Okay guys hope you can help. I developed a ticking/clatter sound that I finally traced down to what I think is causing the noise. I pulled my right valve cover and found the #6 exhaust rocker arm pretty loose and noticed one of the spring retainers partially came out and is slightly above the valve. (See picture, sorry for the blurryness) My question is, is there any way to compress the spring without taking the head off to re-seat this retainer. Not sure why this happened. The heads were completely rebuilt last month by a machine shop. Any idea on why a retainer would come out like that. Is there something else I should look for. Any help or advice will be deeply appreciated.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj135/marknbrenda/DSCN2430.jpg (http://www.chevelles.com/forums/%3Ca%20href=)">
(http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj135/marknbrenda/?action=view&current=DSCN2428.jpg)

dunno why the valve lock would let go like that. it does look like the other rocker arm in the pic is not centered on the valve. is that true? if so, maybe the one in question was the same way and was hitting the side of the spring retainer and allowed the valve lock to work it's way out?? might be you need guide plates?

oh yeah... you might wanna check the other head as well. and yes you can rent, buy or borrow a valve spring compressor tool that will allow you to do it with the heads on. you need to keep the valve from falling into the cylinder when you do it. either with a air fitting that screws into the spark plug hole and pressurizes the cyl, or the oldschool way is to shove some rope in the cyl. to hold the valve up.

I pulled my right valve cover and found the #6 exhaust rocker arm pretty loose"
(http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj135/marknbrenda/?action=view&current=DSCN2428.jpg)

Mark,

This might be a clue .... even with the keeper half out, the rocker should not be loose. Was the polylock still tight ? If so, you need to pull the intake and see if you have started to wipe a lobe on the camshaft :( That would cause the rocker to loosen up and then it will start hitting the retainer on the side, then the keeper will pop out then ..... you are lucky that is as far as it went.

If the rocker stud was pulling out it might also do it, but it does not appear to be.

Mark,

This might be a clue .... even with the keeper half out, the rocker should not be loose. Was the polylock still tight ? If so, you need to pull the intake and see if you have started to wipe a lobe on the camshaft :( That would cause the rocker to loosen up and then it will start hitting the retainer on the side, then the keeper will pop out then ..... you are lucky that is as far as it went.

If the rocker stud was pulling out it might also do it, but it does not appear to be.
How can you tell if the cam lobe is wiped out. What do you look for on the cam. To be honest I can't remember if the polylock was tight or not. I believe it was but I'm not positive. I hope I didn't wipe out a cam lobe. The motor seems to be running fine though, it just started making that ticking/chatter noise which made me do a little investigating.

oh yeah... you might wanna check the other head as well. and yes you can rent, buy or borrow a valve spring compressor tool that will allow you to do it with the heads on. you need to keep the valve from falling into the cylinder when you do it. either with a air fitting that screws into the spark plug hole and pressurizes the cyl, or the oldschool way is to shove some rope in the cyl. to hold the valve up.
Don't have the air pressure thing so I guess I'll have to use rope. So what do you do, pull the plug and just keep shoving rope in the hole until you can't no more and that will hold it up.

dunno why the valve lock would let go like that. it does look like the other rocker arm in the pic is not centered on the valve. is that true? if so, maybe the one in question was the same way and was hitting the side of the spring retainer and allowed the valve lock to work it's way out?? might be you need guide plates?
I hope your right and I'm not in the process of wiping out a cam lobe like one of my other answers below.

How can you tell if the cam lobe is wiped out. What do you look for on the cam. .

Mark,
The best way to tell is to pull the lifter out and look at it. It will be pretty obvious if it is starting to wear funny. If you are not real familiar with how they should look you can always compare it to the one next to it.

How long has the engine run since the heads were done ? What camshaft is it ? Is that rust on the valve springs or just the camera angle ?

The engine is a complete rebuild. It has about 250-300 miles since it was done. The cam is an Erson 270. There is no rust on the spring, it is probably the camera angel. Everything in the motor is new from top to bottom.

Put several feet of cheap clothesline into the cylinder and then hand turn the engine until the piston contacts the rope. That'll trap the valve so that it cannot fall into the cylinder. Remove ALL of the spark plugs so that you can hand rotate the engine.

An old spark plug wire works for me.(boots removed)

dunno why the valve lock would let go like that. it does look like the other rocker arm in the pic is not centered on the valve. is that true? if so, maybe the one in question was the same way and was hitting the side of the spring retainer and allowed the valve lock to work it's way out?? might be you need guide plates?

This is the answer. Those are the wrong rockers for those heads. You need the self aligning rockers. They will have little plates on the sides of the roller tip to keep it centered on the valve. Either change the rockers or install guide plates.