Pushrods & Rocker Arms Question
 

I've been freshening my XJ over the past couple months after a few years of neglect from being parked & not driven.

I attempted a revival about 2-3 years ago with new oil & filter, but alternator was seized, so revival halted momentarily.

Since, I've replaced the stock alternator w/136A & new beefy leads & grounds from KWiP....(thanx 5-90!!)

Next, I wanted to inspect & freshen up my valve cover gasket (aluminum/rubber gasket, reusable correct?), rocker arms, & pushrods. Nothing's pitted, cracked, or irregular wear marks on pushrods. I cleaned everything with Chem-Tools B-12 (thanx again 5-90, this stuff is AWESOME!) Now to put everything back together I'm unsure if use a moly-based lube on pushrod ends & valve spring contact side of the rocker arms, or just clean oil. I assume lube would interfere with the hydraulic ability of the pushrods , no?
Also for re-installation of the gasket, is it safe or does it add reliability to add RTV to the rubber gasket. Per my Haynes manual, it says RTV may be used in conjunction on the rubber gasket where there are cracks, it has no cracks, but for added assurance, would be alright to add a thin bead to both sides of the gasket??

Thanx in advanced

What I usually do is RTV the gasket to the valve cover, let it set then put the cover on without RTV. This makes for easy removal in the future and I haven't had a problem in 30 years doing it this way...Tj

good clean oil is fine, and you'll want to prime the heads if you've removed the pushrods/rockers. I assume you know what priming an engine is correct?
I would just get a new valve cover gasket, they're cheap and will save you from doing it again in a month. A thin film of RTV can be used to hold the gasket to the valve cover, which helps hold it in place during install

when I did my valve cover, i used a cork felpro gasket with a thin layer of black RTV on each side. The RTV really helps hold the gasket in place while installing. Biggest thing is to tighten the bolts evenly and in small amounts till you get them all to the correct torque, then a few days later, tighten them up again.

No leaks at all using this method.

Priming the lifters? Yea, but not 100%. I pour some fresh oil in the pushrod opening & rotate crankshaft? Whats the procedure afterwards, continue rotating for all cylinders to rotate thru full cycle? Would I then be setting the #1 cylinder at TDC when I reinstall the rods/rockers/bridges??

So, a moly-based lube wouldnt benefit over oiled contact points?

prime from the oil pump. re-assemble your valvetrain (no assembly lube required) and remove your distributor cap. use a drill and a screwdriver to turn the oil pump directly off the shaft until oil is seen from the pushrods. re-install distributor.
If done this way you wont have any time when your valvetrain isnt receiving lubrication from startup

duuurrrhh:wacko: ...complete brain fart on that one.....thanx tanner, i knew that it was possible to run the mechanics of the oil pump without voltage supply....for whatever reason, it didnt occur to me to use the distributor to manually pump the oil up....looks like ive been out of practice for too long

so regardless, i am still putting #1 cylinder to TDC??

thanx for the feedback

trekker & dukie, thank you as well:headbang:

Use engine assembly lube - the stuff is oil-soluble, and it won't cause any trouble. Put it on the pushrod ends, under the rocker pivots - anywhere you have metal-to-metal but won't have oil right away (even priming the oiling system gets you a couple seconds of no oil on startup.)

It won't impede anything - as I said, it's oil-soluble, and works as an anti-scuff additive anyhow.

Pay attention to which oil you use - the API Service SM stuff is something you don't want. It has a significantly decreased organometallic antiscuff additive content, which leads to premature failure of cam lobes and tappet feet. Either use API SL, API SL/CJ-4, or use an antiscuff additive (like General Motors' EOS) with API SM at every oil change. You can find EOS at most GM dealers, and you can also get it from most speed shops (organometallic additive levels - particularly ZDDP - have been decreasing steadily for the last few revisions of the API spec, since excessive oil blowby ends up poisoning catalyst beds. Wouldn't be a problem, but most people don't maintain their engines worth a damn.)

Priming the oil pump may require that you remove it. Remove the distributor, and use a mechanical gage screwed into the oil pressure sensor hole to monitor as you prime. You can use a Small Block Chevrolet oil pump priminr rod - the rod and tang are the right size, you merely need to remove the sleeve at the end of the rod (takes about a minute to drive out the roll pin, then it slides right off.) Make sure you maintain 15-20psig with a drill motor for at least two full minutes.

