote:Hi Peter,
I discovered this when I ran out of valve clearance adjustment and needed to shorten them.

Why not just add shims/spacers under the rocker assemblies?

When I was dealing with "too long pushrods" I think I saw evidence of the pushrod screw hitting the valve cover. This was from a combination of long pushrods and the adjusting screw backed out to the limit. As a result I shortened the pushrods and went to a double gasket on the valve cover.

Does anyone know who makes the pushrods used in the aerovee? My guess is EMPI.

Peter

pfhoeycfi wrote:Does anyone know who makes the pushrods used in the aerovee? My guess is EMPI.

Peter

Mine were in packaging that had the obvious Empi colors and pattern, but the Empi name had been removed.
Either not that proud to offer Empi products, or the lawyers insisted.