toobroketoretire
Banned
A whole 60 years have passed since the 265" engines arrived on the scene with their hydraulic lifters. In those early years they used the discontinued "piddle valve" lifters that required 1-1/2 turns down from zero lash to center the lifter's plunger and ensure correct valve train geometry. In the early 1960's the ball bearing check valve style replaced the troublesome piddle valve lifters and they only required one turn down from zero lash. The lifters are supposed to be adjusted cold at the time of the engine's assembly but over the years some people got the crazy idea adjusting them "hot and running" provided a more accurate adjustment. But one turn down is one turn down whether the engine is hot, cold, running, or not running because it is just a height adjustment.
The ball bearing check valve lifters have .150" of available plunger travel and one turn down pushes the plunger down approximately .070" or slightly less than half of the available travel. It is NOT a critical adjustment as anywhere from 3/4 turn to 1-1/4 turns is fine. It takes about 2 to 2-1/4 turns to bottom the plunger and hold the valve off it's seat so you have plenty of leeway. Now days a lot of people are adjusting their lifters to only 1-4 to 1/2 turn down which really screws up the geometry and causes excessive valve guide and valve stem wear so I recommend adjusting your lifters to what the specs call for............ONE TURN DOWN FROM ZERO LASH.
New dampers are marked every 90 degrees for adjusting valve lash at the TDC of each cylinder. By adjusting the valves at TDC all 16 can be adjusted in two turns of the crankshaft and it only takes about 30 minutes if you have a remote starter button with 4 foot leads like Snap on sells. I back off the adjustment nut until I can easily wiggle the rocker arm then slowly tighten the nut down until the wiggle stops at zero lash. Then I turn the nut down ONE TURN then go on to the other valve. And to make the procedure really easy I have a 12 gauge wire running from the "S" terminal of my starter solenoid up to the firewall to an insulated bolt so I can connect my remote starter button to the alternator's HOT post and the bolt. Push the button and BINGO............the engine cranks! And by quickly tapping the button I can bump it over a few degrees at a time.
The ball bearing check valve lifters have .150" of available plunger travel and one turn down pushes the plunger down approximately .070" or slightly less than half of the available travel. It is NOT a critical adjustment as anywhere from 3/4 turn to 1-1/4 turns is fine. It takes about 2 to 2-1/4 turns to bottom the plunger and hold the valve off it's seat so you have plenty of leeway. Now days a lot of people are adjusting their lifters to only 1-4 to 1/2 turn down which really screws up the geometry and causes excessive valve guide and valve stem wear so I recommend adjusting your lifters to what the specs call for............ONE TURN DOWN FROM ZERO LASH.
New dampers are marked every 90 degrees for adjusting valve lash at the TDC of each cylinder. By adjusting the valves at TDC all 16 can be adjusted in two turns of the crankshaft and it only takes about 30 minutes if you have a remote starter button with 4 foot leads like Snap on sells. I back off the adjustment nut until I can easily wiggle the rocker arm then slowly tighten the nut down until the wiggle stops at zero lash. Then I turn the nut down ONE TURN then go on to the other valve. And to make the procedure really easy I have a 12 gauge wire running from the "S" terminal of my starter solenoid up to the firewall to an insulated bolt so I can connect my remote starter button to the alternator's HOT post and the bolt. Push the button and BINGO............the engine cranks! And by quickly tapping the button I can bump it over a few degrees at a time.
