Alright i'm assembling the top end of my engine, and somethings not right.
I drop the push rods in, and put the rocker on top of it. i run out of thread on the rocker stud before i get ANY tension on the pushrod/lifter. Once it bottoms out the thread, the rocker has about an 1/8 inch of play.

When the rocker sits on the valve stem and the push rod, the rocker tip apears to be perfectly centered on the valve stem at TDC. Correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't this mean the pushrod size is correct?

from the head up, i have it assembled as follows: Head, guide plate, washer, stud, rocker, rocker nut.

Its a new set up, with new heads, and the block was resurfaced. He said he would only take off a minimal amount.. just enough to get a smooth surface for the cometic gaskets. Is this enough to change pushrod size?

 

If the lifters are not pumped up, it will take very little tension to bottom them out.

 

Well, good point, i forgot to mention that they are new lifters that are not pumped up yet.

But, its not the lifter that is bottoming out. its the nut on the rocker stud. I turn that all the way down and i can pull the push rod off the lifter... if that makes sense, i don't know how else to explain it

 

Watch the plunger in the lifter as you tighten, as soon as it starts to move you begin your preload. They may not be bottoming out, but I bet the plunger is deep in the hole

 

A better way to describe it is, even with the nut bottomed out on the stud, i still have not achieved zero lash... i just went back out and checked it, i'm about a 1/16 of an inch away from zero lash.

I then remembered that a set of 3/8 rocker studs came with the trickflow heads... (i am now using 7/16) so i compared the thread length on them and it seems that they have a bit more thread on them and this would solve my problem. I'm in the process of checking part numbers to see if i ordered the wrong ones some how or something.

I should be using the same ones i would use on stock heads for trickflow heads correct?

 

the plunger appears to be all the way up as far as i can tell... even with out oil in it is should have a spring to keep it up right? I checked and made sure, no pressure at all was applyed to the lifter/plunger.

once it is right, i can pull the rocker up.. if i had a feeler gauge i would be able to slip that in there and tell you how much

 

I have no washers under my rocker studs. The guideplate is the "washer". An additional washer will make the stud sit up higher and possibly bottoming out the rocker before lash is obtained.
Some rockers can interfere with the hex portion on the stud and some studs have thicker hex portions compared to others.

 

Yeh that was my first thought, but for what ever reason they came with enough washers for each side of the guide plate so i figured i should use one of them. I'm going to pull them out tomorrow, even then it will probably just make it.

Am i correct in thinking that the push rods are the proper length because it is centered on the valve stem at TDC with the rocker nut loose?

 

You cannot tell proper PR length until they are lashed to spec.

 

I looked up the part number, the studs are ARP 134-7103. I ordered them from summit, but its the same part number thunder racing sells for the LT1.

I'm not too happy with ARP lately... head studs showed up with no ARP lube. i ordered the polished bolt kit for the LT1, waited like 2 months for it.. then so far i've used the timing cover bolts, which was a couple bolts short. and the oil pan bolts were too short. and now these studs seem to have far less thread on them then the 3/8 studs that came with the heads.