Ross Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 was just doing the adjustment procedure for the hydraulic lifters, following a manual, and after leaving the valves open for 15 mins, it says: "unscrew the rocker screw untill the rocker arm stops moving due to closing of valve. this point is called 'zero point'" At this point, should the rocker become free, or should there be pressure on it still from the spring inside the hla? This is for ea81 by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 The "zero point", is also known as "zero lash", meaning there still should be some tension on the pushrods. If you can get your fingers on the push rod and try to spin it, it shouldn't turn after you get to the "zero point". Just went thru this myself on the '84 BRAT I had. Took me some doing to get them right, mainly due to me mucking it up the 1st go-round. Good lighting while your're adjusting them helps emensly, you can see movement of valve much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted April 7, 2005 Author Share Posted April 7, 2005 So, if you unscrew the adjuster further from the "zero point" does the rocker/pushrod go slack immediately, or should the spring in the hla keep some pressure on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 I'm confused.. My 83 brat with the Hydraulic lifter motor had a sticker on it that said something to the effect of 'do not adjust' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted April 7, 2005 Author Share Posted April 7, 2005 I'm confused.. My 83 brat with the Hydraulic lifter motor had a sticker on it that said something to the effect of 'do not adjust' My engine has been reconditioned by someone who obviously had no idea. The tappets have been adjusted as if they were solid lifters, so im trying to adjust them properly. Either that, or they've replaced the hydraulic lifters with solids. Can anyone shed some light on the question above? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWX Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 hyd lifters should be adjusted if you replace everything with new stuff or somebody mucked it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted April 8, 2005 Author Share Posted April 8, 2005 Anyone on how to find "Zero point"? ie is there still pressure on the rocker/pushrod after unscrewing the adjuster 1.5 turns from zero point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Yes, there is still pressure on the pushrod and related parts, but it is not, or shouldn't be, enough to overcome the valve spring tension which would cause valve to open. I started the engine after I did the adjustments, but before putting the rocker covers back on. Makes for a nice mess on the garage floor by the way. Did so, just to make sure I didn't have one to loose causing it to tick, or to tight causing a miss. This was the 1st time I ever had a rocker cover off an EA-81 engine. I had swapped heads, due to busting most of the intake bolts off while swapping intake manifolds. I jumped to the assumtion that because there were adjusting methods on both the old heads, and the new ones, that these were the solid lifter type. My bad.... Wasn't sure if this was original '84 engine, as one cover had the do not adjust sticker, the other one never had one on it that I could tell of, and it had two different bolts holding it onto engine. Lot of things help lead me to making the wrong dicision on what type lifters were in that engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted April 8, 2005 Author Share Posted April 8, 2005 Thanks, that confirms my suspisions. Either: 1. whoever rebuilt (if you could call it that) the engine replaced the hydraulic lifters with solid ones for some reason. It does still have the pushrods for the hydraulic ones, can they be used with solids? 2. the HLA's are completely, and utterly, stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted April 9, 2005 Share Posted April 9, 2005 Haven't tried this myself, so not real sure on it. Maybe you could get a small mirrior and a light source down by the rocker area and take a look in towards the lifters themselves. If, you can actually see them, hydraulic lifters will have a spring clip holding the inner section into the lifter casing. If you have the push-rod out, you should see the oil port in the center. (atleast I think they have one there, thinking on how Chevies do theirs here. haven't done any internal stuff on one of these engines, yet) Solid lifters will be just that, solid. They will have a dimple where the push-rod seats, but that's it. Took me something like 3 or 4 tries to get them adjusted right. 2nd to last attempt, I backed the adjusters out as far as they would go, then started engine and ran it for a few minutes. Really rattled something fierce!!! Shut it off and let it cool a bit, then adjusted per manual. Fired it up, still had one ticking a bit, re-adjusted it. No more noise..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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