Where did everyone go? Jim, GRN69CHV, wolfplace? Don't abandon me now!

 

Doesn't the Eddy heads have modified valve angles?

 

I don't think so. The edelbrock guideplates do not make a straight line compared to the valve->stud->pushrod. The GM guideplate does.

 

Aren't the rockers centered up on the valves pretty well? I know you went through a bunch of trouble getting them right a few yaars ago right?

The guide pretty much just holds it in line. Either it is or it isn't. Is it hitting on the edge/side of the valvetip?

We did hit the issue on a set of AFR's where the rocker arm was bottoming out on the adjuster nut when closed as described above. This was giving a false sense of the adjustment. We also found that we had to vary pushrod length after we straightened that out. This was a total combo problem, not an AFR issue.

If for sure the rocker isn't contacting at either end of travel with the adjuster or stud, and pushrod isn't hitting the bottom of the guideplate slot at rest, I've found that the stud type setup is very forgiving overall and will run alright even with stuff out of whack somewhat. You will get some valveguide wear if it's really bad..which I was thinking might have been the issue you had before. I mean look at the avg AFR head..they don't line up at all on the intakes usually unless you cut and weld guideplates and Tony says leave it alone. I can't do that, but apparently quite a few are running around just fine that way.

I don't think it's randomly bouncing from side to side....I think it will hold wherever it is pretty much.

I think we need to keep searching.

But if you want to try it...does Nick have any spares at his house to check with?

JIM

 

The interesting part is that there is a wear spot on the guide plate where the pushrod has been hitting. About 5 thou is worn in this spot and mostly on the right side in the pic above. The exhaust (which lines up) has much less wear and equal on both sides. The GM guideplate at the bottom was on the motor. When I corrected the rocker tips I cracked one of the edelbrock guideplates and replaced it with a stock GM piece. The GM piece also has virtually zero wear.

I'm going to replace the edelbrock pieces with GM and see what happens. I guess odds are this wasn't it, but in any case it is something I want to correct.

 

Ok you confused me...the bottom one is the aftermarket and the top one is the GM right?

#1 and # 6 posts reverse......??

JIM

 

Sorry. Shiny one is GM and lines up. Black one is edelbrock.

 

As Jim already said, you want to use the guideplate that centers the rocker on the valve tip best.
I don't see how this could cause your noise issue though.

 

The rocker does hit the valve tip correctly? The rockers aren't banging the retainer or the slot hitting the stud?

 

Here's the reason I bring this up. EDE/GMPP alun heads use a longer valve and get a 1.95 retainer installed ht. I originally assembled my motor with the Comp NX279HR hyd roller that I had because it was for a MRKIV, this cam has a smaller base circle than my CamMotion GENVI step nose cam that I ended up using, even though the CamMotion has higher lift. You would have expected for the CamMoion to be smaller on the base, just the opposite. When set side by side, the CamMotion was physically bigger diameter . With the Comp, when I adjusted the Energizer rockers, I had intereference with the nut and rocker body - bottum line I needed longer pushrods. The CamMotion has a larger base circle. No other changes - everything clears.

 

Some more pictures. First up is the Edelbrock guide plate: Draw an imaginary line from valve tip to rocker stud to the pushrod and you can see how crooked the guideplate is.

Next up is the GM guideplate. Here everything lines up. I got GM guideplates yesterday. $5 ea from my friendly GM dealer. He had them that same afternoon. They are also made of thicker material than the edelbrocks.