If that doesn't work, you'll have to remove the oil pump to reprime it. Remove the bottom cover, and pack the spaces in the chamber (between the rotors, between the rotors and the case) with petroleum jelly or chassis grease (engine assembly lube doesn't have a heavy enough "body" to do this.) Pack it full - if a little ends up squidging out as you put the cover back on, that's a good thing. Reinstall the pump, reinstall the sump, refill, and proceed as above. Whatever year you have, use the 1996-up oil sump gasket. It's one-piece moulded rubber, and there's far less wrestling involved!

(NB: If you can get an old distributor, you can strip it down and remove the drive gear - the rotor nub fits into a 3/8" drill, the tang is the right size, and the housing makes it easier to line up the shaft. You're welcome.)

Priming the tappets requires removing the cylinder head (you have to pull them,) but - theoretically - that's no longer required anyhow (I still do it if I'm replacing them.) Tappets are primed by submerging them in clean engine oil and steadily pumping the plunger using any convenient round-end tool (I have a #3 Philips screwdriver I rounded off in a grinder for this purpose...) 6-10 times, or at least twice after you stop getting bubbles. Then again, I learned engine-building thirty years ago...

If you remove the tappets, generously coat the feet with engine assembly lube before you put them back in. If you don't, you should be fine once the oiling system has been primed.

The gasket is something I'm not sure about - I typically use cork gaskets (I like them - don't need sealant, and they soak up oil and swell to enhance the seal.) I don't see why it should hurt to use a light coat of RTV, tho. The moulded oil sump gasket seems to work fairly well, so I don't see why the moulded valve cover gasket should not (I just prefer cork there - but, as I said, I'm used to working on older engines.)

WRT your Haynes manual - put it in the outhouse, it's more useful there. Go drop $20 on a Chilton's (it's better) or pillage around on eBay for a secondhand FSM (that's where I get most of mine. My collection currently goes back to ~1962...) I've scored FSMs on eBay for $10-50, without doing much work.

sweeeet sugar syzrup, thats some good info:thumbsup:


Thanx 5-90, this helps/reassures me....So, I kno what you meant by this, but as I'm reading, this sentence jump out at me....

"Pack it full - if a little ends up squidging out as you put the cover back on, that's a good thing."

....I continued on, but then a thought occurred, "is squidging an actual word??".....

squidge (skwij) -n The remaining dampness, usually on sitting surfaces or in clothing, after a person has partaken in visual, oral, or written stimuli of a somewhat sexual nature. Squidge can be produced by either gender, but is more pronounced in females. -v To cause one to squidge ex: David Duchovny (or James Morrison, Paul Gross, Callum Keith Rennie, Adrian Paul, Peter Wingfield, etc., etc.,) makes me squidge. see also spooge. -adj A personal atribute given to someone who is considered to produce emotions that are exciting or intended to excite sexual desire. See also sexy. Squidged, squidging, to have squidged, will be squidging, is quite squidgy, puddle of squidge, the squidgiest.

HAHA, that gives that sentence a dirty twist

Sorry, my head's never gotten outta high-school

Anywho....I got all parts ready to go back in their locations. I tried setting #1 cylinder to TDC, (by hand cranking the crankshaft to line up the notch to 0 & dist button pointing to #1 wire terminal)....prollem is, notch lined up to 0, button ~70* off.....full rotation of crankshaft & back to 0, button off ~70* in the other direction (180* from first position)

does this mean the distributor is incorrectly installed? when she was on the road, she started up & ran just fine

oh, the thought of her back on the road....i just squidged a lil

Hm. I didn't know there was an "official" definition for "squidge." Go figure...

"Spooge" I knew all about. (A dirty mind is a terrible thing to clean. It's taken a dozen years for my wife to get used to me, but the woman put up with me all this time anyhow. Gawd, I got lucky!)

Anyhow, distributor alignment should be the trailing edge even with the #1 post with the timing marks at TDC, both valves closed. Turn the crankshaft around twice to make sure it ends up back where you started. Once you get back where you started and verified that it lines up, turn the crankshaft BACKWARDS until the distributor rotor JUST STARTS TO MOVE, and note the amount that the timing marks have gone BTDC. If it's more than 5*, think about changing your timing chain soon...

id just put oil on all the stuff before you put the valve cover on and crank the engine over for a bit with the spark and fuel disabled