im doing a head swap and i am not sure if i should replace my push rods or not. i rolled them on glass and they didnt seem to move around or wiggle or anything. i cleaned them with brake cleaner and looked through the hole and on a few of them i saw like a strait groove or something going down the center of it. is this bad? also do i need to put them back in in any special order? i am replacing the lifters and rockers and does it matter which end of the rod goes where?

 

Any time engine parts are removed, they should be put back in the same place they came from. What is your budget like? How many miles do you have on your engine? If you can afford it, it would not hurt to put new ones in.

 

engine had 180k on it. i am swaping the head because the old one was a cracked 0331 and before i took it apart it sounded like a diesel and i thought it might be the lifters and rockers. rockers were warn and im not sure about the lifters and i just wanna save a few bucks here and there if i could

 

That is a common problem with that head. If it were me, I would replace the push rods while I was in there. Spending a little more money now beats spending more money later.