L82 rocker arm chatter help

[Ecordeddie]

Can anyone tell me how to adjust the rocker arms on an L82 small block to remove chatter? Anyone have a web link on the subject? It sounds like the #1 exaust or intake rockers are loose on my '79 vette. My shop manual gives a procedure but my gut feeling is there is more to it than just cranking the flywheel to the #1 valve zero position and turning wrenches...

Thanks

[Joe Wilson]

Originally Posted by Ecordeddie

Can anyone tell me how to adjust the rocker arms on an L82 small block to remove chatter? Anyone have a web link on the subject? It sounds like the #1 exaust or intake rockers are loose on my '79 vette. My shop manual gives a procedure but my gut feeling is there is more to it than just cranking the flywheel to the #1 valve zero position and turning wrenches...

Thanks

Does your car have solid lifters or hydraulics? If it has the stock hydraulics you start the engine, warm it up, take the valve cover off, put a rag or something below the head to catch the oil to prevent a mess or a fire, and tighten the nut in the center of the rocker arm until the clicking just stops then give the nut another turn. That should put the lifter at about half of its travel. This is all assuming the lifter is in good shape and hasn't collapsed. If it has collapsed then it should be replaced before adjustments are done.

[Ecordeddie]

Originally Posted by Joe Wilson

Does your car have solid lifters or hydraulics? If it has the stock hydraulics you start the engine, warm it up, take the valve cover off, put a rag or something below the head to catch the oil to prevent a mess or a fire, and tighten the nut in the center of the rocker arm until the clicking just stops then give the nut another turn. That should put the lifter at about half of its travel. This is all assuming the lifter is in good shape and hasn't collapsed. If it has collapsed then it should be replaced before adjustments are done.

How do I know if the lifter is collapsed?

[Joe Wilson]

Originally Posted by Ecordeddie

How do I know if the lifter is collapsed?

On a small block Chevy, the only way to tell if you have a bad lifter is,
unfortunately, to take the intake off and pull the lifter out and look at it. What I would do if it was mine would be to adjust the lifter slowly and see if the engine has a miss. Engines generally do stumble a little bit while you are adjusting, but then they recover. If your engine misses after you adjust it and doesn't recover it probably needs a new lifter. Not real expensive but if you have to pay someone to do it that's where the expense comes in. Low oil pressure sometimes causes this too but you'd probably notice it on more than one lifter. Hope this helps,
Joe

[Ecordeddie]

Thank you very much for your help...