FWIW, I had 5 bent pushrods in an old 318...ran like absolute poo..but still ran. If it kissed a valve or 6 (that's what mine did)...not ruling out the possibility-I hope I'm wrong though. You said the PO just replaced the cam recently, you don't think he pulled a dummy and used some incorrect lifters do ya?
Longer pushrods are OK, and it is a good way to get the right lifter preload if you have to adjust for large amounts of gap. Ford sells the shims as the proper way to adjust the rocker height to set proper lifter preload. I believe the .030 shims will tighten the turns by about 1/4 turn, and the .060 by 1/2 turn. That's approximate. Larger gaps, like 2 turns, would be fixed with pushrods. But the only time you should need to do that is building an entire engine, or at least a custom head / cam install. On a stock engine, you shouldn't need to worry about using different length pushrods unless the PO changed the cam with something that has a smaller base circle. But if it was base circle... it would be all the valves. Lets look at this another way... you have 5 or 6 pushrods that are really loose and cannot even get zero lash. Something is obviously very wrong, and I'd say it's not the cam. Pull those pushrods, clean em and check em by rolling on a piece of glass. If they're bent, get new stock length pushrods and get that valvetrain setup the right way. If they're not bent, then you need to look at the lifters or the valves / valvesprings. Longer pushrods will not fix your problem. Thats a bandaid on a broken bone.
Be wary of that word "should." While I agree with you to an extent, I've actually seen it in a couple instances where stock length pushrods were actually too short-odd, yes...very. But, it does happen. I really don't think that's the OP's issue though. I'm inclined to believe the PO screwed him somehow with either bent pushrods or like I pondered...the wrong lifters. I hope that's not the case, but if the pushrods are all the same length and not bent, then the problem resides in either the cam or lifters, or both.
Well i went to the junk yard today and found 3 1997 ford explores with heads and intakes. so i might just pull every thing from the explorer and slap that on my car. heads, push rods, lifters, rockers. that should fix my problem unless its the cam. whats your input on that? Can i just take the parts off a 1997 and pop them right on?
Well, assuming the springs on your old heads are still good, swap the springs onto the P heads and go from there...might wanna check p/v clearance too. Are you planning on swapping to the explorer intake too? It would be an improvement... Also, when you have the intake off, just check all your lifters...
pulling stuff apart today and just measured my push rods, they measure in @ 6.245. Also after doing some searching im reading 2 different answers as to how long stock push rods are in a 5.0. some say 6.245 and some say 6.272. As loose as mine are im willing to bet 6.272 will get me back to zero lash. im going to use a gauge and see how much play is between the rocker and valve stem.
push rods in my car= 6.245 "stock push rods"on internet= 6.272 difference of 0.027 Ok so when i put .027 worth of feeler gauge in between the rocker arm and valve stem it seems as if that's about perfect or just about perfect to zero lash. There is very very little movement in the rocker arm. With this said should i still take the lower intake off and inspect the lifters? ahhh dont really want to. looking and looking and even web sites selling stock push rods are saying the lenght is 6.272. summit, jegs, this place http://www.latemodelrestoration.com...0L-Ford-Racing-Stock-Length-Hardened-Pushrods
I only suggested it because I thought you mentioned having the top end parts from an exploder, and that intake and tb would be an improvement over stock 5.0 stuff. If you still have movement up and down after installing the longer pushrods, you might still have an issue (unless it's just the lifters being bled down). In reality, your lash should be 0.020-0.060" preload which is essentially negative lash. The closer you get to "0" lash with hydraulic lifters, the more noise they make (and arguably the quicker they wear). The more preload you have, the more likely you are to have valve float issues at high rpm due to lifter "pump up." edit: I re-read your earlier post about the '97 explorers...I misread and thought you were gonna just pick that stuff up...would be a quick bolt on 30hp...
And to be honest, you could probably buy the correct length pushrods at the local parts store unless you want hardened pieces (which is recommended).
UPDATE: Car perrrrs like a kitten. What i did was i filed down the rocker arm on each valve untill i got my ZERO lash or close to it. i left them just a little room to play for when the lifters pump up. When i started it, it sounds like a new car. Took it out for a drive and riped in her and she goes nice and smooth and maybe even a little more pep if i might add. I am thankful your advice.
